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Hotel Wireless Systems
I am a new wireless user, and I am looking for input and advice on using the wireless connections at the hotels. Do they normally charge extra for access to the wireless internet connections, and if they do how much should I expect to pay for the service? I have a Inspiron 1150 with the built in wireless card. Will I need to do any more setup work with my laptop to use a system like that? The main thing I used my computer for is email and accessing forums, so please try to go easy with tech. terms.
Mom H.
you may also find that many hotels (especially newer ones) don't use wireless at all and have all the rooms wired -- and in such cases it's worth having an extra ethernet cable with you.
of the hotels I've stayed in with high speed internet all have either been free or a flat daily rate (usually around $10).
If you have a dial-up internet service you use at home and have a cell-phone with free night-time calling you may have another option however. Should the rates at the hotel be too high it is possible to use many cell phones as a modem. It may be slower, but it's probably worth checking out if you travel extensively.
- One other consideration apart from the technical aspect of things, is the security angle: if you are transmitting stuff wirelessly, and connecting to the hotel wireless network, you will want to have some sort of private VPN service like Hotspot or boingo , so that anything that you transmit will be encrypted. (jeez, what a long sentence!). In other words, if you are going wireless: be paranoid - it's safer that way! I use www.hotspot.com as a vpn service, and I'm certain that there are many more...
Thanks for all the information, being so new to laptop computers and the wireless world I am feeling my way along. I just called the Comfort Inn that I will be staying in and found out that they do not charge for their high speed wireless service. This C.I. caters to medical patients and their families as it is within 3+ blocks of 3 major medical centers in Augusta,GA., and I think what they are doing is fantastic! But then again the owners of this C.I. has the staff go out of their way to help us feel at home, so I'm not surprised by this.
Thanks again for all the information, I'll definitely make sure I carry a ethernet cable as part of my travel gear, and I look into wither or not my cell phone can handle this kind of use, if not I'm due for a trade in anyhow.
Mom H.
When we were on vacation last August, 8 of the 10 hotels offered free wireless or wired in the rooms . . two offered it in the lobby. It's becoming easier to go online every day. This is a handy little tool to find hotspots . . http://pcworld.jiwire.com/
wrs
volcano11
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Posted December 29th, 2004 19:00
You will find that hotels that offer wireless internet vary considerably in terms of how much they charge. Some are free for guests. Others charge daily or hourly rates that can get quite expensive ($15-$20/day). Many hotels, having found that the use of cell phones have cut into their outrageous price gouging they have charged for use of the telephone, see charging for internet service as a way to make up for the lost income from the telephone.
Steve