I do not know about other hotels but I know that at the hotel I work in some of these tips would not work too well. Our hotel (and actually the entire franchise) charges for both wireless and wired internet access so buying a wireless router would not achieve very much. We do offer free wi-fi in the lobby but only for one, continuous hour per day: that is, if you use it for fifteen minutes and leave, then you are not allowed to use it any more for that day. The first and last tips might work reasonably well though. Alternatively, if you stay with our franchise repeatedly and become a rewards member, then you become entitled to free internet at some level or other.
Those are pretty good tips, I guess. If you travel a lot, it might be a good idea to invest in a pay-as-you-go Internet card. Otherwise, I'd probably just spring for the hotel WiFi if I needed it.
When I book a hotel I check for free internet service, one hour a day is not going to do me much good. T-Mobile has come out with a new service giving tablet users access included on a monthly charge.
Every hotel I have stayed at has free With-Fi and internet connection. I didn't think hotels could charge for that anymore. I guess I am wrong. Do most hotels charge then? Does this charge show up on your bill or is it a flat fee every time?
Using the lobby would probably be a good idea but any hotel room I've been in has never charged for WI-FI to tell you the truth. Just look for hotels where they advertise free wi-fi and maybe call before hand to verify that.
I don't believe that they charge for internet connections anymore at most places. A few years ago, they would charge like $15 a night for it, which was insane, especially considering the connection itself was really slow. But most places just offer it for free. If they are nickle and diming their guests over something like that, they will just stay at another hotel the next time that offers it for free. It's foolish of hotel owners to lose customers by trying to get an extra fee out of them. Also, the guests will just leave and go somewhere else that offers free internet access throughout the day - possibly causing the hotel to lose out on any extra revenue from them dining in their own restaurants and shops.
This is certainly useful information for some, but even in the budget hotels wifi is usually free in my experience. It's actually in the lobby that is costs more often than not. It's still useful for other times though. I only recently realized about tethering devices and that's been very useful.
Just use the the portable hotspot app on your phone. You might have to jailbreak the phone first to make using the hot spot app free. I didn't think anyone would even consider paying for hotel wifi. If you don't have a mobile data package on your phone. You would be better suited sitting in McDonalds parking lot. They offer free wifi internet to customers.
At the Hilton hotel I was staying at I just called in and told them that I forgot my WiFi password and they gave a password to fill in the Hilton Login page and I was able to get free WiFi. But usually if I'm unable to do this I just tether my phone with my laptop so I'm able to use 4G.
