Experiencing slow internet while at hotels is common.
Experiencing slow internet while at hotels is common.
I regularly explore the Provence region. I own a budget gaming laptop that I use for play, like Warzone with my friends. When staying in hotels, I’m usually restricted to the hotel’s internet. The latency is more than double what I experience at home. There’s plenty of Wi-Fi activity in the hotel, but I’m looking for ways to improve the situation. #gamingonthego #needanotherpickup
Hotel networks often fall short, restricting bandwidth per user, blocking certain websites or material, forcing devices to inspect packets and introduce lag.
Perhaps you could ask if there is a wired connection available anywhere? That would definitely help. If you're lucky some hotels have the router accessible inside your room. If that's the case you could bring along an Ethernet cable and plug in directly from there. WiFi is generally less stable then a wired connection, especially in hotels from my experience.
Open Task Manager and try to stop programs/processes that are running in the background and especially taking up network usage. You could use a VPN to secure your connection and get through blocked sites, plus there's software available that will use data compression to potentially enable a better connection experience (although be aware that it could increase the ping). It's quite rare to find a hotel where they have a dedicated WI-FI router for each room, usually it's just one router and network and maybe a few range extenders if needed, much more cost effective and easier to manage. Usually the hotel is only going to be wired for phone and electricity, ethernet wiring is difficult to find (especially with older buildings). I would recommend carrying along your own WI-FI extender that you could plug in to your hotel room to act as a repeater, note that this may not work if the hotel is using a captive portal to log in users to the network, although if it's an open network and/or uses the regular password sign in (no captive portal) then you can quickly get it setup to repeat the signal in your room and give you a better connection. If you have multiple devices that you want better internet access on, this is what I would recommend: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0195Y0A42/ref...s9dHJ1ZQ== If you just want better access on your laptop only, this is what I would recommend: https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-desktop-...ics&sr=1-6
The only aspect you can influence is the DNS server. If you haven’t already, consider switching to Cloudflare or Google DNS. This mainly aids with the initial setup. Hotel internet is famously unreliable, so apart from using a mobile hotspot (and checking for good signal), there’s limited control left.
I suggest using Cisco's OpenDNS for your DNS service. Mobile data connections generally perform well, but the costs can be very high, particularly when you're transferring large amounts of data over multiple hours, especially with ongoing updates and background program activity. https://www.opendns.com/cisco-opendns/
You have just two choices: subscribe for premium internet or rely on a mobile hotspot. I’m not sure where you are, but most hotels I’ve stayed at here and nearby have password-protected access that expires each day. Their support team knows about the methods travelers might use, which could lead to system failures.