I’ve never had a really good experience with hotel Wi-Fi. The connections are slow, inconsistent and quite often just not there. Seems like I’m not the only one. Why is this? And why do hotels persist with offering only wireless when most of them are fully equipped with cable outlets too? How can you tell before you check in whether a hotel’s Internet connection is worth the name?
I had a great experience in a backpacker hotel in Cancun, Mexico. The connection is really great, I uploaded megabytes of uncompressed photos to flickr in 30 minutes, which was not bad. The downside is that we couldnt’ connect from the room, could only connect from the cafe / receptions area.
A have found that many of the wired outlets still work. I always take my Netgear Travel Router (tiny) and plug it into the “wired access” and use the laptop around the room with the wireless access my travel router provides me. It’s then fast, reliable and I’m not tied to the desk. I agree with you – the wireless in hotels are hit and miss and they usually miss. My solution has given me some sanity back.
This is one of my pet peeves. From travels for my destination site, I find that wireless is on occasion used as a teaser by hotels, when coverage is not planned out and you have to go to the lobby area to get a decent connection, or worse, you have to jump through hoops to change settings to get in. Many also rely on 1-800 services to help if a guest hits a snag, which usually equates to handholding. Am still looking for the day when wireless is a standard included and not like an “ice cold air conditioning in every room” flashing sign of days gone by.