My rant of the day - Hotels and Internet Access
 

Here is my rant 'o the day.

Why can't hotels give you straight details about internet access in their rooms? Specifically high-speed access.

When I travel I like to bring my laptop with me whether I'm on vacation or business. I like to stay in hotels that have high-speed access from your room. But finding out which hotels offer in-room high-speed access is like pulling teeth.

You would think that if a hotel went to all the trouble to install ethernet cable in every room that they might want to mention that on their website, but noooooooooo. They will tell you that the room has a complimentary coffee machine and hair dryer, but they won't bother to tell you about the high-speed net access. FUCK THE COFFEE!!! GIVE ME BROADBAND!!!

And then there are the websites that list under the room facilities something vague like: Internet Access. I got burned by that once. I was staying in a hotel that said the rooms had "internet access" and when I got there I found out that "internet acces" means the phones in the room have that extra plug in them so you can use some third party dial-up crap. An extra phone jack is not internet access!

So you say "why don't you just phone the hotel and ask them?" and I say "yay! I get to talk to some minimum wage earning highschool drop out about whether they have internet access" The usual conversation would go something like this:

Me: "Hi, do your rooms have high-speed internet access?"

Hotel: "yeah, we use the interweb"

Me: "but do your rooms have internet access in them?"

Hotel: "yeah, we have pictures of our rooms on the interweb"

Me: "AAAaaaaaargh *%^&^%&%!!!"

hotels are made to get drunk and fuck in.

Business men should be fucking hot sluts and not chillin online when 'on the move'

I leave the net behind when I travel.

;)

I wish I could leave it behind, but I gotta make sure servers are up and emails are answered and stuff like that. It's not like I spend all day working, but I need to check on stuff for peace of mind and to keep things going smoothly.

then why don't you just get some SNMP monitoring software that sends emails to your cell phone when something goes down? Then you don't have to worry about checking it every hour.

Works for me. Then again - my shit is never down

:thumbsup

Servers going down isn't my biggest problem. My servers only go down about once every 6 months. But I got emails and icq and stuff like that to do.

144K up and down. ATT, Verizon - National Coverage

http://www.sierrawireless.com/Produc...AC750_GSM.html

hahaha had the same problem this summer when I was out traveling. If you're ever going to scandinavia hit me up. I got all the hotels with broadband checket out !

Radisson SAS is usually a safe bet, at least in Oslo and Copenhagen.

I just love this topic.

"Yes we have it in this room".. Go to the room, doesn't work..

"Oops, sorry, it's not working on that floor yet, try this one"

Nope again..

It took 6 rooms on 4 floors to find a working connection.

I also freequent some specific hotels just for their broadband, and then when I go back a couple of months later, it's gone.

Brownbears "typical" conversation couldn't be more perfect...

Bug-out.

Hehe yeah, I stayd at the Radisson in copenhagen this summer nice hotel !

How much does the modem itself cost? Couldn't find any pricing info.

I use the Merlin C201 with my sprint account, it was like $150 from sprint, but I've seen them as low as $25 on ebay. I got the unlimited account with sprint for $100 a month so I don't have to worry about any overages which you have to worry about if you use one of their lower useage plans.


Tim
:Graucho

This fucking happened to me last Thursday. I was staying at the Milwaukee Hilton. On the website it says:


+ Internet access in guest room

http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/hotels/a...tyhocn=MKEMHHF

So I show up, I don't see it.. I call the front desk and ask if they have high speed internet access in the room and they respond "Yes, every room has internet access"

I ask where it is

"You have to plug your computer into the phone"

So the data port on the phone is what they consider "Internet Access"... uggg

I agree

Due to a flood in my house I live in a marriott right now.

I have a shitty dialup at 50 cents a call.

Looks as though I will be here for at least 3 - 4 months at as much as $150 a day. Sucks big time.

$4,500 a month to stay in a hotel with no high-speed net access?

Usually I've found that Marriott is one of the best for offering high-speed net access in the rooms.

If I were you, I would find another hotel in the city you're in, there should be at least one with high-speed net.

Tons of hotels here as I live and work in a very upscale vacation/resort area. None of the others were willing to take my 5 animals.

A choice between my animals and DSL is simple. The animals win.

you have 5 animals in a hotel room? what are they?