Who pays for WIFI?

[Grogan]

Like most people in this forum, I travel around Australia a fair bit, I and am constantly amazed at how expensive WiFi is at hotels.
OS it is usually complimentary, but add to this that pre paid 3g data in OZ is fairly cheap and not restrictive to visitors, surely there cannot be that great a demand for hotels to supply WiFi.
Most phone plans have a large chunk of data included and most smart phones have the ability to tether, plus you can get free wifi at a range of cafes and bars etc
Case in point, the hotel I stayed at in Hobart on the weekend, sold WiFi and $15 could buy 12 hours and 400 mb of internet. I understand the difference between commercial bandwidth etc is different to domestic requirements, but that is 25% of what it costs me at home to have 200 gb a month.
Personally, I link my phone to my laptop and ipad..Does anyone here actually pay for hotel WiFi?

 

[Mwenenzi]

Backpacker places often have free wifi: people (read Germans) don't stay if they don't'
Once met a guy who signed into / paid up at a backpackers, but stayed at the ? star hotel down road, so he could get wifi

 

[AVC]

Pay for wifi? No. Both our iPads have data plans, plus my laptop has its own dongle. And my phone has data too which I can tether. So I'm not short of Internet.

Overseas I just get one data plan and tether the other devices

 

[boylero]

yes, by the 24hr block if its not included in the room rate, which it normally is

 

[chrisb]

I'm in a sydney hotel at the moment. It wouldn't even let me see how much wifi costs without entering my room number and name so I called reception, $25/day.

I'll continue with my own 3G wifi router.

 

[boylero]

I'm in a sydney hotel at the moment. It wouldn't even let me see how much wifi costs without entering my room number and name so I called reception, $25/day.

I'll continue with my own 3G wifi router.

you carry a 3g router with you :O

 

[roj]

I stopped staying at a hotel because the corp rate got renegged and it dropped free wifi and had been stayed there 117 nights in only 8 months... I now stay somewhere that does... both 5 star hotels, both the same cost to me...

FREE wifi is now a basic human right...

 

[chrisb]

you carry a 3g router with you :O

Yep. Asus wl-330n3g. It can be used with a 3G dongle, or connected to a LAN to act as a wifi router, or even as a wifi extender.

 

[boylero]

Yep. Asus wl-330n3g. It can be used with a 3G dongle, or connected to a LAN to act as a wifi router, or even as a wifi extender.

excellent have you a smart phone and tried the wifi hotspot also?

 

[chrisb]

excellent have you a smart phone and tried the wifi hotspot also?

Yeah, I can do that too. For business reasons I have a different sim for high data use.

 

[KLN]

not sure about here at home bit at the Le Meridien at Nice, they wanted €19 per 24 hours. thought that was a rip off so braved the SFR ofice and bougt a prepaid Sim for the same price to work in the Tablet. Supposedly free wifi in France and Spain but never strong enough to be actually abke to do anything with it. Holiday Inn Marseilles free wifi. Holiday Inn Zurich airport wanted to charge but already had a Sim for Swiss so did not matter so much

 

[I hate Alan]

OS it is usually complimentary,

Where OS maybe US, but not Japan, not Europe and not NZ. I am constantly amazed at how hard free wifi is to organize OS

 

[rechoboam]

Where OS maybe US, but not Japan, not Europe and not NZ. I am constantly amazed at how hard free wifi is to organize OS

Pick up a wifi antenna in the US for $115. Reaches a mile, stick it on the window and use the McDonald's signal. It's on that yuppie website that sells gadgets for "baby boomers and beyond".

 

[Ewing]

I certainly don't.

I acquired a 3G dongle a few years back when I was staying at a hotel at least one night a month. At that point the cost of the dongle $29/month) was less than or equal to the cost of hotel Internet.

Today I have 2.5GB on my phone and 4GB on my iPad - both of which have personal wireless hotspot capability. They're what I use to get Internet when away from home. It's on Telstra, and is faster than most hotel Internet I've encountered anyway.

When in my most travelled country outside Australia - New Zealand. I have a 2 Degrees sim in an iPhone. Again, this gets 1GB of data per month when I'm there. This is perfect for my travel needs there.

So no, I don't pay for hotel wifi. Even when there is free wifi by virtue of status, etc. I still frequently find that the Telstra 3G performs better so I use that regardless.

 

[I hate Alan]

Pick up a wifi antenna in the US for $115. Reaches a mile, stick it on the window and use the McDonald's signal. It's on that yuppie website that sells gadgets for "baby boomers and beyond".

As per my post I don't have a prob in the US, it's elsewhere.

 

[I hate Alan]

So no, I don't pay for hotel wifi. Even when there is free wifi by virtue of status, etc. I still frequently find that the Telstra 3G performs better so I use that regardless.

Yeah I have a 3g sim in my laptop, recently in Canberra I was getting 8 or 9 mb connection!

 

[gogo419]

Pick up a wifi antenna in the US for $115. Reaches a mile, stick it on the window and use the McDonald's signal. It's on that yuppie website that sells gadgets for "baby boomers and beyond".

Have you got a link?? Did a quick google but nothing that i can see..

cheers gogo

 

[bigjobs]

Have you got a link?? Did a quick google but nothing that i can see..

cheers gogo

x2 on this link

 

[elbarto]

I've got a Netcomm Myzone. It's about the size of a credit card, but probably four or five times the thickness.

 

[Shane B]

I stayed at a tourist park in DRW a couple of weeks ago; all the hotels were booked due to the V8s. This place was charging $21 for a 24 hr wifi pass - with a 200MB download limit. Come off it.

When staying in USA, have no problems tapping into unsecure wifi networks - especially if there are residential apartments near the hotels.