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Internet at Hilton properties still unusable

Internet at Hilton properties still unusable

Old Nov 28, 2014, 7:20 am
  #1  
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Internet at Hilton properties still unusable

The vast majority of the Hilton properties I stay at have painfully slow internet, and I mean like 30-60 seconds to load a web page. speedtest.net usually indicates 1mbps or less.

Hilton, when it's nearly 2015, how do you justify a level of service that is slower than a DSL line was 2001? And back then, web pages were not as rich as they are now, so 1mbps was usable then unlike now.

I've been frustrated by this for years, thinking Hilton will get this addressed in the coming year, but another year passes and it actually gets worse. Starbucks finally kicked AT&T's lousy service out, so why doesn't Hilton?

At this point I'm booking all my stays with points and am planning to switch brands as soon as my points are exhausted.
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Old Nov 28, 2014, 9:53 am
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I'm at a hotel now and using data because it's so slow.
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Old Nov 28, 2014, 11:29 am
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You do know that it is not Hilton corporate that provides the WiFi, but it is up to each individual hotel to contract with a provider in their area for the ISP, and to equip the hotel with the hardware? To upgrade service, IT has to get the owners to approve an RFP, get bids, budget out of capital budget for it to happen I've worked at a few hotels that went through the upgrade process - it took well over a year for it to happen. WiFi installed a few years ago was not meant to handle the traffic that happens now - every mother, father, every one of their 6 children streaming NetFlix or playing bandwidth-eating games. Add in the usual business people that used to be the only ones using WiFi and it's a mess. It isn't something that can be fixed overnight.
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Old Nov 28, 2014, 1:39 pm
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Originally Posted by mstan
At this point I'm booking all my stays with points and am planning to switch brands as soon as my points are exhausted.
Interesting to note that you have so many points, while this is only your first post on Flyer Talk. To be honest, I've stayed at at least 150 different properties, almost never had a problem. Maybe once or twice, it's exactly what Slidergirl says, too many people streaming video or something. The next day at the same hotel it would be back to normal.
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Old Nov 28, 2014, 1:55 pm
  #5  
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Originally Posted by mstan
The vast majority of the Hilton properties I stay at have painfully slow internet, and I mean like 30-60 seconds to load a web page. speedtest.net usually indicates 1mbps or less.
My speedtest.net results are routinely faster than yours. Uniformly I find Hilton properties in the U.S. with satisfactory speeds, if not zippy, and certainly more consistent than 4G LTE data speeds.
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Old Nov 28, 2014, 2:21 pm
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Humm. I have stayed over 70 nights so far at Hilton properties this year. Other than a couple of locations, I have not had a problem with Internet speeds. Nothing stellar but usually adequate for browsing the web and uploading or downloading smallish files.
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Old Nov 28, 2014, 4:07 pm
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Hmm. I've stayed at 14 different Hilton properties this year so far (many of them multiple times), and it has NEVER taken me 30-60 seconds to load a web page, not even close.
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Old Nov 28, 2014, 6:04 pm
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[QUOTE=slidergirl;23910768]You do know that it is not Hilton corporate that provides the WiFi, but it is up to each individual hotel to contract with a provider in their area for the ISP, and to equip the hotel with the hardware?

I don't believe that for a minute. Every single one I've been to utilizes AT&T wifi services and routes traffic not locally but through Kansas city as shown in the link below. I've never been able to watch a youtube or a CNN or Foxnews newsclip without any stuttering.

My most recent experience 2 weeks a go in Canton MA:

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3914275747

That's barely faster than dialup.

And it's similar at HGI El Segundo, and Homewood Suites in Newark, CA which I frequent often.

For you doubters out there, here's proof to how good Hilton's AT&T provided wifi is:

Boston airport Hampton Inn Revere: (this is the best of all the Hiltons I've ever stayed at and
is probably what you folks who are "satisfied" were getting

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2987582438


Double Tree Jersey City:
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3000996594


HGI El Segundo:
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3730977464

Homewood Suites Aguroa Hills:
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3726534019

Homewood Suites Canton MA:
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3914275747

On my speedtest.net summary page, all were listed with grade "F" so were easy to find.

I've also done tests at 3am and 5am and same story, so don't tell me it was peak evening time when people are streaming (which with that speed no one can stream).

Last edited by Canarsie; Nov 28, 2014 at 6:42 pm Reason: Consolidation.
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Old Nov 29, 2014, 4:07 am
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Maybe your computer sucks
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Old Nov 29, 2014, 4:48 am
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[QUOTE=mstan;23912294]
Originally Posted by slidergirl
You do know that it is not Hilton corporate that provides the WiFi, but it is up to each individual hotel to contract with a provider in their area for the ISP, and to equip the hotel with the hardware?

I don't believe that for a minute. Every single one I've been to utilizes AT&T wifi services and routes traffic not locally but through Kansas city as shown in the link below. I've never been able to watch a youtube or a CNN or Foxnews newsclip without any stuttering.

My most recent experience 2 weeks a go in Canton MA:

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3914275747

That's barely faster than dialup.
....
I rarely stay at US Hiltons but at foreign locations more often than not I come across the same provider (e.g. iBahn, docomo etc) regardless of the city I am in. This suggests that mstan has a point and that Hilton must have a set of preferred providers which have a multinational presence.
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Old Nov 29, 2014, 2:48 pm
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Hilton Rotterdam 42Mbit download 22Mbit upload, free to all guests on weekends. Connection page says iBahn, but according to Speedtest it's provided by KPN (a local telco).

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3947728038
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Old Nov 29, 2014, 4:36 pm
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I can't recall a single domestic HHonors property that doesn't use AT&T.

I've certainly had my share of difficulty at some properties (Hilton Boston-Woburn). Others are okay but the situation could certainly be better.
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Old Nov 29, 2014, 4:49 pm
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Originally Posted by colbertnation
Maybe your computer sucks
Succinct.

I'm reading from the Docomo WiFi provided by the DoubleTree by Hilton Cairns, and perhaps two or three seconds needed to load a page if it's graphics intensive. Pretty typical Hilton mediocre WiFi. I'm getting Ookla measured 3 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up.

Last edited by JDiver; Nov 29, 2014 at 4:57 pm
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Old Nov 29, 2014, 6:16 pm
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Originally Posted by slidergirl
To upgrade service, IT has to get the owners to approve an RFP, get bids, budget out of capital budget for it to happen I've worked at a few hotels that went through the upgrade process - it took well over a year for it to happen.
I didn't realize that these were government operations. It only has to happen like that if they want it to happen like that.
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Old Nov 29, 2014, 9:16 pm
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Maybe this woman is hogging all the bandwidth.
http://youtu.be/iEFVMsijxwk
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