Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2007-09-12 07:03:11 - Graham Ellis
If your hotel has wireless access, then there's not much to choose between modern wifi cards / built in facilities these days. But its much more questionable as to how your hotel will be set up for their wifi to operate. I travel - a lot - as part of my job; away last week and I stayed at three hotels all of whom claimed wifi access but ...
First Hotel - wifi just disappeared and it sounds like it's not the first time. Not fixed when reported. Second Hotel - wifi was through t-mobile and seems to block Skype Third Hotel- turns out that claimed wireless access is in the adjacent 24 hour service area not in the room at all.
Best comments? Know your computer well. Check ahead with the hotel. Have a "webmail" style service so that you can check from an internet cafe / shared system if need be. Take an ethernet cable in case it turns out to be wired access. Check for other wifi hotspots in the area. Even a modem cable and an a roaming account can be useful. And you may be able to check via your mobile phone.
Actually, it gets easier. At least in most parts I travel to, there are nearby alternatives if the hotel system fails me and it's more an inconvnience than anything else to find an alternative.
An answer written for more "local" use .... which I felt was worth sharing!