Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

Hey all got to stay in Holiday Inn on business, does anyone know what they charge for wifi?

Whats the cheapest way to get online with no contract basically?

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

I would say a Pay as you go dongle really....wireless in hotels can be really expensive.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

From what I can see some hotels charge an initial fee of about £4.00 whilst others offer free wifi in the lounge/lobby area.

Which Holiday Inn hotel will you be at?

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

hey thanks for fast reply,

warrington holiday inn if that helps

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

Mobile broadband dongle, if you have one on contract it's a bonus, otherwise a cheap PAYG one to tide you over should suffice. Check signal coverage in the area before buying though. If you do stay in hotels for business a lot, it's ultimately the cheapest way to go.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

From the website it says the following:

Wireless Data Connection
Initial Fee: £5.00
Service Provider: IBAHN

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

thanks for the advice, so which is the best mobile bb provider?

---------- Post added at 20:57 ---------- Previous post was at 20:56 ----------


yeah just seen that bit confused what it means

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

It usually means there is an initial charge for a time limited connection & then further charges per hour or whatever will apply.

You may find that getting on-line in your room will cost money, but sometimes the hotel 'public' areas have a free connection - depends on the hotel, though.

Previously I would have recommended Vodafone for a PAYG dongle as their top ups (effectively) didn't expire, but I believe that has changed.

AFAIK PAYG deals don't do roaming & can only be used in the UK.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

I was just looking into this, and you are correct. Credit on the old style dongles still doesn't expire, but you need to log in once every 3 months rather than 6 as it used to be. Credit on the new dongles expires after one month.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

Well, it expires on some after 30 days but not on others. Depends on the provider - check before you buy.

From staying in a lot of hotels on business and pleasure last year, there's a lot to take into account:

a) will you be staying somewhere urban or rural?
b) does it matter if you want to access in the room or somewhere public?
c) are you paying for it?!

For a, if it's somewhere rural, make sure you check the local phone signal on that provider is 3G.

If you need it in your room, again, check there'll be 3G and if not you'll have to pay for hotel wi-fi.

If your company will pay for it, go for the easiest option!

In practise, I go for a mix of these things. I immediately look for hotels with free wi-fi (as I think it's only fair these days), and if I can find one that fits the bill and has that I use my 3G dongle.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

When I last looked into this (slightly under a year ago), Vodafone was the only provider that had a non-expiring PAYG option (they just had a log in once every 180 (now 90) days or lose your credit condition). They have since withdrawn this option, and I don't think other providers have this option. There are some sellers on ebay that still sell the non-expiring dongle, but it's fleabay, so you take your chances.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

Well, I thought that Vodafone was the only one that did it, but a lass in Carphone Warehouse persuaded me quite reasonably the other day that O2 can now also do it and also T-Mobile, but it depends on what you buy.

No idea if there's any truth in it!

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

In the Holiday Inn that I'm staying in tonight:

£6.50 for 60 minutes access / 200Mb download

or

£15 for 24 hours access

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

That's what really gets on my chest - that's a reasonable figure to pay for fast broadband for a MONTH in the non-hotel world.

Sorry, but when you've paid good money for the room, reasonable priced internet access should be expected.

The only place I would let off that is Travelodge - the Ryanair of hotels.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

Travelodge with internet access? You're winding us up, aren't you?

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

Only if you pay them an arm, a leg and a kidney for the privilege. Tis why I carry my Vodafone PAYG dongle with me when I travel.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

What, they don't offer it? Fair enough. Better than choosing to charge silly money for it.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

I have stayed in plenty of hotels in France where Wifi is free. It really should be included free with the room here.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

I tend to prefer Hilton's and use wired internet. Last time I paid £15 for BB for 24 hours and it included movies in room too.

The main issues I've had are that things get routed via Germany so you get German versions of pages (Google) and streaming can get blocked. Else I simply connect up, VPN to office and I'm away.

Re: Hotel (Holiday Inn) Wifi or pay as you go dongle?
 

Hi All,

I agree that the cost of broadband in hotels is ridiculous. At present I have been paying between 10 and 15 pounds for a 24 hour period. I've also noticed that hotel systems don't seem to like you using more than one computer (I travel with both a business laptop and a personal one). I have found that when I plug in my personal one, I get charged again (I always make sure I check the bill and question the 2nd charge).

I stayed last night in the Wembley Plaza (a Hilton hotel) and they are a BT Open zone, 24 hour access was 10 quid. I am also staying there next week. When I was in Brent cross ealier in the day and at the O2 shop, I bought a half price dongle (10 quid) and then topped it up with 30 days (15 quid). So I outlayed 25 quid.

The cost of last night and next weeks Hilton internet access comes to 20 quid and I have another stay in Elstree Holiday in next week (possibly another 15 quid) means I have a return on my investment in only 3 stays.

The 15 quid top up gives me 3Gb of access, however I get unlimited (kinda got that rubbish fair usage policy applied) wifi access to BT openzone and the cloud.

Last night my access was flying at about 4Mbs per second (connected to BT Openzone), allowing me to get hold of the lastest episode of lost and watch the Barcelona football match in good quality and I still have my 3Gb usage left!

Most Holiday Inn hotels I have stayed in lately have internet provided by Ibahn, looking at their log in requirements they are a bt openzone partner. I am hoping that I can use my dongle to piggy back on Ibahns network.

The only downside is that I won't get as many loyalty points!

I also have a Vodafone PAYG dongle that I really rate and would recommend to anyone, the coverage is awesome. I have even used that connected to 3G to stream football (about 400MB for 90 mins - that works out at about 6 quid to watch football....).

I hope my ramblings help..........