Tag: Internet at hotels

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If you do value online connectivity, it is worth asking your hotel, motel, holiday rental or similar accommodation about that Wi-Fi Internet service they offer

Ask About A Hotel Or Airbnb’s WiFi Before You Book | Lifehacker

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When you book that hotel, motel or holiday-rental house like an AirBnB, it may be worth inquiring about the kind of Wi-Fi service the venue has. This is more so where they advertise the availability of Wi-Fi as a headline feature.

In some of these venues, you may come across situations that may impact your online life during your stay.

For example, you may come across a short-term holiday rental that is set up with an el-cheapo Internet-service plan where there isn’t much in the way of included data allowance and the use of multimedia content like Netflix, Internet radio or YouTube; or IP-based voice and video telephony by guests may chew through this allowance. Similarly, the facility may only be provided with a connection that doesn’t have much in the way of bandwidth, a reality with properties located out of major towns.

Hotels and similar locations can have their fair share of Wi-Fi Internet limitations. For example, they could include baseline Wi-Fi Internet for one device as part of the accommodation deal but charge extra for higher bandwidth or concurrent use of more devices. Or you may find that it is an optional extra that is charged for separately.

Similarly you may find that the hotel’s Internet service underperforms during peak occupancy especially when many guests are streaming online multimedia content like Netflix concurrently.

Some of us may see this as a deal-maker or deal-breaker when it comes to booking that accommodation facility depending on what level of priority we give to Internet access while on the road. It may be more important when we engage in videocalling as a way to “touch base”, upload photos to an online album or social media, or enjoy online video content during the evening. As well, it can be of concern where multiple people like a family are using the connection concurrently.

The venue may also see your interest in its guest-access Internet as a way to improve their offering especially when they are in a position to “re-contract” their Internet service to a better tariff. If they are in a truly-competitive market, they could easily end up placing the service on a tariff that offers a “better bang for the buck”. This is by offering more bandwidth and data usage (where applicable) for the same amount that they previously paid or for less.

As well, it may appeal to rental-premises owners who want to see value in renting out their short-let venue for longer periods at a time. It can also help them to court the business community who may use these places as a base to stay while doing business in the local area.

Similarly, an accommodation venue can see their guests’ interest in the quality of their on-site Internet service amenity as an excuse to invest in the associated Wi-Fi and other local-network infrastructure. This can be about filling in Wi-Fi “dead spots” with extra access points or reworking the network for higher throughput such as using equipment with newer Wi-Fi and Ethernet specificcations.

It is still worth it to raise questions about the Internet service you may end up with while on the road. This is because it can benefit both you and the venue owner in various ways.

Article written in January 2020, updated in January 2023 to factor in the local network aspect for guest-amenity Wi-Fi networks.

Articles

Ranking Hotels by Whether the Wi-Fi Actually Works | Mashable

Hotel WiFi Test Ranks Hotels By Wi-Fi Speed And Quality | Lifehacker

HotelWiFiTest Site Begins Predicting WiFi Speeds At Most Major Hotels | ISPReview.co.uk

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Hotel WiFi Test

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Now it is easier to know how the hotel Wi-Fi network performs

I had touched on the issue of the Wi-Fi public-access Internet service that is offered by hotels and similar accommodation businesses. This covered the issue of how you can be sure of complementary Internet access when you book by doing some extra research as well as the issue of these networks having to satisfy the expectations of the connected traveler who streams or downloads multimedia content.

Now a Website is running a “league table” of how well different the Wi-Fi setups at the different hotels work. This shows whether the service is a paid-access one as well as performance based on maximum, expected and minimum throughputs. The maximum speed would be achievable at night or, more likely, when the property isn’t being occupied fully. The expected speed is based on what you would achieve at a random time of the day while the minimum is based on the lowest speed the hotel’s Wi-Fi has achieved.

The data is based on crowdsourced measurements with algorithms to verify that you are measuring the hotel’s Wi-Fi network and are staying there. As well, a good practice is to take the multiple measurements over a long time to factor in equipment upgrades, capital works or different occupancy levels.

This can be of benefit to both the guests and the hoteliers including the big chains. Potential guests can use Wi-Fi as a decider for whether they book a room at a particular place or not, or know whether the Wi-Fi network at where they are staying is really “cutting it or not” for their tasks. The hotelier can also use this data to justify the value of improving their Wi-Fi guest-access network or is able to know if that network is working below market expectation. This could subsequently attract more custom with a network that hits the mark.

There is even the ability to assess aggregate data for a particular city or country and they even use the press releases to show whether different hotel chains are performing against each other.

At least this is a way for the accommodation industry to be encouraged to cater to the connected traveler who is likely to “bring their own content” from Websites or make heavy use of cloud-based storage and computing services.