o2 mobile broadband using in a hotel

mkgirl1981

hi i hope someone can help
im going to be staying in a travelodge soon and they charge quite alot to use wi fi there
i have an o2 mobile broadband usb and was wondering if i can use this to sort of bypass the hotels wi fi ?
has anyone used one in a similar hotel where you have to pay for wi fi ?

thanks for any help

Sagz_2

I've used my Orange and 3 mobile broadband dongles in Travelodges all over the country - just depends if the signal is strong enough.

hermanmunster_3

I used a 3 mobile dongle with laptop in hotel in London as there wifi was a silly price

luci

I've used a 3 mobile dongle at a Premier Inn and also at another hotel. No need to use the hotel's wifi. Don't worry about connecting to the hotel's wifi as you can't be charged unless you physically connect to it and enter your payment details.

Also check the coverage for the area you are visiting as I had problems with a dropped connection, but this was in the north of Scotland.

mk-donald

An o2 mobile broadband USB dongle user here. It's use is EXACTLY what you have in mind - ie to use its mobile phone based BB instead of the mega expensive WiFi from your hotel.

(That said the o2 mobile setup/software ALSO allows use with loads of WiFi hotspots around the UK too - though NOT the ones based in Travelodges. That can be useful as the DATA on that WiFi use doesnt count towards your day/week/month allowance and is usually faster than the mobile phone based data.)

My advice would be to just make sure that you get the o2 Connection manager software installed and working satisfactorily BEFORE you go mobile and have to try to use it away from your home network/WiFi.

Indeed try to test it 100% with the Mobile USB dongle BEFORE you go away and NEED to us it - that's possible as choosing to let the o2 Connection Manage connect to o2 mobile network just takes you browser to their mobile broadband portal page and stops there unless you do pay/subscribe for the 1-7-31 days usage - ie you can validate it works without having to pay & start the day/data counter runner.

(That would be similar with any hotels WiFi connection - ie if you choose to connect your PC's WiFi to that hotel network it will only get to a 'portal' page and until you pay/subscribe your browser will be stuck at that page - as Luci said above - you can't end up being billed for the hotel's ££ WiFi usage as there is a separate registration/payment process for it!)

eg see
http://www.o2.co.uk/support/broadbandinternet/o2connectionmanager
and download the latest version based on which USB gizmo you have.

(BTW: I did TRY to use a TMobile USB gizmo - and it was a total disaster failing during the sign-up/payment process with "page not founds" - at a time when I was unable to connect via any free WiFi - hence kept using my o2 one which has proven reliable now for 3 top-ups!)

MKD

mkgirl1981

thanks for that guys, so glad as wifi in travelodge is so overpriced!

mickeypops

I stay in hotels most weeks. I have both an o2 and 3 dongle for their wireless broadband services. I've never had a problem - I always travel though with an active 5m USB extension cable - it's surprising how much difference it can make in signal quality by hanging the dongle near the window, or even just elsewhere in the room.

web_ferret

mickeypops wrote: »

I stay in hotels most weeks. I have both an o2 and 3 dongle for their wireless broadband services. I've never had a problem - I always travel though with an active 5m USB extension cable - it's surprising how much difference it can make in signal quality by hanging the dongle near the window, or even just elsewhere in the room.

I've never got an active cable to work - I use a standard 5m cable and it makes a massive difference to the speed.
In my exerience some modems won't work on a 5m extension though but they do work on a 3m!