Indeed. You certainly don't get free WiFi in a Travelodge - which I suppose is the "Ryanair" of hotels, anyway. They charge some ridiculous rate for it. I've no idea whether it's any good - I've never used it - I always take my 3G-based personal WiFi gadget to use with my Android tablet - and that's fine.
The former gets expense account customers who don't care.
In the one at Kings Cross I stayed in before catching an early Eurostar from nearby St Pancras a year or two back you could hardly see to read due to the awful low energy lights. They never replied to my comment on a customer satisfaction survey that I considered them to be a fire risk because if I need to stay again I'm going to bring candles. G.Harman
Earlier in the year, one of my cousins was looking at buying a couple of hotels and I was roped in to advise him on the web sites. I looked at quite a few hotel sites and got the impression that free WiFi was very widespread. Perhaps they are waking up to the fact that people now expect it.
Colin Bignell
We've always found Premier Inn to be more than acceptable. If you want bad try Travelodge...
I mostly use a 3G dongle, but had no signal one night so had to buy the wifi. It seemed to work.
Curiously, for various good reasons, the boot of our car always contains a torch and a fan heater! :)
The most interesting thing, is (now I remember) I had a meeting once in their bar/coffee bar area (the office was 110% occupied - we've since moved) then you got "free" WiFi with a code on the receipt for the coffee ! They also do conference facilities where the organiser can buy a WiFi pass for delegates. Which doesn't compare well with a dedicated conference facility in London (The Minories - very satisfied customer) which offered free WiFi as a matter of course.
Maybe the router logged the MAC address once you'd authenticated ?
My beef is with "The Cloud" and other nationwide providers. I have created an account with them. But you always need to enter your email
*and* password. Then there's O2, BT plus any number of local outfits.That said, there is something very liberating about dropping SWMBO off for a hospital appointment, pissing off to the Costa franchise, ordering a coffee, and sitting down to work for 30 minutes. (10 of which are taken up waiting for my work-provided XP laptop to "resume"). The costa don't offer free WiFi, but my 3G dongle works great. I am supposed to be able to tether to my work Vodaphone smartphone, but lifes too short !
?
Can be very useful, depending on what you're doing. On Chiltern railways I can get 2 hours worth of work done, rather than staring out of the window. (Which of course for some people *is* work ;) )
Funnily enough, my boss spotted it on the form. He OK'd it, but gently suggested next time I might use my mobile. My excuse was that this was the first time I had used a hotel for company business - which was accepted !
As I said, I couldn't connect. The sign in web page just looped around after I entered my details. Maybe it doesn't like Windows Phone 8 ?
Errrrr, you do, if the train, track, signals,etc., break. It might be useful in that situation, you could tell people where you where and find out what's going on. TFL don't tell you.
Could well be. I await further data points.
The Crackberry may remember network logon details in the same way that Windows and my Windows phone does.
most companies I've worked for would care if you paid 30 quid for 24 hours wifi
tim
On Saturday 21 December 2013 11:58 Onetap wrote in uk.d-i-y:
As long as you conveniently break down in a station - no WIFI in the tunnels!
Travelodge Wembley (on the North Circular) must be the worst. I used it several times a few years ago and each time it was a bit worse so I transferred my allegiance to the then-new Borehamwood hotel. But Travelodge rooms are being refurbished and i had my first experience of one of those last night, at Portishead. They've almost eliminated the use of sealant in the shower so the risk of mould is much reduced. The lighting was enough to read by as well. (WiFi is £5 for the first hour; don't remember the other rates. I used phone/tablet combination.)
What all thiis wireless crap:-)
I did not even get curtains on the windows when I stopped over in a pub in Deptford. Mind you that was £20 a night
In article , ARW writes
Did they make the difference back at the bar :-?
On wifi in hotel rooms, I can't say I've felt the need, it's light relief to get away from computers when not at work.
In a Premier Inn last year, wired was free, WiFi was charged for. I'd forgotten to pack any leads.
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