# why is wifi so lame in a hotel - compared to cell reception?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 22, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372 "2016-05-22T16:20:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/1 "2016-05-22T16:20:36Z")
So here we are in a hotel and Mrs. CC can get no updated info, no current news on her phone using the hotel’s wifi. Turn it off, and go with cell reception, and all’s well. Of course, this is the costly way to go. Is this a matter of a weak wifi signal in the hotel? Or could it be just a setting that we haven’t thought to adjust?
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/2 "2016-05-22T16:29:19Z")
The people providing you with cell reception make their living selling cell reception. If their cell reception is poor, they lose customers to their competition so they have incentive to provide good reception.
The people providing you with WiFi make their living selling hotel rooms. Even if the WiFi is crap, few people will switch to a competitor solely because of that (as opposed to switching because of price, or roaches, or non-fluffy pillows). So they have less incentive to provide good WiFi.
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### Author:  [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/3 "2016-05-22T16:38:58Z")
No telling how far your room is from a router. The hotel is probably not springing for a lot of extra hardware. Speed will also be affected by how full the hotel is. More guests means more people hogging bandwidth.
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/4 "2016-05-22T17:00:00Z")
Many hotels I’ve been in will sell you upgraded service for something like $10-20. The “free” service is a joke. If you travel a lot it’s probably worth upgrading your cell data plan so you can use your phone to create a hotspot (or getting your business to do it if you travel for work).
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/5 "2016-05-22T17:06:32Z")
Consensus seems to be “weak hotel wifi signal.” Ok, but on my laptop, I don’t have the problem. Is that diagnostic?
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/6 "2016-05-22T17:18:08Z")
If the phone isn’t getting _anything_ through wifi, while a laptop in the same room can use wifi, then it’s probably a setup issue, not just weak signal. Does the hotel require a wifi password? Are you sure it was entered correctly on the phone? Does the hotel require login through a web interface? Those often don’t work well on a phone - the hotel’s wifi system tries to redirect your browser to their login page, but some browsers see that as a security breach, or just not respond correctly. Sometimes it helps to try accessing different web pages, such as the hotel’s own web site. Or try using another browser on the phone.
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/7 "2016-05-22T17:27:45Z")
Yes, I’ve had that problem with my iPhone/iPad. If I remember, you can join the hotel network though settings, and it will say that you joined, you’ll see bars. You can then go to the Web, but you don’t get to the redirect page for the password and you can;t get anything else. It turns out theres a dialog that opens somehow in the Settings area for the password. But it’s not obvious that this is what you need to do.
I’ve had a related problem with airport and airplane WiFi–instead of just dropping the network when I’m out of range or it’s off, and switching to cellular, the phone thinks there’s no service and won’t do anything that requires internet. I have to turn the Wifi off and then on to make it work properly.
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### Author:  [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/8 "2016-05-22T17:32:42Z")
I have worked on hotel wi-fi systems. There are a few different factors at play here:
1. Hotels might have hundreds of people connected to one router, meaning there isn’t much bandwidth to go around.
2. There are weak signals because of few routers, which in small hotels are often in the basement.
3.We try to combat problem #1 by either limiting the number of devices that can connect, or by limiting the bandwidth that each device gets. At some of the hotels I serviced, we deliberately set the router to only allow each device enough to stream music, but not video.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/9 "2016-05-22T17:34:17Z")
> [@boffking](#):
>
> I have worked on hotel wi-fi systems. There are a few different factors at play here:
>
> 1. Hotels might have hundreds of people connected to one router, meaning there isn’t much bandwidth to go around.
> 2. There are weak signals because of few routers, which in small hotels are often in the basement.
> 3.We try to combat problem #1 by either limiting the number of devices that can connect, or by limiting the bandwidth that each device gets. At some of the hotels I serviced, we deliberately set the router to only allow each device enough to stream music, but not video.
Ok, but why isn’t the problem evident on our laptop?
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### Author:  [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/10 "2016-05-22T17:34:48Z")
I agree with **scr4** ’s assessment. It would be useful to know if the phone is getting zero data over wifi or whether it’s working, just unusably slowly. From your description I’m guessing you’ll say it’s the former, but in case it’s the latter…
- Take the phone for a walk to a couple of other parts of the hotel (lobby, another wing, etc.) Any change?
