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Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

hotelwifitest.com

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Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#83
Seems like a tough thing to accurately score - you have issues of coverage (do certain floors or the lobby have coverage vs. the rooms), dropped connections, over subscriptions at peak times, inconvenience of re-entering user info, etc.

Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#84
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oftentimes, the reason for this is that those hotels were particularly early in offering their guests internet access but then bought into a draconian external service provider with awful service, high fees, very long contract duration, and slow speed. Usually, when I'm in an expensive hotel with awful (paid) internet, I speak up and they explain this to me. The last hotel where that happened explained to me that man…

I can corroborate this. I did a network setup at a B&B that hadn't had any wi-fi since the place got internet. We bumped up their ISP plan to proper business class and got an upgraded router to boot. I ran wire from it to each floor via existing conduit and set up APs. No middle-man slave master for internet and certainly anyone else can service the setup after I was done. No other contract except their ISP. Everyone…

Hey EJR,

I am new to HN so not sure how to message you outside this thread. Do you have any links that could point me in the direction to do some of my own network setup at home? I'm just a beginner but would love to start learning and fix some stuff

Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#85
The key measure we should all be paying attention is "Confidence".

Ex: Some of the hotels in New York show very high speeds, but also "Confidence: 9.2%".

  Confidence value shows how thoroughly the WiFi has been tested at this hotel. 
  The confidence value depends on several factors, including the number of 
  speed tests taken, how recently the tests occurred, and the diversity of tests 
  in terms of the time of day, day of the week, and point within the travel season.

Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#86

One thing that I noticed, is that the more expensive the hotel, the worst is the WiFI. Same applies when I have to pay for WiFI - the more I pay, the worst it is. I've found that 3 star hotels that offer free WiFI usually have the best speeds/service. Whereas 5 star hotels that usually charge $14.95 daily have the worst.

I was once in a Marriott that gave free Wi-Fi to Apple devices and charged all other devices. I didn't know about the Apple deal till a colleague on the same trip told me he was getting it free on his Macbook Pro. Needless to say, I spoofed my MAC address and User Agent and got it free as well. Not sure which one it was actually checking, but probably the latter.

Anyway, something to be aware of.

Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#87
post #84
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can corroborate this. I did a network setup at a B&B that hadn't had any wi-fi since the place got internet. We bumped up their ISP plan to proper business class and got an upgraded router to boot. I ran wire from it to each floor via existing conduit and set up APs. No middle-man slave master for internet and certainly anyone else can service the setup after I was done. No other contract except their ISP. Everyone…

Hey EJR, I am new to HN so not sure how to message you outside this thread. Do you have any links that could point me in the direction to do some of my own network setup at home? I'm just a beginner but would love to start learning and fix some stuff

"Eli the Computer guy" does some pretty interesting video tutorials on YouTube. He tends to go on and on a bit, but overall he does a nice job of explaining networking basics, how to run cables, use RJ45 connectors - this is very important if you run your own wire - and setting up routers/switches.

Edit: Here's the full playlist of his networking videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8RSFQG8do&list=PLF360ED108...

Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#88
Someone should really make an 'Airbnb' for High Speed Internet Connections around the world. Hotels, universities, internet cafes, business centres - a lot of businesses would pay to find high speed internet locations around the world for business trips

Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#89
If I experience trouble with WiFi during my stay at a hotel then I just connect to internet using hotspot created from my android phone. I understand not everyone have android phone.

Anyway, we are in a hotel for couple hours only. Rest of time either we are sleeping or we are outside either working or enjoying our vacation.

Re: Choose hotels by the quality of their WiFi

#90
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, we've moved on to the future, we're too cool to have laptops with useful ports anymore.

I realize this is a joke, but if it's a reference to Apple laptops, it's worth noting that an ethernet plug literally will not fit on recent models of the Macbook Pro or Air; they're simply too narrow. I'd much prefer a narrower portable to an ethernet port; when I need one I'm happy to use a dongle.

This problem was solved well over a decade ago by PCMCIA Ethernet adapters, but the pop-out slim RJ-45 connector is probably too fragile to be put into an Apple laptop.
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