Wifi woes follow Web Summit

Another country, another connectivity issue.

The Web Summit kicked off last night in Lisbon, but the wifi gremlins which dogged the technology conference in Dublin seem to have stowed away on the plane to Portugal.

Before the Web Summit controversially relocated to Lisbon for this year’s event there was much grumbling about the problems with connectivity in the RDS, where it was held in recent years.

However, founder Paddy Cosgrave was betrayed by the technology in Lisbon last night as he tried an on-stage demonstration using his smartphone but had to give up when the wifi betrayed him. The conference organisers later suggested the problem was with Cosgrave’s own phone rather than the wifi signal, and a second attempt at the demonstration later in the evening proved successful.

Cosgrave was joined last night on stage by the prime minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, who was enthusiastic about the Web Summit coming to his capital city, with an estimated 50,000 visitors to the city.