Sites To Help Avoid Wimpy Hotel WiFi

Sites To Help Avoid Wimpy Hotel WiFi

As much as we like to get away from it all and leave the laptop at home, sometimes you just have to stay connected. Maybe you're traveling for work, or maybe you're uploading those vacation pics and videos to update the family back home. Either way, nothing is more frustrating than trying to relax when your hotel wants to charge you $12 for the fastest internet speeds 1998 has to offer.

Two new websites are trying to make it easier to avoid these frustrating situations. Speedspot.org and HotelWiFiTest.com both launched last year, offering users the chance to run simple online speed tests while logged into their hotel's WiFi network. These tests anonymously check your connection speed, verify the hotel you're in, and log the results. The data is then compiled to create crowd sourced ratings for the performance of each hotel's network.

The benefits are obvious: Next time you're trying to decide between two hotels for a work trip, why not pick the one that offers free, speedy WiFi? It seems like a little thing, but when you have to get some work done or want to video chat with someone back home, a solid connection can be invaluable. Plus, if you know you'll need WiFi every night, getting it for free could save you $10–15 per night.

The president of HotelWiFiTest.com, Yaroslav Goncharov, said he and his colleagues started the site after noticing just how bad hotel WiFi performed, even at top-quality hotels:

Though plenty of hotel review sites give users the ability to rate WiFi speeds and mention if it's included in the price of the room, Speedspot and Hotel WiFi Test put all that information in one place. And by having every user run the same tests, it also eliminates the bias inherent in personalized reviews.