For those of you that travel with laptops, I have a question about in-room hotel Internet access. In the case of the hotel offering wired Internet access (via Ethernet), do you make it a point of checking to see if there's an open WiFi AP that you can use before ponying up for the hotel's access? How often do you find something out there that's usable?

I have done that, but I seldom find anything reliable. This is especially true in more upscale hotels thhat tend to be high-rise and some distance away from an active access point. The construction of the building (steel, glass and concrete) usually offsets any advantage of being near an unguarded corporate access point. When "borrowing" another Wi-Fi connection, you also take the chance that someone will rifle through your computer's files, depending on how they are shared. This is less of a concern with the hotel's AP.

If all I plan to do is download and respond to e-mail, I'll often use a data connection through my cell phone. I log on, download messages from the server into Outlook, then read and respond to them. When I'm done, I upload my replies and pick up the next batch off of the server. I'll only pay for the hotel's service if I am doing something that requires me to be online for an extended period (such as updating a web site), or if someone else is paying for it.

Whether the hotel is Wired or Wireless..... I'll use it if it's free. If it's pay, I'll definitly ping for a wireless connection. Last resort is to pay.

I was in Induianapolis last week and stayed at the downtown Hilton. $9.95 a day for wired access. turns out that someone living in the lofts across the street had left an open access point. No worries.... and worked like a charm.

When I stay in Indy at the Marriott... assuming I'm on the correct side of the building, I'll also get free access from the Weston next door.

It's all about the connection.

D.

I can just see the residents of the loft wondering why they have such a slow connection, completely unaware that they have several floors of one side of a hotel piggybacking on their service.

Reminds me of when cordless phones were really bad, and people in apartment complexes would pick up each others' conversations.

Then again, you gotta worry about unscrupulous people with open WiFi networks hacking into your computer while you surf on their network for free. Don't you think that they're logging your info on their server, PC or what not while you're gleefully surfing for free? For all you know, they could be gathering all your passwords while you're checking your email, bank and credit card info, etc.

I'd be careful about logging onto unsecured WiFi networks. However, if you're smart enough, you could probably hack into the WiFi host's PC....

I always scan for wireless networks before I pay. A lot of hotels have free wireless in the lobby or meeting rooms, so I've been known to tote the laptop down there as well.

Chances are, if someone has an open access point with a default SSID ('netgear', 'linksys', 'default', etc.), they are not the type of person who would be trying to crack your laptop or steal your information. Nonetheless, I always tunnel back to a trusted network via SSH or VPN before doing anything personal or private.

We were doing a function at a hotel in Manhattan on a sunday a few weeks ago. There are normally no open wireless networks there, it's not really a residential area. I found one at full strength. Apparently, guests set up access points on their wired room connection, so the people they are traveling with won't have to do it. The hotel actually goes looking for them when they see excessive traffic on a port.

I'll always search before paying, and most cases find one or many. I found over two dozen open networks in one hotel room, none in the hotel, and most of them did not so any mac flitering, they were wide open.

Welllllll... I think this is far easier said than done. If you're using POP to get your email, yeah... they can snoop it. Can also log what web-sites you're visiting. Bank? Credit Cards?? HTTPS my friend.... make sure that site is secure or it doesn't matter if you're on an open WiFi feed or not.... the pickings are just too good for someone on the hotel network or more likely your home ISP.

As for me.... VPN into the office for my work information (including E-mail) and... I actually have a VPN into my home as well for my personal e-mail and various connections. If a web-site I go to needs to be secure and isn't, I VPN into my home network (making it secure between me and home) and then browse from there (I know my ISP really well and trust them to keep that part secure).

D.

I'm real stubborn about paying for Wi-Fi. I do carry a Treo 600 phone with Snappermail, so I can be choosy about paying or not. I would prefer to have my laptop enabled, but some hotels want $15.95 a day. That is just a rip off plain and simple.

If you have one of the newer blackberrys (mine is a 7290), and you don't need a huge amount of speed or bandwidth (e.g. checking in for your flight online, etc.), you can use the blackberry as a (not-quite) highspeed internet connection via the USB cable.

It will even support VPN if you need to check the email at work.

This has saved me some bucks on at least one occasion.

Beware your evil twin (hot spot, that is)

That article seemed to be a bit of "the sky is falling" type. For example, I'm not aware of any bank that has an online site these days that does not *require* SSL, if not 128-bit SSL. So there's no danger of someone getting a hold of your banking information. Email is a different matter.

You use my hotspot, I�ll use your credit card

'Evil twin' threat to Wi-Fi users

Meeting the "Evil Twin"

This is definitely the most amusing thing I've seen in awhile. "Unscrupulous people with open WiFi networks hacking into your computer"...what about the unscrupulous people who are stealing broadband service by signal jumping in the first place?

Hi pot, I'm kettle.

About half the time that I encounter only paid in-room internet, I'll also find some free source in the hotel or reachable from it. May be in the hotel club or executive lounge (if you have privileges), one of the adjacent buildings other posters here have reported, or downstairs in the meeting room(s) or lobby. Once at a Westin, I was able to position my laptop near the hotel entryway so it picked up a good T-Mobile wi-fi signal from the Starbucks across the street. If there's a T-mobile near the hotel, may just take my laptop out for a little walk rather than pay the $10/day to the hotel, since I already have a T-mobile plan.