How do I share the network in my hotel room?

I travel to a lot of conferences and often find myself in hotel rooms that have Internet connectivity, but it's hardwired only. If I have a colleague or friend sharing my room, we end up having to pay for each computer that hooks up to the network, which stinks. Stay at a place for a week and it's an extra $70-$100 so we can both be plugged in. Surely there's a better solution?

Dave's Answer:

There certainly are lots of better solutions. The way that these networks differentiate between your two computers, by the way, is by the MAC address, the unique sequence of letters and digits that describes your computer, and your computer alone, on the network. For example, my computer's MAC address is 00:0a:95:b7:7e:c4.

I've always thought it was ridiculous for hotels to charge by MAC address, not by room, actually, but it's easier to work around the problem than to change hotel connectivity policy, in my experience.

Here's how I turn my hotel Internet connection into a wireless network:

It's the Apple Airport Express, and while it's not the cheapest or smallest wifi base station you can buy, it's still pretty darn small and if you're paying an extra $70 per week in a hotel for a second network connection, it'd only take you two weeks of hotel usage to have it pay for itself at about $125 or so.

I often find that I have two, three or more people hanging out in my hotel rooms at events too, actually, and the really great thing about the Airport Express is that everyone can connect simultaneously to the Internet. Great for bloggers, that's for sure! :-)

There are doubtless other solutions you could explore if the Airport Express seems a bit too pricey, but I can only talk from my own experience, which is that I've been traveling with one of these units for years and even when I have a hotel room to myself, I love being untethered from the Ethernet jack in the wall.

Even nicer, you can tell your friends who are in the rooms adjacent to your hotel room that they can share the network access too, so they can also save money on Internet and you can ostensibly save more than the $125 unit cost in just a few days (and maybe those folk would be willing to contribute $20 each to the cause too).

In any case, good luck to you!

Oh, and since you're moving into the world of wireless Internet connectivity, don't forget to check out the Connect Safely Wireless Security and Privacy Guide my colleague Chris and I wrote. It's a must-read for anyone using - or hosting - public networks.

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Categorized: Computer and Internet Basics (Article 6615, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: 802.11, airport express, apple airport, wireless internet
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Reader Comments To Date: 8

MR said, on June 18, 2006 2:51 AM:

What is the diffrence between the following:

1. Apple AirPort Express with Air Tunes (M9470LL/A)

2. Airport Extreme Base Station w/ Power Over Ethernet & UL 2043

3. Apple M8799LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port

4. Apple Computer M7601LL/B AirPort Base Station

hmmm... so which one I should go for, if want to start a Wireless connection for the first time

Dave Taylor said, on June 19, 2006 9:54 AM:

MR, Airport Express is the "portable" wifi base station I'm talking about. The Airport Extreme and general Airport Base Station units are bigger "flying saucer" like devices that could work too, but are a lot larger for travel. What I really love about the Airport Express is that it's just so darn small: it's only 3" x 3.5" x 1" in size, no cables, no wires, just the unit. What's not to love? :-)

Todd said, on August 14, 2006 12:50 AM:

You mention the mac address authentification thing for most hotels and here's where I get lost. If I have to authenticate using my laptop web browser, how do I then disconnect the cable from the laptop and plug it into the airport? The airport and laptop used to authenticate (and therefore obtain access to the hotel's broadband service) have different mac addresses.

Am I supposed to just hook up the airport to the hotel internet cable first; establish a wifi connection between the airport and laptop; and then do something that allows me to authenticate through the laptop's browser?

Is there a 1-2-3 set of instructions out there for really stupid people like me?

Thanks.

Dave Taylor said, on August 14, 2006 6:46 AM:

Todd, you're correct with your second paragraph: just hook up the wireless unit directly to the hotel network, then hook up your computer via wifi to the unit. It should be able to let you navigate through any authorization required (via your Web browser) without a hiccup. I've done this in dozens and dozens of hotels with only one place that didn't work, as I recall.

Joe said, on July 14, 2007 6:37 AM:

I'm looking for a solution to share a connection on a hotel where they only offer wireless internet and no wired outlet. Will this work?

Dave Taylor said, on July 14, 2007 8:44 AM:

I don't think so, Joe, but you could experiment with it in relay mode and perhaps it could do what you seek. I am assuming that the hotel charges per-connection on the wifi network, but if not, why not just have all the computers connect without any additional gizmo involved?

chrissy said, on August 16, 2008 11:36 PM:

How safe is hotel internet connection whether wireless or hardwired? I have noticed that some hotels offer their guests a password to log onto the net whilst others is open and free.

Trend Micro often opens up showing me the IP addresses that are on my network. Can they access my computer??
How does it work?

Dave Taylor said, on August 18, 2008 4:45 PM:

Chrissy, any open to the public network is inherently dubious and you should treat it with care. At a minimum, you need to ensure that you shut down any sharing capabilities of your own computer so that other people in the hotel can't get to your disk / print / etc. This is particularly true with PCs as they have sharing enable by default for other computers on the local area network (which, effectively, becomes everyone else in the hotel).

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How do I share the network in my hotel room?

Reader Comments To Date: 8

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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