Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Hotel Wi-Fi experiences

Jasia has a helpful post about hotel wireless internet access at http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2007/05/best-wifi-hotels-for-genealogists.html. Her post links to the HotelChatter site that has lists of the Best Wi-Fi Hotels in 2007 and Worst Wi-Fi Hotels in 2007.

My own recent experience is useful to recount here:

1) We stayed at the Omni hotel in downtown San Diego back in early April. They had a choice of Ethernet or wireless in the room. I tried to connect via wireless but had to contact the help center. I finally opted to use the Ethernet connection, which worked fine and was free.

2) We stayed at a Best Western in Chelmsford MA in early May. I tried to connect using the wireless in the room, but even after talking to the help center, I was unable to connect reliably. It did connect reliably in the hotel lobby area, however. It was free.

3) We stayed in a Best Western in Los Alamitos CA last weekend. They had only an Ethernet connection in the room, and it worked easily and was free.

I was surprised to see the list of decent hotels on the Worst WiFi list. You would think that those that cater to business travelers would ensure quick and easy access to the Internet for their customers. Many hotels charge a daily fee for access - and business travelers can charge that as an expense.

Thanks, Jasia, for an interesting article and useful links.

No comments: