It worked when I was there in July. I usually leaned on something or somebody! I was on the street in front of the Fremont. I used to go down to the Plaza lobby.
Depends. If you are talking about just the FSE area then it is working but if you are facing away from Fremont St. then you may or may not catch the free WiFi. I was at the Cal and unable to catch the free WiFi. I was also unable to catch the free WiFi at the EC. Friends of mine who were at the Plaza facing away from the FSE weren't able to get the free WiFi either.
It worked in front of The D too. I only had one email to send so I went to McDonald's at The D to send it. It didn't work in McDonald's so I started heading to the Plaza lobby too. As soon as I got out the door and onto Fremont Street, it kicked in.
I got the free wi-fi at the four queens 19th floor facing the strip, but I use a Alfa with 7dbi antenna, I also got a good signal at the El Cortez in the tower rooms http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alfa-1000mW-Wi-Fi-AWUS036H-5-dBi-OMNI-7-dBi-DIRECTIONAL-antenna-LONG-RANGE-KIT-/110862997239?pt=US_USB_Wi_Fi_Adapters_Dongles&hash=item19cff316f7
I have connected to free WiFi just outside the Cal's doors many times. Note the SSID has slight variations in name depending which access point you are connecting to.
But what about in the Cal itself? What about connecting from your room? When I stayed there earlier this year I was unable to get the free WiFi from my room. I also was able to get the free WiFi when I was outside the hotel and facing the FSE but my comment was that I couldn't get the signal at the Cal, not outside of the Cal.
That goes for the majority of all hotel rooms downtown. I have stayed in 4 downtown hotels and never had any free city wifi signal reachable from the hotel room. It is not unique to the Cal. The free wifi project was never intended to provide free wifi service in hotel rooms. If you do get a signal from one, you would be lucky.
Foos, North Tower or South Tower? I will be there in a few weeks and would love to pick up the free wii fii....Even if I cant, Its nice to know there are nearby areas that I can!!