For traveling users, wireless 3G is better than hotels

by | Oct/20/2010

From the standpoints of speed, cost, and security, you may find that providing a Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile wireless connection will be much better than using hotel provided Internet services.

It is common for hotels to charge almost ten dollars a night for Internet access. If your traveler stays in at least six hotels a month, then it is about the same price to have a wireless card that uses the mobile phone towers.

There are easy to access tools that allow even unsophisticated criminals to monitor your traffic if you go through a hotel’s network. When you use one of the 3G services, this equipment doesn’t work anymore. Not to say that the 3G connection is totally secure, but all things being equal, it is almost always more secure than a WiFi or plug-in Ethernet port at a hotel.

Then there is speed. So many hotels have very limited bandwidth, and when the hotel is full of hotel guests using the Internet service, everything slows to a crawl. When your traveler whips out their 3G card, they may find that the access is much faster—especially if they are not in a fringe coverage area, and not in a very congested city.

Please share your experiences and post your comments on this blog.