txpenny

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, but I did a quick search on "speedtest" both on Title and Content and did not come up with a thread similar to what is going on in the HHonors section.

I'm a Hilton Diamond who is fed up with their ridiculous claims of hi-speed wifi. So while waiting for their premium internet for diamonds rollout, I asked for and received a MR Platinum challenge. btw, Hilton, finally rolled out their premium for diamonds literally days after I requested the challenge. Oh well.

So here are my results so for on my first two stays.

Stay 1: Courtyard Tampa Brandon: Grade F: first one did not live up to the hype. Cancelled future bookings.



Stay 2: Courtyard St. Petersburg Clearwater/Madeira Beach: Grade C: I'll take that all day long. Upload speed was terrific and I was able to upload large powerpoint files to my dropbox, which when staying at your typical Hilton, I usually have to find the closest Starbucks to perform that task. Additionally, this is a new hotel with a great staff. I will be booking here often.



6.15.15 EDIT:

Stay 3: Courtyard Tampa Westshore: Grade D: Better than your average HGI. btw, this hotel is the polar opposite of stay 2 above (St. Pete). Old hotel; rooms are dingy and I've already had a run in with the bartender over something as simple as club soda. 6.16.15 Edit: Went down to the bar immediately after checking in. Didn't notice until late that night that the restroom had not been cleaned. Additionally, the water did not drain when taking a shower. This place is totally disgusting. I canceled my two upcoming stays with them and would tell anyone thinking of staying there to thing again. Worst hotel I've experienced in Tampa.



6.18.15 EDIT:

Stay 4: St. Petersburg Marriott Clearwater. Grade D-: Pretty much the same as your average HGI. Too bad the internet isn't a little faster as I really like this hotel. Very professional staff and the rooms are nice. I'm up in the exec lounge so maybe the speed will be better downstairs at the bar.



7.09.15 EDIT:

Stay 5 of the Platinum Challenge: St. Petersburg Marriott Clearwater. Duplicate hotel so no need for repost. I really like the hotel, even with their crappy internet.

7.20.15 EDIT:

Stay 6: Courtyard St. Petersburg Clearwater: Grade D: Again, not living up to the Marriott vs. Hilton hype.



7.21.15 EDIT:

Stay 7: Courtyard Bradenton Sarasota/Riverfront: Grade D+: Seems to be a noticeable difference from a "D" to a "D+".. I can work with this.



7.22.15 EDIT

Stay 8: SpringHill Suites Tampa North/I-75 Tampa Palms Grade F+: No comment. Nice hotel, clean. Must be fairly new, which to me is a shock that their internet would suck so bad. This was the premium selection.



7.23.15 EDIT

Stay 9: SpringHill Suites Tampa Westshore Grade F+: Final stay of Platinum Challenge. Another clean hotel. Another woeful internet option. This was the only selection available. For those who complain about Hilton's wifi, I don't see Marriott as an improvement, at least in the Tampa area.

dank0014

This should help with more details. Not exactly the same format what you have, but has some details on various properties.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...ed-elites.html

LinBros

Spent 3 days at the Marriott San Francisco Union Square and had amazing wired internet speed:

KRSW

What about wired internet speeds? With WiFi all it takes is a bozo running BitTorrent or other peer-to-peer service to kill AP speeds. Similarly, NetFlix can do a number as well. And that's before addressing signal strength, signal to noise ratio, etc.

Every road warrior should have their own travel router in their kit. I'm currently using the HooToo TripMate Nano, but also have a TP-Link WR710N travel router as well. That way, you've got an encrypted connection (rather than the hotel's UNencrypted connection), don't have to go around to all of your devices getting them to associate with the hotel's WiFi, etc. Much simpler. And usually much faster.

txpenny

Which device do you prefer?

KRSW

It depends...

HooToo:TP-Link W710N:There's also a third option, the TP-Link WR702N, which is kind of a best of both worlds. Full routing features, tiny, USB-powered, has a single hardwired port which can be used for LAN or WAN. It lacks a USB port, so no USB file server / phone charger with this one.

So, which one to get?
For most people, the TP-Link WR702N will probably keep them happy.

If you're always around hotels or some form of shore power all the time and want a small file server to share files between devices or want to be able to use it to charge your phone, the TP-Link WR710N is your best choice.

If you're truly on-the-road and away from shore power (110v/230v) and want to share files with devices, the HooToo is your choice.

I have all 3... Most often use the HooToo, but I do use the built-in file server quite a bit. If I didn't need the file server, it'd probably be the WR702N.

My problem is that I'm the IT guy for the office. If they're working on a larger case, or a critical part of the case, they send me out in the field and I create a small field office at the hotel or whichever local attorneys' offices we're working with. Sometimes I'm setting up a few of the 702N or 710N routers as network extenders/repeaters or with VoIP phones. The 710N's are nice for network repeaters -- just plug them into any available power outlet and they do their thing.

dougef

How about this: D-Link Systems Wi-Fi AC750 Portable Router and Charger (DIR-510L)

Read some recommendations for it. Anyone using it?

txpenny

Added my 3rd stay to the first post. Courtyard Tampa Westshore:

txpenny

KRSW, great write-up, thanks. I ended up buying the new hoo too (red block). I will experiment tonight.

Horace

I like the idea of posting Ookla Speedtest results. I hope others will post results here too.

It would be good to know if the results are from standard tier Internet or premium tier Internet. Also, whether the connection is wired or WiFi.

More and more hotels no longer offer Ethernet connections. And plenty of electronic devices don't have Ethernet ports.

My current expectation for download speeds is the standard tier should be a minimum of 1 Mb/s and premium tier should be a minimum of 5 Mb/s. By a year from now, exceptions will probably be at least twice as high.

txpenny

4th Stay of the Platinum Challenge.

St. Petersburg Marriott Clearwater.

joshua362

deleted

txpenny

Stay 6: Courtyard St. Petersburg Clearwater:

njcommodore

Marriott Newport Bayview: Premium internet, wifi:

14.29MB download, 14.42MB upload

apodo77

Tough crowd if you are giving a C grade to 8 Mbps download and 9 Mbps upload.
That's pretty damn good for any hotel I have stayed.

EDIT: I now see the grade is assigned by Ookla and not the poster.