I wouldn't avoid them, but take that bit of information into consideration when shopping for hotels.

Personally, I tend to favor properties offering complimentary in-room internet, which usually means 2-3 1/2 star hotels.

This fee per device is getting out of hand. I'm not a techie, but there is an iphone app you can use to create a hotspot off the 3g network and such. Gets around the pay for internet completely.