Hotel Broadband FAIL

Filed under: connectivity,mobile network operators,travel - 09 Jul 2008 0:01

Tonight, I am staying in one of my usual hotels while in the Bay Area. Aside from the usual corporate shuffling on preferred hotels, I can think of one reason I will avoid staying here in the future: their broadband, or lack thereof.

When I realized how bad it was, I figured I’d try EVDO with my Sierra Wireless AirCard 595U. I hadn’t installed the drivers on this laptop since the last time it was reimaged, so it was off to sprint.com/downloads in order to download the Sprint SmartView software. I started to download the software through the hotel broadband and watched as it downloaded at dialup speeds.

Plan B was to use a phone I am currently beta testing for Nokia to download the same file, though I left the download running on the hotel broadband as a sort of speed test. Even though I started downloading the file on the 3G phone later, the phone download finished first. I had the file installed on my PC and Sprint EVDO service up and running in no time!

I am certainly going to fill out the comment card for this hotel stay. If I had more time, I’d try and corner the hotel management and discuss the issue with them directly.


Bookmark with: del.icio.us Digg it Furl iFeedReaders ma.gnolia Maple.nu RawSugar reddit Simpy StumbleUpon
Tags: , , Fnord

3 Comments

  1. Comment by Don

    So many hotels offer different internet services. Some are “free” and some “High Speed” will cost you. It is a pain in the neck to get help on either of them when they do not work to your expectations. The Sprint or Verizon Modem cards work great in EVDO Rev A areas and work much better than most of the “Free” internet services at hotels. There are several Wireless Routers that can allow you to set up a Hot Spot for your room or conference area if you have multiple users on 1 modem card. This helps if you have to share a room with an associatie that does not have their own card. The iBox2Go is a great solution for hotel internet problems.

  2. Comment by Carolyn Schuk

    I haven’t thought about the Lion and Compass in years — thanks for bringing back some good memories:)

  3. Comment by Andy Abramson

    Hotels with broadband? When did they get installations that are that fast?

    Candidly, I’m now making a note on every reservation that I must have proper broadband. If I don’t I reserve the right to challenge the bill.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Switch to our mobile site