If you travel a lot then having a tethered data plan through your mobile phone carrier is the best way to go. However, I'm usually screwed when going overseas since data rates are insane there, even with a prepaid SIM card.

Like last Summer I was in Ilford (near London) UK and stopped at a Travellodge there because it said it had Internet access. When I asked about it the clerk said "It's dialup -- and very expensive -- you don't want to do that."

I didn't bother asking how much..

I don't understand why Holiday Inn Express doesn't score higher. Maybe they're not in any rank order. But I gave up hoity-toity hotels for business trips because for the cost, not offering free wifi in every room in every hotel is a crime.

Yeah. Add to the list of complaints hotels that charge for wireless, and then you can't access it in your room. BOOOOOOOO.

The friend Bob really does need to get on the task of putting free wifi in terminals..

Marriott (or the Marriott Minneapolis, at least) is balls for internet. The bad kind of balls. I just stayed there a few weekends ago and they charge for both wired and wireless, plus wireless has the added burden of only being available in common areas. I felt like I was back in the internet stone age of the late 90's.

I'll second Holiday Inn Express(es), though, since every one I've stayed in has offered free wireless and a passable room at a good price.

Oddly enough, every Microtel Inn has free wireless. If the low class, low price chain can afford it- it should be no problem for every hotel in every developed nation.

I stayed in a fancy-ish business-oriented hotel in the middle of downtown Toronto once. They charged for everything, including internet access. But my room was about halfway up a very tall building, and the desk sat next to the window. I fired up my copy of Kismet (a wireless network sniffer) and discovered over two hundred wireless access points within range of my little antenna. Sure, many were encrypted or MAC-address locked, but it didn't take long to find one I could use to check my e-mail.

Free Wi-Fi is definitely not in every Marriott location. The one located in the Baltimore Inner Harbor only has wired access.

This past weekend I went to four different hotels needing reliable wireless service in my room. (It's finals, I was stuck at a wedding, and I'd neglected to download all the files before travelling.)

The first three (Quality Inn locations all) advertised on Orbitz as having wireless in the rooms, but it turned out to be only in the lobby. Or spotty. Or the employees couldn't reboot the router without management assistance (mgmt who had gone home for the night.)

Granted, this was in Branson MO, but Ozark entertainers need their slashdot too!

I've wondered why the more expensive hotels don't offer free internet while the budget ones do. It doesn't cost THAT much and there can't be THAT many people spending $10/day for the crappy internet connections. Just tack the $10 onto each room bill. When I'm already paying $330/night, an extra $10 isn't a make-or-break item.

Ditto to everyone who said Holiday Inn Express. Before we were married, my husband lived next door to one and the Mormon missionaries that lived in the apartment next door were able to access it from the stairwell, 300 feet away.

@FLConsumer: That's what I always wonder too. The last few trips I've taken for vacations, my hotels have been wireless and free but all the fancy places charge the big bucks. My only thought is that they assume if you use the net, you're traveling for business and therefore are expensing it to your company anyway.

Great photo.

Every Marriot I've stayed in had free wired internet (no wireless, but better than nothing). Every Hamtpon I've been at has free wireless.

Granted, I've only been at a few Marriots and Hamptons, all in the US, but I'd expect their internet service to be the same across the chain

@yg17: Actually, Marriott charges in most hotels and their service sucks. I was charged $20/day at the Downtown (NYC) Marriott for service that didn't work. It took them three days of me complaining to take the charge off my bill. And I spent easily $1800 on food, movies, and room charges for a four-day family getaway.

I've had OK luck with Hampton and Holiday Inn Express but never had a good experience with any of the higher priced hotels.