Why is hotel wifi so damn slow or even completely non functional most of the times?
Have you ever staid in a nice hotel? It can be a real treat, the plush bedding, the nice food, the fancy soaps in the bathroom all those things can go a long way making you feel like a real VIP until you connect to the guest wifi.It’s so slow that it makes your laptop feel like something out of 1995.
Why is hotel WiFi often so slow even at high end resorts?
Lets start with the obvious, volume. Unlike at home where you may have around 5-10 devices connected to your wifi at once, hotels have to handle hundreds or even thousands. You may be thinking that these hotels surely know about the volume of people so they surely planned for this right? Well, technically they could but part of the problem is due to the business model of the hotels which tries to draw people in with visually appealing rooms, common areas, hot tubs and so on, this means that optimized network infrastructure doesn’t look flashy enough to be featured on the ads so it is often pushed way down the priorities list. Because of this not much thought is given to the necessary equipment for maintaining a fast and properly functional internet connection. Due to not being aesthetically appealing, hotels tend to cram their internet equipment inside closets, maintenance areas, and even ceilings so things don’t look too messy. This reduces signal strength and therefore range and speed.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for hotels to spend money on better hardware and attract visitors with fast internet? Well, some hotels do it but many still adhere to the older practices, thinking that the customers will give up on watching movies and videos and other “questionable” material on the internet and instead view hotel provided paperview.
Eventually hotels will have to give up on this practice but in the meantime if you’re a frequent traveler then you should consider buying a small wireless router. Many hotels still offer wired connection and if you plug it in in AP mode then you’ll have your own wifi network and since you likely won’t need it outside your room so you can purchase a short range one for a very cheap price.
If you’re really pressed for space in your bag then they are also available an travel sized router that are extremely small essentially a little more than just an ethernet port and an antenna.
Another solution is to check online a list of hotels with good internet connection at the cities you’ll be staying at and then keep them in mind when booking a room.
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Could not agree more, but I also think it depends on the county you're in. I recently stayed at the Swisshotel in Sydney (check out my blog for a review), where the wifi was reasonable but not great, but that's because Australia has poor internet. I've always been very impressed in Asia though!