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iPad in Hotel Room

Mal said:
Most hotels will present that sign in screen via the browser. Thus, it won't matter if you're using a Airport Express to connect via an iPad.
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It does depend on how the Airport Express (or other router) is configured though. In bridge mode, where the Airport express doesn't need an address of its own, and merely extends the wired network to the air this is correct.

If you configure it as a router (so the Airport Express gets the address) this won't work.

B
 
wolfpackfan said:
Sigh, we seem to have conflicting opinions here about whether you have to have an attached laptop to Airport Express (or other portable wireless routers). So let's try again. Most places have a sign in screen where you enter a password, etc. Can you do that thru the wireless device or do you have to have a wired, attached computer. And please no suggestions to go and find another hotel. That doesn't help at all. We own several timeshares and they all just have wired connections.
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I travel a lot (about 50%... and 180K miles/year). I have never seen a connection where I could not log in using a wireless connection to my Airport Express... or previously... my linksys travel router. There should be no difference using safari on your iPad connected to an wireless router, which is in turn plugged into the wired ethernet connection in the room.

Most of the better business hotels offer wired connections. A lot of the cheaper hotels save money by implementing wireless instead. The problem with wireless in hotels is that the connection can be very spotty depending upon how close your room is to the nearest access point. Most of the crappy hotels will not install enough wireless connections. I also do not like the security risk of being on a shared network.

I greatly prefer a wired connection to my room. I attach an AE, and can share the secured internet connection with my wife... plus I am behind a router, so with that plus a VPN... my network is more secure.

Nearly all of the nicer hotels (Westin, W, Ritz, Marriott, Four Seasons, etc) will provide wired connections into the rooms. The budget hotels (Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta, Pheonix Inn, and low end Marriotts (Fairfield, Courtyard, etc) often have only wireless.

/Jim
 
Just a comment. I used to travel with my Airport Express, but many hotel wired Ethernet connections require some kind of login page before they will assign you an address and let you connect to the internet, making it less likely that an Airport express or other router will be useful.
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This is just not correct, and I am surprised to be the first to comment on it. I am in a hotel almost 300 days per year, and use my Airport Express is ALL of the rooms that have wired internet. I'll mention the process and the benefits below:

1. On the Top of the airport Express (the panel with the ports etc). There is a reset button. Plug the ethernet cable into the Airport Express, then plug the airport express into the electrical plug socket.

2. Take the closest pen (on the table with the little pad that 99.9999% of the hotels in this world provide you), and stick it into the little indent that is the reset button on the airport express. Hold it down until the light flashes fast (about 5 seconds). That resets the airport express. This seems to be essential to get most hotels to pick it up, and connect properly

3. Now, wait about 90-120 seconds (This wait time is crucial, nothing will show up on your device immediately). This is how long it usually takes for the airport express to show up on the wireless network list on your device (macbook, ipad etc).

4. When it shows in your network list, it will show up as Apple Network followed by some numbers and letters.

5. At this point, if you select Apple Network ff9f9f9 (or whatever yours shows as) as your wireless network, it will take you to the login page for the hotel network. Login, and off you go

The other GREAT benefit to this over the wireless network in the hotel is that you can connect multiple devices in your room to the same apple network f9f9f9 etc for the price of one connection, or free if they don't charge. For some reason iphones don't seem to stay connected for very long to hotel networks, but it seems to have no trouble staying connected to the airport express, so this is another benefit. The other nice thing is that if you use apps like "Things" you can sync etc over the existing network a lot easier

Hope that helps
J
 
cheekyjeremy said:
Just a comment. I used to travel with my Airport Express, but many hotel wired Ethernet connections require some kind of login page before they will assign you an address and let you connect to the internet, making it less likely that an Airport express or other router will be useful.
-------------

This is just not correct, and I am surprised to be the first to comment on it. I am in a hotel almost 300 days per year, and use my Airport Express is ALL of the rooms that have wired internet. I'll mention the process and the benefits below:

1. On the Top of the airport Express (the panel with the ports etc). There is a reset button. Plug the ethernet cable into the Airport Express, then plug the airport express into the electrical plug socket.

2. Take the closest pen (on the table with the little pad that 99.9999% of the hotels in this world provide you), and stick it into the little indent that is the reset button on the airport express. Hold it down until the light flashes fast (about 5 seconds). That resets the airport express. This seems to be essential to get most hotels to pick it up, and connect properly

3. Now, wait about 90-120 seconds (This wait time is crucial, nothing will show up on your device immediately). This is how long it usually takes for the airport express to show up on the wireless network list on your device (macbook, ipad etc).

