Contemporary resort not so kind or contemporary

[flynnibus]

In my travels.. MOST still charge for internet. Free internet is considered a 'perk'.

And as Phonedave mentioned, some just roll the fee into a 'resort fee' type scenario (which the Gaylord does right across the street from WDW) - which you don't get to opt out of.

The chains trying to LURE customers in are the ones offering free internet. However, it alone isn't always enough.

When on travel - which is more cost effective? To stay at a hotel that has free internet, but I must taxi or rent a car to get where I'm going every day... or stay at the hotel of the event where I pay $12-$19 dollars a day for internet. The choice is easy...

I will say as someone who doesn't travel nearly as much as I used to, but still travels at least one week a month... I still have to pay more often then not.

That said though.. the Hilton I was just in last week had free internet.

[nbodyhome]

A lot of times I can pick up wi-fi from surrounding hotels and such (if I'm staying at one that isn't free). But overall, I have found many chains now offer the free internet. When I was in CA, I had free wifi at a Courtyard by Marriott (maybe not wireless, but free whatever high speed I had), and Candy Cane Inn. Lots of places have it now.

The bad thing about WDW, I can't latch on to any off-property wireless signals - too far! But the dial-up is now free for local calls.

[nbodyhome]

Oh - hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post an update on my site (we just moved to a new server, but I still can't get to it!) - but the lobby in the Contemporary is looking sensational with the new desk! Only part of it is uncovered, but it looks great.

And one last thing - when I was in CA, I planned to stay at the Ayres hotel. I did stay one night, it is a wonderful hotel in Anaheim. BUT, the wireless cost, and it was further away from the parks than the CCI. So I shortened the stay and went to the CCI. I had a limited amount of time, and I needed to work a little too! I do look at the whole package when staying anywhere.

[caseycasey]

baby very well written!

[Jerren]

I'm a road warrior and my company pays for a Sprint mobile broadband card, they run about 50$/month for service. It seems to work fine around the MK resorts, I can't speak for the others since I pretty much only stay at the MK resort hotels. Now I can't always get the best signal, no 3G last time I was there and I did try the Disney Ethernet at the WL and I found it a bit slow but acceptable.

Most hotels charge for the wired internet, and more and more chains are offering free wi-fi. The issue I have with the free Wi-Fi is that it has absolutely no security, anyone can use it anyone has access to the datastream as your using it. At the last info sec conference I was at there was an excellent demonstration of this as the presenter snooped all the traffic, collected the cookies of a few people checking their web based email and then used their cookies to instantly access their email without loging in... Unlike wired systems you can do the snooping without leaving any trail. I can provide many many other examples of how easy it is to abuse hapless folk using open wireless but I won't waste everyone's time here, just remember its terribly insecure.

I'll stick to my wireless broadband w/ vpn or a hardwired connection... You get better performance and a little better security....

[flynnibus]

That's why I use VPN for everything once I jump on a wireless network