Why is wifi so expensive in hotels?

usignuolo

My OH is away at present, on a business trip, on his own account. He is struggling to find any sort of wifi at any reasonable price. The local Hilton where he is giving a talk, (but not staying as it is outside his budget) charges a minimum of £15 per day for connection to their wifi network. Another guest told him it is locked into a contract with a firm called Ibahn who provide network access for hotels and large restaurants.

So I accept there is an installation and maintenance cost, but a minimum charge of £15 per day for every guest who wants to log in and check their email? This is just blatant profiteering, like hotel phone calls used to be. Apparently Offcom or Oftelwhatever it is called, refuses to get involved saying it is a "nascent" sector.

Anyone on the inside know how much the likes of ibahn charge to server up a hotel for wifi and how much profit the hotel makes on Hilton type charges - which are by no means uncommon?

Inner_Zone

Some hotel chains like Best Western don't charge for Internet access, wire or wireless depending on hotel and their rates can be competitive compared to Travelodge, Premier Inn whom charge extra for Wi-Fi and breakfast. Holiday Inn Express charge £10 which includes movies (but I don't want movies! I'm only there for work, rather watch a movie at home on a big screen anyway) others are about the same. Personally I refuse to pay these charges so use a 3G dongle, £15 per month on contract or from £2 per day to £15 per month on PAYG.

adviceforall

Get a dongle, should work out much better, we use one when we go away..Have tried 3 and 02

usignuolo

Anyone used a T mobile dongle? How much bandwidth do you need to read and answer emails daily? And update facebook from time to time? Is it available on PAYG?

alisont

I've got a Vodaphone dongle for my netbook - use it in travelodges if away, has worked fine but I tend to stay London/city hotels so usually would expect a good signal. It did not work in Lymington in a holiday cottage but was more rural.

It was £39 18 months ago with £15 credit on and Ive only topped up once since!

Otherwise I sit outside a McD's or use the Wetherspoons free wifi if I need internet access as free - but that is with my i touch as i dont take the netbook out.

getmore4less

Find a wetherspoon pub free wifi and cheap beer.

De Vere have free wi-fi in the public areas.


Another option is ipass this is a consolidated access provider but look like it no longer provides personal subscriptions.

what about one of these(this deal is over but you can get the idea)
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/mifi-pay-as-you-go-includes-10-star/732941

trotter09

adviceforall wrote: »

Get a dongle, should work out much better, we use one when we go away..Have tried 3 and 02

Yup, we have an Orange dongle which costs us £5 a month, but it has a fairly low monthly useage and can be slow and in some country hotels there can be no signal. But these days when we look for a hotel we look to see if it has free wifi. Hotels please take note!!! Most Best Westerns have free wifi but not all, but we have popped into McDonalds on occasions to use their free wifi. Some Garden Centre restaurants also have free wifi these days.

wattywattwatt

We bought an orange dongle for use on a trip to London last year, it has worked pretty well in various locations but not, unfortunately, in the London Hotel that we purchased it for. Can hotels 'block' the signals so that visitors have to use their service? Or is it just my suspicious mind working overtime!

vikingaero

WiFi is expensive in hotels because it's a captive market. There is also the cost of providing the service an infrastructure which may only be used by a small % of guests.

If your OH stays regularly (or sometimes even irregularly) at hotels and needs WiFi then dongles work up to a point. Surfing on flash enabled sites with only GPRS signal is painful. Maybe sign to T-Mobile, BT Openzone or iPass and see who has the best roaming agreements (ie, let's say you're paying £10 a month to T-Mobile for WiFi and you find that you're staying in a BT Openzone enabled hotel - most of the time BT Openzone will allow you to "roam" or use their network for free by logging in with your T-Mobile username and password).

babyshoes

Well, as has been mentioned, it is a captive market, plus those people for whom checking email is a necessity are likely to be travelling for business and can therefore claim the cost back. Personal email is more likely to be lower priority, and could probably wait until you find somewhere with free wifi or an internet cafe to check it.

withabix

I'm currently sitting in a Holiday Inn that wants £15 for 24 hours wired internet. It's iBahn.

Crowne Plaza charge more for the rooms and less for the internet, even though they are the same chain.

Premier Inn charge a fortune, as do Park Inn.

I've got a BTOpenworld account which lets me use BTOZ, but try to use a BTOZ 'afiliate' wifi (such as that used at Premier Inn or Park Inn) and you will not be able to login.

Hotel internet connections are notoriously slow anyway. Think of it as sharing your home internet connection with your entire housing estate or village....

Dongles are the solution, especially if your employer is paying for it

Orange or Three will give you the best national coverage, although there is very little 3G/HSDPA coverasge in rural areas on any network.