4. When it shows in your network list, it will show up as Apple Network followed by some numbers and letters.

5. At this point, if you select Apple Network ff9f9f9 (or whatever yours shows as) as your wireless network, it will take you to the login page for the hotel network. Login, and off you go

The other GREAT benefit to this over the wireless network in the hotel is that you can connect multiple devices in your room to the same apple network f9f9f9 etc for the price of one connection, or free if they don't charge. For some reason iphones don't seem to stay connected for very long to hotel networks, but it seems to have no trouble staying connected to the airport express, so this is another benefit. The other nice thing is that if you use apps like "Things" you can sync etc over the existing network a lot easier

Hope that helps
J
Click to expand...



Thanks for these great instructions! I don't travel much but have used mine with wired internet. I usually bring the manual because I fumble a bit each time I do this. Your instructions help greatly and I will cut and paste this and bring this instead! Thanks!
 
Mal said:
An Airport Express might be worth investing in for you, then, although it's $100 and another (small) device to carry. Makes it easy to turn those wired-only situations into wireless without paying extra.
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I used to travel a lot. I took an Airport Express (AE) with me all the time on my travels. It's small and lightweight and very capable.

In addition to setting up my wireless network, I used to take cables to connect the AE to the room TV/Stereo so I could listen to my music on better speakers. :)

cheekyjeremy said:
Just a comment. <snip good post>
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Good info for those new to the game.

Thanks for sharing.

BTW, the AE is also handy for group meetings. We had some in a hotel room where one person brought a small USB laser printer that we connected to the AE. Everyone could print that way.
 
Mal said:
It needs a PC for initial setup, but that can be done prior to arriving at the hotel (i.e., setup at home before you go). I've never run into any problems with using a standard DHCP setup on it, any passwords needed by the hotel are usually run through their router as a webpage that displays in the browser, so it doesn't affect the setup of the Airport Extreme.

Of course, it'd be nice if Apple would release a version of the Airport Utility for the iPad so you could configure it without a computer handy for just that usage, but I don't know if they're likely to do so.

jW
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+1 - I've been doing this for lots of trips - just set up a travel profile in the Airport Express when at home before leaving. Then when I arrive, I plug in the APExpress via the room supplied ethernet cable and then connect via my iPhone WiFi - it prompts me for a page login/agreement. I tend to stay a Marriott chains and invariably the WiFi is either weak or doesn't reach the room I wind up in. So my little Airport Express always comes in handy.

But it would be nice if they created a config utility - or even something web browser based. There's an App we need.
 
TraceyS/FL said:
I'm thinking that I need this for printing on the iPad.... i wish we could get more info on that!
Click to expand...
I am hoping that the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad platform gets that capability someday.

The Newton platform had IR printing which was very handy at the time. Now with WiFi printers, or USB printers connected to WiFi routers, it would definitely be nice to see printing via WiFi for these three devices.

Here's hoping. :)
 
cheekyjeremy said:
This is just not correct, and I am surprised to be the first to comment on it.
Click to expand...

I guess I have just been unlucky with it then... In some hotels I have tried exactly what you suggest, as well as having it pre-configured in bridge mode and have had it not work. My clients don't get a DHcP address or pull up the login page unless directly connected.

But, then again, in the hotel I am staying at now, I am having random problems getting the login screen to come up even on my MBP or iPhone over WiFi (haven't tried wired), so perhaps it's more of a reflection on my choice in hotels than the Airport Express...

These days, my iPhone's 3G plan is my data lifeline anyhow, os I leave the Airport Express at home.

I should also note that my Airport Express is the old original model, but I don't think that matters.

B
 
vidsmart said:
I will be traveling to a conference a few days after I get my iPad in April. I always choose my hotel based on whether or not it has free internet, and I thought this would be my first opportunity to pack lighter and leave my laptop at home. However, I just noticed on the confirmation that the room has wired internet. There goes my plan to leave my laptop at home. I know the iPad is not marketed as a laptop replacement--but this is a drawback. I would have been very unhappy had I not read my confirmation more closely. I am now going to try to change my hotel to one with wireless.
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At yourself I presume for being silly?
 
vidsmart said:
What a smart-assed reply. I'm just having a conversation. I love the iPad--as you can tell from my post I have preordered--so I am not a hater. The post before yours was very helpful. Yours on the other hand was a waste of keystrokes.
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agreed, that guy is a loser.
 
balamw said:
I guess I have just been unlucky with it then... In some hotels I have tried exactly what you suggest, as well as having it pre-configured in bridge mode and have had it not work. My clients don't get a DHcP address or pull up the login page unless directly connected
B
Click to expand...


Your clients would get their DHCP address from the Airport Express, not the hotel. The Airport should get a DHCP address from the hotel however, so that would be the first place to start.
 
bpd115 said:
Your clients would get their DHCP address from the Airport Express, not the hotel. The Airport should get a DHCP address from the hotel however, so that would be the first place to start.
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So now we're back to using the Airport Express in router mode with both NAT and DHCP for the clients handled by the Airport.

