2013 Cellular phone/data access survey

Hi folks,

There are usually two places my cell carrier gets no service… on a plane, for obvious reasons, and in the convention floor at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport.

I’m wondering if those of you who tried to make phone calls or use data service could comment here on your carrier, device, and any caveats you might have run into.

Over the past couple of years I’ve tried a couple of different top of the line Android devices on Verizon Wireless… they sometimes work in the main hallway, and usually pick up when I get out onto the lower patio. Great 4G in the hotel rooms, but live tweeting from the hotel room is not as pertinent as it is from the convention floor.

And I remember in 2009 (I think, maybe 2010) someone brought one of those ZBoost cellular extenders, where it acts as a cell “tower” inside and runs to an antenna outside. Unfortunately, I seem to recall it keeled over even we only had 750 people there… with 3500 people many using 2+ devices… no way it would work.

Thanks in advance for your feedback on this.

By the way… I don’t have ads on this blog, but if you found it useful and were going to shop at Amazon.com anyway, check out the Amazon link to the right. Your purchases will help with my travel accessory budget, and they don’t cost you any extra.

Hotelling for Gally 2014

So my original hotel post on http://gallyhelp.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/hotel-hints/ is a bit outdated, but it is still useful at times.

And as a reminder, this is an UNofficial site not at all related or affiliated with Gallifrey One / ISL / anything else. I’m just a five-time (now) attendee who doesn’t have the attention span for forums anymore, and wanted to set up a more concise advice site for new and returning Gally attendees.

But on with the topic.

This year, there was an official overflow hotel in the Renaissance (also a Marriott property, for those of you in Marriott Rewards), in addition to the LAX Marriott that is the “convention hotel” for Gallifrey One. Based on Marriott web pages, there are a total of 441 rooms at the Renaissance, and  985 rooms at the Marriott. That’s total. Gally discount block is probably a bit fewer. But obviously no more than about 1500 rooms because, well, physics.

With 3200ish registered members, unless everyone has 1.1 or more people sharing a room with them, this wouldn’t be enough for everyone to be in these hotels. There was a lot of annoyance and sour grapes on Twitter this afternoon about this fact (see also: physics).

If you have your Gallifrey One membership but didn’t get a room under the discount rates, don’t fret, don’t panic. Or in slightly larger letters.

DON’T FRET. DON’T PANIC.

1. Rooms in the block will probably open up between now and then, as people who have to back out cancel their reservations.
2. The Gallifrey One team are working on expanding the Renaissance block.
3. There are at least five hotels within half a mile of the LAX Marriott. (Four Points Sheraton, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Embassy Suites, Sheraton Gateway.) Not as good if you have reasons for needing to be in the hotel (kids, stuff for sale, accessible needs, allergy to hotels not named “LAX Marriott) but quite suitable for many people. There are more a bit further out. Here’s a map.
4. See #1.

So if you didn’t get in on the rooms when the discount code went out, you can still get a room for a reasonable price if you have the flexibility with your arrangements. There will also be room share things posted on Gallifrey Base (feel free to mention them in comments here too, or link to your Gallifrey Base post).

As an aside, if you didn’t get your membership yet, transfers begin this summer, and as about 10% of last year’s memberships were transferred, don’t be surprised to see a fair number of people making their tix available between summer and the end of January 2014. There is still a non-zero chance that you can still go to Gallifrey One next February even if you don’t have a membership or a hotel room yet. Keep an eye on Gallifrey Base, the Gallifrey One facebook and @gallifreyone twitter accounts, and maybe even this page…  more news when it happens.

If any readers have comments or suggestions regarding hotels around the convention site, please leave them as comments here for other attendees. And as always, thanks for reading GallyHelp.

Another Gallifrey One is over… and we have just less than a year until the 25th Anniversary of Gallifrey One.

Note that this is an unofficial site for people to share advice, not an official place for feedback to the convention organizers. If you want to make comments and suggestions to the Gally team, go to http://www.gallifreyone.com and look for the “Contact Us” link to send them a message through the website.

