Traveling: Motel Wi-Fi

[Dean Wilson]

Rant: The Motel states they have free Wi-Fi, which they do, but what they don't say is if there is any signal strength beyond 10 feet on the lobby.

Being recently retired, for the past ten years, I find myself very frequently traveling and staying staying at vacation rentals or motels. More often than not the W-Fi signal strength reminds me of connecting to the Internet with a x386 and external 300 baud external modem. The out-of-town stays are generally a week or longer and once a month. (Ah... First World problems )

I have given thought to purchasing a Wi-Fi extender. I am looking particularly at Travel Routers. While our cell plan has free Hot Spot capabilities, there are some locations the cell provider doesn't have connectivity.

What is your resolution to poor Wi-Fi?

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[ShipleyNW]

I stay at cheap motels on my photo expeditions, but rarely more than a night or two in any one place. Motel wifi has been iffy since ... the invention of wifi?

I just tether my phone wifi. I've found that most places big enough to have a motel usually have at least decent cell coverage, at least right in town. Phone tethering with the carrier's blessing is a relatively new thing. I used to have an app that would tether a phone and hide it from the carrier, and at one point I rented a dedicated hotspot from Verizon. Now they just let you tether directly from the phone. It's usually my fallback plan in case the motel wifi sucks, but tethering is also more secure than any public wifi, including motel wifi. If I ever need to transmit sensitive data over wifi on the road, I use tethering.

I don't know what a wifi extender does. I'm guessing it just amplifies a weak wifi signal, so maybe it will get you to the lobby? The RV people use Starlink now, and I hear that works well. I also hear it's pricey, but that you can turn the subscription off and on so you only pay for it while on the road. That might be something to look into.

What I hate most about motels now is that they've all gone to smart TVs. When I'm done for the day, I want to order a pizza and flop down with a random football game playing. But no. No more basic cable. You have to bring your own subscription and log in using the TV remote. And that only provides streaming, no live TV. That's a deal breaker. I've got my laptop set up to watch TV, including cable TV, over the internet, so I just use that. I've been meaning to research casting dongles so I can throw the laptop image on the TV. All that assumes I have wifi, though.

 

[Dean Wilson]

Thanks Ken (@ShipleyNW), When I am not at home I connect through a VPN. I still have a 25 foot HDMI cable for connecting my laptop to the TV in the motel room from the days when Cable TV resembled a snowstorm. Yeah, Oregon Coast motels at their finest.

I'll probably check out using my phones Hotspot next month.... somewhere on the Washington Coast.

 

[jcass]

Ask Chatgpt or some other AI about WIFI. I would be skeptical on their RF extenders benefit and poor network throughput won't be improved by a booster. But if the cost is low, then it doesn't hurt to try.

My biggest recommendation is to always use a VPN when connected to a public WIFI. They can sniff all your network packets and if anything you have is not secure... They can also determine all the sites that your visiting. With today's business paradigm of collecting and selling data, it just makes sense to use a VPN. If you do use or add a VPN, research by performance and privacy, as well as price.

Is doing your work at a coffee shop or similar an option? They often try to attract business folk with their wifi service. Heck, I'd camp in brewpub if one was nearby.

Dean, just saw your VPN post.

 

[jcass]

If you're mainly looking for getting files off yor memory cards and culling... would a USB-C hub with PD power sharing, an SSD, and power bank be helpful? Not the cheapest option, but very useful off grid for a while. I also use a fast card reader. The power bank and hub with PD sharing let's the components work at their higher data rates.

 

[Dean Wilson]

I take my card reader(s) with me, so that is not an issue. Checking emails, posting to this group, downloading software updates, and looking for places to eat require more than maintaining a minimum connection to the WAP.

 

[Grumps]

Rant: The Motel states they have free Wi-Fi, which they do, but what they don't say is if there is any signal strength beyond 10 feet on the lobby.

Being recently retired, for the past ten years, I find myself very frequently traveling and staying staying at vacation rentals or motels. More often than not the W-Fi signal strength reminds me of connecting to the Internet with a x386 and external 300 baud external modem. The out-of-town stays are generally a week or longer and once a month. (Ah... First World problems )

I have given thought to purchasing a Wi-Fi extender. I am looking particularly at Travel Routers. While our cell plan has free Hot Spot capabilities, there are some locations the cell provider doesn't have connectivity.

What is your resolution to poor Wi-Fi?

View attachment 49869

Is the weak signal causing slowdowns (retransmits, losing connection and such).

What 802.11? (WiFi 1-7, which operate on 2.4 and/or 5 Ghz). 5Ghz wifi has less 'reach' than 2.4Ghz, but 2.4Ghz has lower speeds).