- Were the phone and laptop tests at the same time? User experience can go from fine to crap with seemingly minor changes in number of hotel users (e.g., a single access point can get more users than it can handle simultaneously and it starts dividing the bandwidth down to keep up).
- Does either device use a VPN or proxy, as far as you are aware?
- How fine is “fine” on your laptop? If you are dropping packets, then you’re on the cusp of success, and the phone could easily be enough on the bad side of the cusp to become unusable. If on Windows, type “ping -t [google.com](http://google.com)” in the start menu’s search/run field and see if you get any “Request timed out” messages after watching for 30 - 60 seconds. (You can click the “X” to close the window as usual when done.)
ETA: Editing to better emphasize this question: **It would be very useful to know if the phone is getting zero data over wifi or whether it’s working, just unusably slowly.**
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/11 "2016-05-23T01:32:35Z")
Get a travel router. Most rooms still have an Ethernet jack. Sure, that port will still operate according to how the hotel’s router is set up, but your travel router will choose the most open WIFI channel, and all if its bandwidth will belong to you, only.
The travel router will still work with capturing portals, and you won’t have to configure all of your devices to the hotel’s WIFI; they’ll already be configured to your router.
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### Author:  [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/12 "2016-05-23T01:52:22Z")
The hotel I stayed at last week was charging $20 per day for Ethernet access. Wifi was $10, unless you were a member of their loyalty program, which I joined at check-in to avail myself of. It was completely useless, slow as molasses. All 26 of us at the hotel for the meeting had the same issue.
Free wifi in the lobby worked fine.
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### Author:  [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/13 "2016-05-23T02:59:24Z")
[Travelers are already annoyed that higher-end hotels continue to charge for subpar Wi-Fi, which is why they bring their own," Wilson told CNN.](http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/03/travel/marriott-fcc-wi-fi-fine/index.html?c=homepage-t&page=0)
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### Author:  [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/14 "2016-05-23T03:38:13Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#):
>
> The hotel I stayed at last week was charging $20 per day for Ethernet access. Wifi was $10
Having worked as a technician, this seems absurd to me. Wifi takes more equipment and maintenance. Wifi needs ethernet as a backbone, and then you have to worry about broadcast interference. Ethernet connections very rarely have issues. Wifi is a constant battle.
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/15 "2016-05-23T15:07:09Z")
> [@boffking](#):
>
> Having worked as a technician, this seems absurd to me. Wifi takes more equipment and maintenance. Wifi needs ethernet as a backbone, and then you have to worry about broadcast interference. Ethernet connections very rarely have issues. Wifi is a constant battle.
I could see it. Ethernet requires wiring up every room. Wifi on requires enough wiring to hook up several routers in strategic places. Maybe those strategic places are even sufficiently out of the way that you don’t even have to worry to much about hiding the wires.
The ongoing costs may be lower for wired Ethernet, but I expect the fixed costs will be larger, and the price may reflect that.
(Or, there could be other, stupider reasons).
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/16 "2016-05-23T15:12:37Z")
Charging for wired Ethernet may be a way to discourage use of travel routers. If you have too many WiFi routers in a building, the signals interfere (i.e. the available bandwidth gets congested).
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### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-wifi-so-lame-in-a-hotel-compared-to-cell-reception/755372/17 "2016-05-24T01:52:57Z")
> [@leahcim](#):
>
> Ethernet requires wiring up every room. Wifi on requires enough wiring to hook up several routers in strategic places. Maybe those strategic places are even sufficiently out of the way that you don’t even have to worry to much about hiding the wires.
Maybe for older properties, but anything built in the last 15 to 20 years will have Ethernet infrastructure as part of the building cost, and it’s really marginal at that point, especially in that the hotel is adding lighting controllers, entertainment, mini-bar monitors, etc.
> [@scr4](#):
>
> Charging for wired Ethernet may be a way to discourage use of travel routers. If you have too many WiFi routers in a building, the signals interfere (i.e. the available bandwidth gets congested).
Possibly. When browsing networks I actually see a lot more shared phones than travel routers. People with generous data plans don’t have much need for hotel WIFI or travel routers, I suppose.