But if you went this year and have advice for future attendees, add a comment here or to the appropriate category page. In the coming weeks I’ll be trying to edit comments into the summary pages, crediting folks who’ve made the suggestions. I’ll continue to update this site over the coming year, and I’ll hope to see many of you at next year’s Gallifrey One convention.

Have you taken kids to #gally1 before?

This is a somewhat selfish post, as I’m trying something new this year.

This will be my fifth Gallifrey One convention, and my sweetie’s third. We’re both pretty used to it, but this time we’re bringing the little one (she’s 9).

She loves the show, mostly seen the post-2005 stuff but borrowed my Key To Time series for a couple of weeks, and will probably be overwhelmed by the event.

If you’ve brought kids to Gally before, what advice would you offer to first time kid-bringers?

Less than a month till The 24 Hours Of Gallifrey One #gally1

Gallyhelp has been quiet this year, and I haven’t promoted it all that much. But I just found some comments awaiting moderation on our technology page, so feel free to take a look around, add your own thoughts, and make any suggestions.

Some things to keep in mind:

There will be a full house of 3200 members this year, so expect crowds (and diminished cell/wifi service in the lower level of the hotel), stay fresh and clean, and don’t panic over lines.

The latest schedule of events is posted at http://www.gallifreyone.com/schedule.php – mobile site is at http://m.gallifreyone.com/ and may work better from your phone or Nexus 4 tablet.

There are no day passes or on-site registration this year (they sold out memberships in seven months, which is cool even if it disappoints some late discoverers of Gallifrey One).

If you’re looking to transfer your membership, you’d better do it by January 31. See http://www.gallifreyone.com/registration.php for details.

And obviously, this site has no official affiliation with ISL or Gallifrey One. I’m just a guy who’s going to my fifth Gally this year and wanted a simple, easy to search/find place to store advice for following years.

 

 

Less than a month till Gallifrey One… welcome to all the new readers and returning guests. I’ll be tweeting reminders every so often, so watch for new tips and considering sharing your own here.

As a reminder, I’m just a guest who doesn’t have the attention span for the forums on Gallifrey Base and wanted to gather people’s recommendations in a more concise place. There’s no advertising here, and I try to keep the formatting simple so you can print it and bring it to the convention with you (great airplane reading if you’re caught up on all the Torchwood novels).

My name is Rob, I’m @gallifreyan on Twitter and thetasigma92 on GB. And if you run into me at the conference, I’m also the guy with the Rowan Atkinson ribbons and the girlfriend who could easily cosplay Romana I but isn’t cosplaying.

While some of the wonderful Gally crew do read (and sometimes respond) to things on this site, it is not official and it’s not a good way to reach them if it’s important. Use http://www.gallifreyone.com or @gallifreyone on Twitter if you need their help officially.

BTW: http://gallifreybase.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=125 is where you’ll find the Gallifrey One forum section on Gallifrey Base. Registration is required but it’s free and they don’t spam you.

Read on, poke at all the pages (there are just a few and they’re pretty useful), let me know your thoughts and let your fellow attendees know what made it a better experience for you in the past. Thanks for dropping by.

Looking ahead to Gallifrey One 2012

Hi everyone,

I just got home from Gallifrey One 2011, #22, Islands of Mystery.

It was an amazing experience, with some very pleasant surprises. We started with another video from Peter Davison (and the man himself this year), along with most of his TARDIS crew: the lovely Sarah Sutton, the loquacious Janet Fielding, and the dapper Matthew Waterhouse. Ian MacNeice was an unexpected pleasure, and of course the epic appearance of Waris Hussein at Podshock Live… without him, the first director of Doctor Who, none of this would be happening anyway…

I’ve already registered, and will shortly be setting up my savings plan for Gallifrey One’s Network 23, 20,000 Years Into The Future, coming February 17-19, 2012.

I’ve also looked through the 37 pounds of stuff I brought with me to Gallifrey and been pondering what to do better for my fourth trip (and possibly for my trip to Chicago TARDIS in November, which would take me back to where I first found the good Doctor late in 1983).

