Wireless Travel Router to Help on Those Out of Town Trips
I travel frequently for work. When I go to a hotel, they will normally have broadband internet access. Interestingly enough, the nicer hotels in the larger cities charge for the internet access. The standard chain hotels in smaller cities provide the access free of charge. But regardless of the price, most of them require a wired access and you can’t use your wireless card on your laptop.
I found a tip for a Wireless Pocket Router by D-Link. What it does is connect up to the hotel network point and allows you to be wireless. It has three different modes to work in almost any situation (Access Point (AP) mode to create a wireless connection; Router mode to share an Internet connection; and Wireless Client mode to connect to an existing wireless network). Not a bad deal for less than $55.
Thanks to Tom Collins of More Partner Income for the tip.
[Update]: I bought one of these from Amazon. The router comes in a nice little case that’s portable (which is good, because that’s it’s job). I plugged it in the wired hotel connection in my room and it worked like a champ. I love technology that works. I also love being wireless with my laptop. This will definitely be staying in my travel bag.
You have me looking and comparing. Craig ball recommends the compact access point made by Asustek Computer, Inc. http://www.law.com/jsp/ltn/pubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1133258710659
Query: does it have a security any security protection. The Asustek does not.
Robert,
I checked out the link and think the two are moderately comparable. I'm not certain of the security or any head to head comparisons.
I do know that the D-Link one worked well. I've always been annoyed that most hotels have wired broadband but not wireless.
Thinking about it, it makes sense. Hyatt, Mariott, Westin, Ritz-Carlton... are fairly large corporations. Which in my mind means slow moving. Once they already have broadband internet, it's not surprising that they have not moved fast to put wireless in.
After all, they are in the hotel business and not the tech business. But it sure is a pain in the butt to be chained to that desk. I want to sit on the bed and watch sports / the news / a movie while I'm on the net. (I know, I'm lazy and spoiled).
But the D-Link worked real well. My guess is that you would do fine with either one of them.
Another better, but slightly more expensive option is to use an air card. With an air card, you can have Internet access anywhere there is cell phone service. Not too long ago Verizon Wireless was charging $100 per month for the service and it was slow. They recently lowered the price to $59.95 per month for unlimited access and they are now providing broadband access in major cities.
Phil Franckel
www.Lawyer-Advertising-Blog.com
