InternetAccess with your Laptop at a Hotel....

[abc]

lots of places have rooms with dialup ports etc but aren't the phones outrageous prices, let alone you have to have an existing provider to dial into...


how do you guys get by, any creative solutions, or even if you bite the bullet and use their datajack, what dialup provider you use, is there one that has a 1.800 # so that you can feel free to connect to them whereever in the world you are?

 

[waylman]

stay somewhere that has broadband access!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Well, are you at a hotel for vacation or business? If for vacation, forget about the internet. If for business, check if they have computers in the hotel for use in a business center or something. I usually use an aircard which is a card that uses a cell phone like connection for data without an actual cell phone, just a small card that slips into the laptop.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Or if they have a $10 per day fee for broadband, do that.

 

[Nocturnal]

A lot of hotels are implementing wifi, aren't they?

 

[dxkj]

hotel in CAli I stayed at had broadband access, just plugged the ol ethernet cable in and we're off

 

[abc]

who makes this aircard, and what provider does it dial up to?

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: abc
who makes this aircard, and what provider does it dial up to?

T-Mobile offers unlimited GPRS internet for $19.99/mo if you also have a T-Mobile cell phone plan or $29.99/mo without a T-Mobile cell phone plan.

Search eBay for the Sierra Wireless AirCard 750.

 

[Atrail]

Some of the hotels round my area offer wireless internet for free. It is close to the airport. Lots of business travelers.

 

[Electrode]

You could always use an acoustic coupler and a pay phone...

 

[Bootprint]

Use AOL

In the hotels I've stayed at I just unplugged the phone if there was no dataport. I use high-speed sympatico (Bell Canada) so I have a few hours of dialup usage and they have numbers for most of Canada.

 

[abc]

yeah, i know likely AOL has got numbers everywhere.. but using their dataport is like 1.00 first minute, then like 10cents ea. additional. . THis was a NY hotel, I'd imagine other states would be similar.

I've spent 15.00 bucks on one dialup moment just to run through , type up, send mail...

 

[oniq]

I'm actually in class right now on their wireless network..

 

[Doggiedog]

You'll get raped at the business center.

My boss just used the Internet for an hour yesterday and it cost him $54!

 

[Bootprint]

Originally posted by: abc
yeah, i know likely AOL has got numbers everywhere.. but using their dataport is like 1.00 first minute, then like 10cents ea. additional. . THis was a NY hotel, I'd imagine other states would be similar.

I've spent 15.00 bucks on one dialup moment just to run through , type up, send mail...

Ouch, that could get expensive. Time to war drive

I wish cyber-cafes had a wireless network I could buy time on. There are a few companies that do that but mostly in high traffic business areas.

 

[vegetation]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: abc
who makes this aircard, and what provider does it dial up to?

T-Mobile offers unlimited GPRS internet for $19.99/mo if you also have a T-Mobile cell phone plan or $29.99/mo without a T-Mobile cell phone plan.

Search eBay for the Sierra Wireless AirCard 750.

If you have an existing tmobile account, you can add the unlimited tzones plan for $9.99 a month. It will work fine with a full computer internet setup, not just the crumby wap only. The $20 plan let's you use vpn tunneling, that's the only difference.

 

[ed21x]

most starbucks now have wireless connections that you can use free of charge now. I don't have a laptop, but I have noticed the signs outside the cafes.

 

[SilentZero]

The last hotel I stayed at let me call local numbers for free...so I just used AOL dialup and it worked fine. No phone bill from the hotel and cancelled the AOL dialup the following week.

 

[rh71]

Even the DaysInn Los Angeles had an Internet computer right in the lobby... $1 for 10 minutes... worth it to satisfy a craving to check email and $#!T.

 

[abc]

i see. thanks and keep the responses coming. i dont frequent hotels much, so i was curious what we still face these days at hotels. i'm surprised not more hotels in the 3star range would offer broadband... wouldnt take much I would think to wire rooms for just 1 T1.. and limit the bandwidth for ea. room.... but then they'd probbably have to start paying for some kind of IT staff.

 

[shekondar]

Originally posted by: abc
lots of places have rooms with dialup ports etc but aren't the phones outrageous prices, let alone you have to have an existing provider to dial into...


how do you guys get by, any creative solutions, or even if you bite the bullet and use their datajack, what dialup provider you use, is there one that has a 1.800 # so that you can feel free to connect to them whereever in the world you are?

The most I've paid to use dialup in a hotel was $1 for up to a 60-min local call (at a ripoff Sheraton in Ft. Lauderdale). I have SBC DSL - it comes with unlimited free Yahoo dial-up nationwide.

BTW, unplugging the phone & plugging your laptop into the wall jack could fry your modem (if the hotel uses a digital phone system)...

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Or if they have a $10 per day fee for broadband, do that.

I did that in Vegas, at the Venetian.



I paid $20 an hour on a cruise ship a year ago March, ran up a $200 bill in 7 days. On the cruise I'm going on next March the ship has data ports in the room. I wonder what the charges are going to be?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Or if they have a $10 per day fee for broadband, do that.

I did that in Vegas, at the Venetian.



I paid $20 an hour on a cruise ship a year ago March, ran up a $200 bill in 7 days. On the cruise I'm going on next March the ship has data ports in the room. I wonder what the charges are going to be?

Hehe, when we went there was some problem with their setup, so the guy showed us a place to hook up our computer and use it for free practically, but we paid him for an hours usage and probably ended up only using a little over it.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Most Motel 6's have a data port in the room that is free of charge (obviously, you cannot dial long distance numbers). Juno or AOL have numbers everywhere.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
You'll get raped at the business center.

My boss just used the Internet for an hour yesterday and it cost him $54!

Some places do that, some hotels I've been to actually provide it for free