Travel Technology - The Worst WiFi hotels...

Interesting story! :)

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2004/11/4/4105/43713/Title/Worst_WiFi_Hotels_2004

I've always wondered why el-cheapo hotels can offer free access but high end hotels have to try to squeeze every last nickel out of guests.

Great article -- thanks ^

[QUOTE=xyzzy]I've always wondered why el-cheapo hotels can offer free access but high end hotels have to try to squeeze every last nickel out of guests.



Exactly.... Hilton FRA was E$14.00 per day on top of a 200 euro room rate.... never again

Exactly.... Hilton FRA was E$14.00 per day on top of a 200 euro room rate.... never again

It is indeed a weird world, Your typical Country Inns and Suites has free WiFi in every room, but your average Starwood wants $15 a day for crappy STSN ethernet...

Do the Hilton Garden Inns still offer free net access? I haven't stayed at one for a while now. That was one thing I loved about them.

Probably the same reason Motel 6 offers free local calls, and the big guys didn't at the time. When people pay out of their pocket, they care about things like that. When it's just being billed and expensed, at the time, nobody cared. Now they do.

If I'm in a place with a charge I'll usually just dial up and get my mail, and disconnect. If I'm in a place with free high speed, I'll be connected all night, probably working, so to me it's not always a benefit, it gives me a night off.

I was recently in one room where there was a charge, but had seven open wireless networks to choose from leaking into the room, so if you have wireless, always check to see if somebody has an open network you can use before you pay.

Do the Hilton Garden Inns still offer free net access?

Yes they do, as do all Hampton Inns, now.

Only Hilton-branded properties seem to still charge - if they even have it.

"I was recently in one room where there was a charge, but had seven open wireless networks to choose from leaking into the room, so if you have wireless, always check to see if somebody has an open network you can use before you pay."

Gotta love that free wireless! :cool: ^

Only Hilton-branded properties seem to still charge - if they even have it.

The Conrad in London does as well. Not sure about the others.

I've always wondered why el-cheapo hotels can offer free access but high end hotels have to try to squeeze every last nickel out of guests.

What I don't understand is why all these independent coffee shops have free Wi-Fi, but Starbucks insists on going with T-Mobile and it's high fees for each user.

These independent coffee shops just order DSL (maybe 30 bucks a month) and pay one-time for what...a $50 wireless router? And bingo! They can advertise FREE Wi-Fi and use it to attract all kinds of new business.

While over at Starbucks...it's pay-as-you-go or subscription or no-go.

What I don't understand is why all these independent coffee shops have free Wi-Fi, but Starbucks insists on going with T-Mobile and it's high fees for each user.

These independent coffee shops just order DSL (maybe 30 bucks a month) and pay one-time for what...a $50 wireless router? And bingo! They can advertise FREE Wi-Fi and use it to attract all kinds of new business.

While over at Starbucks...it's pay-as-you-go or subscription or no-go.

I guess it's all because of the network T-mobile bought, when they purchased the access points in Starbucks they belonged to a different operator. I assume Charbucks gets paid a fairly decent fee by T-mobile to be able to put their access in the stores...

What I don't understand is why all these independent coffee shops have free Wi-Fi, but Starbucks insists on going with T-Mobile and it's high fees for each user.


Probably because people are silly enough to pay for it there.

The thing that gets me about hotel WiFi is that all the ongoing management of a charged system, with secure servers to accept credit cards and servers to filter on MAC address to only let paid-up customers use it, etc, is sure to be vastly more expensive than the bandwidth being consumed. (And the hardware cost apart from that is utterly trivial.)

So, the main thing hotel guests are paying for on a paid WiFi system is the ability to get charged!

What I don't understand is why all these independent coffee shops have free Wi-Fi, but Starbucks insists on going with T-Mobile and it's high fees for each user.

These independent coffee shops just order DSL (maybe 30 bucks a month) and pay one-time for what...a $50 wireless router? And bingo! They can advertise FREE Wi-Fi and use it to attract all kinds of new business.

While over at Starbucks...it's pay-as-you-go or subscription or no-go.

I see it as the independents giving you a reason to try their coffee.

I had a bad experience at the Fairfield Inn in Alpharetta, GA 2 weeks ago with "free" wi-fi - it didn't work! No matter what I tried (including calling their tech support, asking them to reboot their routers etc), I would not get assigned a gateway IP address. Nothing wrong with my machine as wi-fi was working flawlessly before in the office and after I got home.

In situations like that I would pay for reliable broadband but it sounds like even if you pay, it may not be reliable :(

I ended going to dial-up.

What I don't understand is why all these independent coffee shops have free Wi-Fi, but Starbucks insists on going with T-Mobile and it's high fees for each user.

