Hotel WiFi Should Be a Right, Not a Luxury

Hearing stuff like "Hotel WiFi should be a right, not a luxury" makes me want to punch babies. Hey, why not make Core i7s, Xbox 360s and 60" flatscreen televisions a right? Hell, let's just go all the way and start making Bugatti Veyrons a right, too.
 
The strip club near me offers free wifi. Apparently they want you to take your laptop in there and stream everything through your webcam on their wifi.
 
Hurin said:
"have no problem offering free wireless access from the middle of nowhere in the South."

Yes, because the south is a barren tech wasteland. :rolleyes:

Gotta love the gratuitous qualification of that "middle of nowhere" being made even more "nowhere" by being in the South.

And people wonder why so many folks despise the beltway folks. Anyone who doesn't live where they live is a hick.

And I say this as someone born, raised, and currently living on the coast of CA. :)
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As a bona fide product of the Deeeeep South I can say (without equivocation) that there are indeed areas of the South that are barren tech wastelands.
 
GushpinBob said:
Hearing stuff like "Hotel WiFi should be a right, not a luxury" makes me want to punch babies. Hey, why not make Core i7s, Xbox 360s and 60" flatscreen televisions a right? Hell, let's just go all the way and start making Bugatti Veyrons a right, too.
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To be fair, the article doesn't say that it should be a right, the HardForum repost made the title that.
 
wife just had a baby... Hanging out in TWO different hosptials and both had little to no wifi in the Paitent rooms... And they had secured internet for patients only... lol

Feel sorry for someone that actually had to work while coop'd up in the hospital....
 
Moog said:
As a bona fide product of the Deeeeep South I can say (without equivocation) that there are indeed areas of the South that are barren tech wastelands.
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As a bona fide product of California, I can say the same. That's sorta the point.
 
Hurin said:
As a bona fide product of California, I can say the same. That's sorta the point.
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So the point is that you, as someone who is completely external to the reference, decided to get offended by an accurate statement? Well, I'm glad that's out of the way. Any other groups of people you like to get offended on the behalf of? :rolleyes:
 
Nemesis999 said:
So the point is that you, as someone who is completely external to the reference, decided to get offended by an accurate statement? Well, I'm glad that's out of the way. Any other groups of people you like to get offended on the behalf of? :rolleyes:
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Wow. You miss the point.
 
/on topic

to give the UK perpsective...

Starbucks: BT Openzone - not free for most unless you have a company pass (like me!) or have BT internet at home/work.

McDonalds: Free for all a f a i k?

Travelodge/Ibis (cheaper hotels, £50 per night): Pay - £5 for 24 hours usually... pretty costly.

Malmaison (posh hotel chain, £150 a night or more): Free, wired connection

Lots of pubs now offer totally free wifi to contend with the coffee shops - trouble is after a few hours in the pub is start to slur my typing :eek:
 
I'm still surprised that on a tech forum, I'm the only one advocating technology being applied to do it yourself instead of reliance on hotels to offer a service they honestly don't have to.

A real road warrior has their own portable infrastructure. That means having alternate communication systems in place. Thus 3G USB adaptors and a cellular data plan that won't rape you. The price of those data plans will be cheaper than three nights of pay wireless....and you can use it anywhere for the most part.

Slower? Maybe, but it's fast enough to get what you need done....and maybe some Netflix or WoW time :)
 
mustang_steve said:
I'm still surprised that on a tech forum, I'm the only one advocating technology being applied to do it yourself instead of reliance on hotels to offer a service they honestly don't have to.

A real road warrior has their own portable infrastructure. That means having alternate communication systems in place. Thus 3G USB adaptors and a cellular data plan that won't rape you. The price of those data plans will be cheaper than three nights of pay wireless....and you can use it anywhere for the most part.

Slower? Maybe, but it's fast enough to get what you need done....and maybe some Netflix or WoW time :)
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Great, that works for you. This year, I have been in Germany, US, Korea, and Japan. WTF do I do?
 
phide said:
I offer free WiFi in my apartment. Renting the spare room, however, will cost you $14,737 per month. Without free WiFi access, however, the monthly rate drops to about $350 per month.
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That free wifi deal sounds like a bargain to me, I'll have to take you up on that! :)
 
My latest stay at a 4 star place was gifted with free wireless and wired access, these places get more than enough customers to offset the cost of a decent internet connection, or several smaller connections to cover the general bandwidth usage. I'm not saying it should be a right, but the internet is a pretty well built infrastructure these days and not at all that expensive to implement compared to the kind of money these places are making.
 
Having rolled out Wifi in a small hotel (150 rooms) I can understand why there'd be a charge.

The Big hotels are all about luxury and amenities so they offer it up without charge but you're still paying for it with increased room rates.

The cost of commercial grade Wi-Fi AP's, bridges and authentication servers isn't cheap. It's not like you go to walmart and stick a Linksys in a metal box and call it good. Not if you think you're going to offer any Wi-Fi service to anyone that is. The little 10mW radios in consumer grade Wi-fi will barely reach outside the average outdoor enclosure even with a 3 foot directional antenna.

The small hotels have to recoup the investment so they charge. They also have to keep it maintained (upgrades, replacements, etc) or nobody will pay for it.

The big hotels can make the investment and if it doesn't work, who cares?! You got what you (think) you paid for.

Just my .02 from one of those A$$feck IT guys...
 
Steve said:
The Washington Post wants to know why crappy hotels have free wireless internet access but the nice ones don’t (or charge for it).
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...Don't stay where it isn't free.

Really, if you book ahead you can be sure to get free wifi. If they don't offer it, just ask them to note you get it free in the booking. They will NOT turn away a $150-$250 a night (or more I suppose) client over their crappy wifi fee.

If that seems strange to you; just don't book where it isn't free. Personally I love Hyatt "Place" or whatever (kinda like studio apartments with big TVs : ) ...everything there just 'is', printing, faxing, copies, internet, and decent food options pretty much whenever.
 
jwalk6 said:
Having rolled out Wifi in a small hotel (150 rooms) I can understand why there'd be a charge.

The Big hotels are all about luxury and amenities so they offer it up without charge but you're still paying for it with increased room rates.

The cost of commercial grade Wi-Fi AP's, bridges and authentication servers isn't cheap. It's not like you go to walmart and stick a Linksys in a metal box and call it good. Not if you think you're going to offer any Wi-Fi service to anyone that is. The little 10mW radios in consumer grade Wi-fi will barely reach outside the average outdoor enclosure even with a 3 foot directional antenna.

The small hotels have to recoup the investment so they charge. They also have to keep it maintained (upgrades, replacements, etc) or nobody will pay for it.

The big hotels can make the investment and if it doesn't work, who cares?! You got what you (think) you paid for.

Just my .02 from one of those A$$feck IT guys...
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And you're not thinking of a cheap route. Cheapest network setup I've seen was a hotel that simply stuck some Linksys Wifi boxes in each room, using their pre-existing cat-5 network. Worked fine. The single was too weak to provide good access to someone sitting outside the hotel or even the next room, but was more than enough for the person inside the room.

I've also found that your small hotels tend to not charge for internet. Why? The small hotels are cheaper, so a lot more ppl flow through their doors than some $150-$300 hotel.
 
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