Hotel Wireless Internet Connection
 

Does this sound right? I stayed at a hotel offering a wireless internet connection. The first night we used it without a problem (so I know my laptop was configured properly). The second day there was no connection available and when I called the front desk to report it, they tried to give me an 800 number to call and resolve the problem. When I suggested that it was THEIR internet connection that was not working and that they should get it straightened out, the young woman at the front desk insisted that it was MY room and therefore it was my problem to get it fixed. She just kept repeating - well it's YOUR ROOM. I thought the whole situation was pretty darn humorous.

We just went through this a lot on a road trip. Hotels all seem to contract with outside companies who manage the wireless internet systems. The desk staff really doesn't know anything about it. In most cases, the 800 number was posted on a card in the room.

I would also have to say that less than half the time the connection worked properly. Only a couple of those times was the person on the 800 number able to remedy the problem.

I wonder how much those 800 number outfits are making on these contracts.

How much more are you willing to pay to say at hotels that have certified network technicians on staff 24 hours a day, rather than desk-clerks making little more than minimum wage?

The support from the outside tech service at the 800 number is the only solution you can reliably count on; or would you want a desk clerk or high-school drop out maintenance guy to come up to your room and fiddle with the computer?

My regular business is in MIS, and I moonlight at at front desk - and I don't offer tech support either - that's what our outside 800 support line is for.

Those connections are notoriously unreliable. My DH routinely dukes it out with the company that provides his hotel with wireless capability.

It is well beyond the scope of front desk (and yours was sadly misinformed), and generally beyond the scope of even their in-house IT people. In the course of actually living in a hotel for several years, we found that the connection would go in and out at a whim, more or less as my roadrunner wireless connection does here at home. :)

You should drop a note to that GM at the very least...he might want to consider some additional training for some of his front desk staff.

I've never found the front desk to be of much help when it comes to internet access. Some will claim they have free hi-speed wireless, when in fact you have to plug in a cable and pay for it. It's just not an area that they're expected to be an expert on, and with good reason. Good IT people would never be working the front desk. :)

I can understand your frustration, but it would be about impossible for the front desk to fix the problem. They would have to come up to your room, call the 800 number, and then mess with your laptop to try to get things straightened out. Do you really want someone else digging around on your laptop trying to change settings or something? And yes, they would have to physically come up to the room - who would man the front desk while they tried to figure out the problem?

I would call the 800 number as a temporary measure. After that, I would write a "nice" letter to the manager or headquarters.

Arguing with the staff doesn't do any good. Writing to the management sometimes does.

And no, it's not a humorous situation when a guest's request is practically ignored.

That's the way it works. Hotel staff does not assume responsibility for the internet connection. You are to call the 800 or toll free # provided.

My hope is that more people will call the number AND report to the manager of the hotel when there are problems. If no one reports problems, who is to know? I can choose NOT to stay at the hotel again in the future - but I need reliable service when I travel on business. Both (hotel manager and contracted company) need to know there are problems.

I, too, do not want front desk staff messing around with my laptop.

A little add-on. The managers of the hotels I frequent most often for business have indeed been concerned - and several have offered their own offices to use when I really needed to print something out or email something important. Managers don't like to have unhappy guests - especially those who are in the upper levels of the frequent stay programs.

Sounds like problems with internet connections are problems for both sides of the story.

Well, I learned something new today. My orginal thought was that since I was able to connect without any problem the first night but since no connection was available the second night, that the hotel's system was down, not that I needed to make any adjustment to my laptop. No, of course, I don't want a teenaged front desk clerk to piddle around with my laptop - I was under the apparently mistaken impression that it was a hotel-wide problem and that it was her job to place a service call. I seldom travel with my laptop, and that is the first time I had a problem with it anywhere. I've been lucky!

Now you can call the desk clerk and apologize! :-))

The desk clerk and the management must take complaints seriously. If multiple rooms are having problems, then there may be a major problem. If one guest calls, all the support the front desk can be expected to do is give you the number for support. Clerks have other responsibilities than to be tech support.

Even if you were successful in getting online the previous day does not guarantee a connection the next day. How many other guests are on-line at a given moment? What are they doing online? Email? Sending the 50 gig file? All activities on the network affect all users. Similarly, when all lines of a hotels telephone system are busy, whay it a hotel to do? Upgrade, if it's a common occurance, but at the moment of YOUR problem there's still little a clerk can do. hotels are in business primarily to furnish lodging. HSI is an amenity and still in infancy stage as far as the hotel industry goes.

I've had problems when I travel from time to time and always remind myself, "Free! And worth EVERY cent!" I often wonder why mid-range hotels can offer free access, and high-end hotels charge? Maybe for reliability & support.

The Cow Hollow Motor Inn in San Francisco offers both WiFi and ethernet. I've never been able to get the former to work, but tha latter always does. Simply and smoothly. Free, too.

WiFi is part science, part art. If you've ever configured it at home, you kno this. Right now, I'm using it on a ground-floor laptop, with the WAP/router on the third floor. And it's an older house, with serious, heavy-duty construction. Signal strength is (and always has been) very low....

Just for information purposes, I have been using my laptop in some of my preferred hotels in switzerland, and one day, i remember i upgraded my wifi configuration, but it worked at home.

later, when I went to Geneva, my connection was not working at all, so maybe sometimes is not the hotel problem but the laptop config.

Cheers,
Javier
http://www.thehotelsaver.com/hotels_...s/sitemap5.htm

After reading this thread I can't believe so many have so many problems with wi-fi?

Maybe out of 100 stays I had couple of problems and I use 2 laptops in most cases and both always work flawlessly.

One time I was staying at a University of Manchester,UK run hotel and I could not hook up, but in this case I didn't have to call anybody but the front desk. They have IT students on call at all times and the students live in dormitories right next to the small hotel complex. :-D (it turned out that their system required obtaining IP address manually, and they just assumed that everybody knows how to do that :-D) being it is a university.

The one other time I believe it was ethernet connection in a Hilton or something similar that just would not work and it took 2 calls as the first one person was impossible to communicate with. The second call routed me to a lady and her command of English was much better. I believe, judging from the accent, I was calling India.

The other stays, never had any difficulty.

I do agree with the majority though. The internet access, while advertised as a hotel perk, is run by a third party. The hotel could not afford to keep a IT technician on call at the hotel 24hrs a day.

To the ones that always seem to have problems, I would suggest looking into your own set-up. It sounds to me that it's more of a problem with your wireless setup more than the hotels.

I have Windows based and Apple laptops. Both almost instaneniously recognize Wi-Fi signal wherever it's available, airports, hotels, cafes, etc, and I don't need to do anything, just open the browser and either log on if it's free or pay first if there is a fee inviolved.

Also, remember that some business hotels only provide wi-fi on certain floors, i.e. some Hiltons only have wi-fi on the Executive floor rooms. On occasion if you are staying in a regular room just a floor below or above the Executive level rooms, it's possible to catch a strong enough signal during a low usage by everybody else and then you may not catch the same signal when it's heavily used by other guests. Just another possibility.