Because you can pretty reliably find a Starbucks in any medium or large city, rather than having waste time hunting down a random neighborhood coffee house that may or may not have wireless, and may or may not offer it for free.

In Chicago, T-Mobile at Starbucks is the only reliable wireless choice. The independent coffee houses do offer WiFi, but they almost all charge for it and you'd have to get an account with five different wireless networks to even come close to the number of hotspots Starbucks has.

I have the $19.95/month unlimited plan, but I'd gladly pay the regular $29.95 advertised fee, too. When I have work to get done, I can't afford to waste time driving all over looking for a free place. If I don't get my task done that day, I don't get paid. My time is too valuable.

As an aside, I find the speed of the connections in Starbucks much better than my Verizon DSL at home. A file that takes 40 minutes to upload over Verizon takes less than five at Starbucks.

Because you can pretty reliably find a Starbucks in any medium or large city, rather than having waste time hunting down a random neighborhood coffee house that may or may not have wireless, and may or may not offer it for free.Not only our favorite coffee place, but also FedEx Kinkos. Not only do they offer many locations in major metro and suburban areas, they also provide printing capabilities and 24-hour access at certain locations.

Because you can pretty reliably find a Starbucks in any medium or large city, rather than having waste time hunting down a random neighborhood coffee house that may or may not have wireless, and may or may not offer it for free...
But once you're at a Starbucks, the comment above about finding other networks spilling over instead of paying applies there too. I found free spill-over Wi-Fi at one of their spots in Edinburgh - the one at the corner of Queen and Hanover, if I recall. Very nice. (So was Edinburgh, but that's another thread for another time.)

I had a bad experience at the Fairfield Inn in Alpharetta, GA 2 weeks ago with "free" wi-fi - it didn't work! No matter what I tried (including calling their tech support, asking them to reboot their routers etc), I would not get assigned a gateway IP address. Nothing wrong with my machine as wi-fi was working flawlessly before in the office and after I got home.

In situations like that I would pay for reliable broadband but it sounds like even if you pay, it may not be reliable :(

I ended going to dial-up.

This has happened to me a couple of times. Working fine at home, at office, even the previous night in a different hotel. Try taking the network connections off of the network bridge. Don't ask me how mine got on the bridge because I haven't a clue but I do know that taking them off the bridge worked when nothing else would.
Good luck.

I was at the Hyatt resort in Cambridge, MD a few months ago. They had wifi through T-Mobile. It worked great in my room, in the lobby, even at the pool. But there was absolutely no signal in any of the meeting rooms that we were in. And that's the one place I actually needed Internet access. Go figure! :mad:

Waldorf Astoria NYC

Luxury hotel - I guess not for the business traveler. I wanted high speed access. They said they have Wi-Fi. Turns out the Wi-Fi is only in the lobby areas, and not upstairs in the rooms.

come to think of it, the building probably doesn't lend itself to Wi-Fi and maybe they don't want to mess with wiring...

I stayed at the Four Points Sheraton in Kansas City last week for a conference. When I checked in, I asked the front desk if they had high-speed Internet. The front desk clerk said that yes, there was high speed Internet in the lobby (turned out to be one ethernet connection for the whole hotel) and that you could also get it in your room by plugging into the side of the phone. (Don't you love it when they say things like that!) Needles to say, there was always a line of people waiting to use the one connection in the lobby.

come to think of it, the building probably doesn't lend itself to Wi-Fi and maybe they don't want to mess with wiring...

Which is why www.strixsystems.com offers WiFi without wires. Perfect for classic old hotels that don't want to drill holes into walls.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Waldorf Astoria NYC

Luxury hotel - I guess not for the business traveler. I wanted high speed access. They said they have Wi-Fi. Turns out the Wi-Fi is only in the lobby areas, and not upstairs in the rooms.

come to think of it, the building probably doesn't lend itself to Wi-Fi and maybe they don't want to mess with wiring...The W=A did have wired internet access when I was there last year. Perhaps it's only in some rooms. I didn't try wireless.

I guess it's all because of the network T-mobile bought, when they purchased the access points in Starbucks they belonged to a different operator. I assume Charbucks gets paid a fairly decent fee by T-mobile to be able to put their access in the stores...

I pay the extra $20 a month for WiFi on my T-Mobile GSM account in the US and it's totally worth it. You can roam in Europe on any T-Mobile or affiliated network, particularly where free WiFi isn't as available (nothing seems to be free in Europe). Plus, I can't tell you how many times I hear "Hey... let's meet at the Starbucks'..." At least I can check email while I drink their mediocre coffee. ;)

Timothy

(nothing seems to be free in Europe)
This is off topic, but luggage carts are free in almost everywhere in Europe. I hate having to pay Smart Carte, :(