If you are like me, you need to connect to wireless Internet when you're on the road. Here's how to find hotels with a proper WIFI connection for your laptop.
Different hotels have different levels of wireless Internet connection. More often, savvy hoteliers are realizing a free, hotel-wide, fast and stable WIFI connection makes the biggest deciding factor for whether businessmen and women will even consider their hotel on their trip itinerary.
I have stayed at hotels with poor, wobbly and uncertain connection and won't visit them again. It's just too tough to get much serious work done if you can't rely on a good connection.
Here are some tips for finding a hotel with a proper wireless Internet connection:
Search on the Internet Before You Go
Many hotels have websites of their own, listing whether they have wireless Internet available - or at least providing a number for you to call ahead and check. Expedia.com provides very good hotel descriptions, plus you can set your search parameters to only bring up hotels with WIFI access.
Ask How Far the WIFI Extends
Some hotels only have WIFI on the bottom floors or in public areas, which is fine in a pinch. With other hotels, only rooms close to the main office will be within WIFI range, or within rooms close enough to the business center. It's always worth asking before you go whether your room will be within range. Ask to be moved if possible or necessary. As a rule, I will select hotels with free and clear WIFI in every room, so I don't have to worry.
Get the Password
Ask ahead of time so you don't try to log in and get frustrated later. You won't need a password at every hotel, but very many have a secured system.
Ask if it's Free
I don't like paying for my connection. It's an annoyance factor, a feeling of being nickle-and-dimed. All things being equal, I'd rather pay a little more at a hotel where my connection is free.
Use the Business Center
Many hotels have a complete room set aside for business travelers to conduct their business on the road. These rooms often have wireless Internet and computers all set up and ready to use, for free. You can generally at least get a phone jack if your laptop isn't WIFI compatible. Business centers usually come equipped with printers, copiers and fax machine, and some have other perks as well. I will discuss hotel business centers in greater detail in a later article.
Ask if There is Another Option
Even if your hotel has nothing - no connection, no phone jack, nada - you can probably still get some work done on the Internet. Ask if there is a coffee shop, bookstore, cybercafe, public library, Kinkos or other similar place nearby. You need some place where a wireless Internet connection is likely, and that you can lounge at for a few hours and quietly work. It's also worth firing up your computer in your room or in the lobby, to see if there is any local hot spot you can log on with anyway.
Not all hotel and motel clerks even understand what a wireless Internet connection is. Many times I've gotten the "blank stare" when I ask if they have WIFI. And some clerks don't even know they have WIFI, even if that hotel does, indeed. Hotel managers need to know how important it is to train their employees to have an understanding of this issue. It's worth a bit of education to retain the patronage of those who make their living on the road.
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- Wireless Networking Primer
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