Do you have any discoveries or epiphanies that you’d like to share with other future Gallifrey attendees? If so, I’d welcome them as comments to this post. I will probably compile them into another post here… and note that these suggestions should just be fan-to-fan experience type things, like bring this, don’t bring this, go here, don’t go here, etc.

I cannot accept suggestions for the convention itself or on behalf of the wonderful folks who run Gallifrey One. You can contact  them through their contact page on the website. But remember, they’ve just had the largest convention in Gally history, so they may not be as quick to respond in the next couple of weeks (but as Shawn Lyon said a couple of times, they do read and consider everything that’s sent to them).

That being said, what did you learn about the experience of the convention, that you think might be helpful to other attendees (or as a reminder to you in 11 months)?

Thanks for helping GallyHelp in 2011!

After work today I’ll be packing to head for Gallifrey One 2011 in Los Angeles. My ribbons are in, my water filter and Aeropress are located and ready to go, and I’m looking forward to LobbyCon and meeting new friends in just over a day.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this little experiment I call GallyHelp. I’m leaving a last post here for people to add comments to during/after the con. I’ll go back and clean them up afterward, and have this available for Gallifrey One 2012. The silence may fall, but that doesn’t mean we can’t give you some spoilers about the convention experience in general.

Have a great con, and don’t forget to get your membership for 2012 before you leave LA!

Rob/@Gallifreyan

We have quite a few posts by category here… be sure to read all the way down, or click on the individual post you’re interested in. I will bump this post as a reminder–new stuff can be found below.

If you’re coming back to this page, hit ctrl-F5 or reload… new comments may not show up otherwise.

• Suggestions for Gally Vets – Ribbons and Banquet in particular
• Gally 100 – Basics about the convention itself (good to know before you go)
  
• Electronic Edification – how to deal with technology at the con
  
• Travel Tips – Getting there
  
• Hotel Hints – Staying there
  
• Food Stuff – Eating in and around the hotel

Comments are set for moderation, but I will approve genuine comments as soon as possible. Comments here are easier to publish than comments through Twitter, but I’ll try to make the best of both. (Please use the #gallyhelp hashtag for my convenience. It goes well with the #gally tag as well.)

Thanks to all for your comments, suggestions, and support.

–@gallifreyan

Suggestions for Gally Vets

Here’s a place to gather suggestions for people coming back for a second, third, or twenty-second time. Ribbons, volunteering, other stuff you’ve learned about after your first visit.

Ribbons

One popular topic is ribbons–in 2010 there were nearly 150 different ribbons being distributed. SJA’s Tommy Knight apparently collected all of them and wore them as a kilt of sorts.

I’ve heard reports of Marco Promotional and Image Award and one or two others being used to source these ribbons. If you ordered them this year or in past years, please comment about who, how many, and any suggestions. Order, distribute, and collect at your own risk of course.

Guest of Honor Banquet

Another topic to think about for next year (or maybe this) is the Guest of Honor Banquet. As the website says, this is the only Gallifrey One “add-on” and it’s sold out already. The ticket “lottery” for 2011 happened during the convention in 2010, and you had to pay for the tix onsite. I think it was $70 per person. I’ve been reminded that the (dinner) banquet tickets were $50 each… it’s totally based on the cost of food; the con doesn’t make any money on it.

For the banquet ticket, you get a catered meal and a chance to meet the guests of honor up close and personal. Last year’s banquet was Sunday breakfast, but this year it’s Friday dinner. Attendees and guests got their food and sat at tables of 6-8 attendees, and the guests (and their handlers/helpers) would spend 5-10 minutes at each table talking, telling stories, answering questions, and sometimes getting to eat their food.

Watch the Gallifrey One website for any news on last-minute ticket availability… might not hurt to bring a few extra bucks if you’re interested… and a few extra bucks for next year’s banquet if you’re pretty sure you’re going. (I went last year and loved it, going again this year.)