I’m going to be travelling soon, was wondering if there was a hotel chain that had better wifi than the others. I don’t travel that often, but I know there are Dopers who do. So, who’s the best in wifi land?
When I was in France, Ibis had the best wifi.
Will be in the US mostly but might be in Canada for a night or two.
It varies wildly within the chains. I don’t think it’s easy to generalize. I’ve had success in Sheraton hotels but there have been a few of them with awful wi-fi as well.
My experience over the last couple of years at places like Best Western, Holiday Inns, Choice Hotels, etc is that it all depends on the individual hotel. The major factors seem to be proximity of your room to the nearest access point and number of other guests using the wifi. Of course older hotels have less robust systems. All I can say is that troubleshooting wifi problems in your hotel room is a complete waste of time. Better to go use the computers in the hotel lobby or “business center”.
I don’t think I have ever stayed at a hotel that even had passable wifi. They were speed equivalents to dial up connections that allowed you to check your email. Netflix was out.
I’m pretty cheap though.
My experience has been that hotel wifi is bad, though I did find a hotel once in Canada that would let me play on Second Life at 20 FPS, which is kind of amazing. To be fair, it was not a business hotel and may not have had much use on its wifi net.
I’ve always had good luck at Hampton Inns. Some other Hilton brands suck donkey balls though.
Which ones? I’ve got some donkey friends looking for recommendations.
The Klimpton hotels I have stayed in have always had good wifi.
IIRC, the Hilton brands also have AT&T wifi. The last time I was at one, I was given the option to log in with an HHonors account or my personal AT&T account. It was good enough for some light browsing.
There are too many variables to wifi to definitively say who has the best unless you’re at a hotel with a fiber WAN connection and APs that serve no more than two rooms each. In the real world, you need to consider the distance to the AP, how much concrete and metal is between you and the AP, the number of users, if they’re sending an email or streaming Netflix, the hotel’s ISP, etc.
I’ve found the best wifi at budget Motel 6 locations and extended stay hotels. Motel 6 charges a nominal fee for the wifi, and the locations I’ve been at have all been places off the highway, with most people likely just passing through and needing a bed for the night.
Extended stay places tend to cater to business travelers or people relocating. So, they’re likely to probably have better wifi since guests tend to be using it more. Also, most of those types of places don’t have an onsite bar or coffee shop, so there isn’t a quick place to connect outside of the room.
High rise hotels have tended to have the worst wifi, with gigantic casino hotels being the worst of the worst. I’m sure the long halls with endless rooms don’t help.
No chain seems perfect. It will vary hotel to hotel. As such, I always bring an ethernet cable with me just in case. However, I couldn’t believe I was just in a Hampton in with only RJ15 (telephone) jacks for data! These will not accommodate an ethernet connection (and are now very archaic)!