Double NAT (your NAT and the hotel's NAT) can cause problems for anything beyond simple web access. http://support.iprimus.com.au/index.php?Itemid=214&id=517&option=com_content&task=view (just the first link that turned up). So YMMV, and it depends what you need the 'net connection for.

Disclaimer: I have a VPN I occasionally need to connect to while on the road, so perhaps why I say it doesn't work well and others say it does may have something to do with that. I tend to use the 'net for more than just casual web browsing if I am on the road. So, I usually choose the "public IP/VPN happy" connection in hotels that support it. Sometimes that even requires a reboot to get the "right" IP address.

Again for casual web browsing I find the 3G connection on my iPhone far simpler than dealing with the many permutations of network setups in hotels.

B
 
another option is to jailbreak your iphone and use it as a wireless router ;)
 
balamw said:
So now we're back to using the Airport Express in router mode with both NAT and DHCP for the clients handled by the Airport.

Double NAT (your NAT and the hotel's NAT) can cause problems for anything beyond simple web access. http://support.iprimus.com.au/index.php?Itemid=214&id=517&option=com_content&task=view (just the first link that turned up). So YMMV, and it depends what you need the 'net connection for.

Disclaimer: I have a VPN I occasionally need to connect to while on the road, so perhaps why I say it doesn't work well and others say it does may have something to do with that. I tend to use the 'net for more than just casual web browsing if I am on the road. So, I usually choose the "public IP/VPN happy" connection in hotels that support it. Sometimes that even requires a reboot to get the "right" IP address.

Again for casual web browsing I find the 3G connection on my iPhone far simpler than dealing with the many permutations of network setups in hotels.

B
Click to expand...

100% dead on. Also, if the hotel has something like a Cisco switch with Port Security enabled, it can also throw a wrench into the works.
 
The larger issue here is that the vast majority of hotel WiFi access points block port 25 access for SMTP. This is a huge issue when it comes to not being able to send email. I have found that many of these same hotel do not block SMTP traffic on the wired connections and an Express-N works great for this. This is a big deal for those of us without web access to corporate email. I see this as the big benefit for the 3G.

I ordered the 32gb WiFi model, but if after a few weeks I have too much trouble with SMTP i'm taking it back for the 3G version, I just don't like the ideal of paying $130 for something i will rarely use.
 
seattlemaclover said:
The larger issue here is that the vast majority of hotel WiFi access points block port 25 access for SMTP. This is a huge issue when it comes to not being able to send email.
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As mentioned earlier, I am in a hotel room about 300 days per year. I have yet to ever have a problem with my mac mail with a mobile me account sent from mail, and obviously not from webmail either.

Are most of us not using a .me account ?
 
FlashHead said:
It's been a quite a while since I got my AE, but if I'm not mistaken, you actually discover it wirelessly through Airport Utility on the Mac for the initial set-up. I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Whether the iPad will be equipped with this utility seems unlikely though, based on my ipod touch.
Click to expand...

You are correct. Airport Utility and I doubt the ipad will have an app for it. Maybe if enough people complain they will add it.
 
cheekyjeremy said:
Are most of us not using a .me account ?
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Lucky for you that it suits your needs, not that you get to spend 300 days/year in hotels! :(

I have and use both .me and gmail which generally work fine any way you slice it. (But those I can use my iPhone for over 3G).

The main thing I need broadband for in hotels is access to my Exchange server at work and Outlook Web Access (Exchange webmail) is often very limiting in what it can do. So I need to be able to connect to the VPN at my work and sometimes even use RDP or VNC to control PCs remotely.

So, our demands on the hotel internet seem to be quite different, and it is not surprising that our experiences are different.

bpd115 said:
100% dead on. Also, if the hotel has something like a Cisco switch with Port Security enabled, it can also throw a wrench into the works.
Click to expand...

I've run into fun with that kind of stuff too. Last summer I was in a hotel that offered both wired and wireless internet, but once you signed on they would tie your device's MAC address to the room number and last name you gave them until 7 a.m. the next morning or until you checked out. Thus you could only have one device active at one time on each connection. A bit of a challenge when traveling with three notebooks and an iPhone. I had to call someone at a remote call center to deactivate devices each time I wanted to switch to a different one. Perhaps the Airport Express would have worked in that case, but I won't know since I don't travel with it anymore...

B
 
wolfpackfan said:
Going back to the Airport Express. I am in the same situation as OP. When we travel we usually stay at Hampton Inn's and about half the time all they have is wired interenet. We also go down to Walt Disney World a lot and all of the WDW resorts are wired. If you take use an Airport Express, does it require a connected PC to do the initial setup for a new network? Or does it pretty much do everything for you and you just connect to it?
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Wow, I did not know hotels that offered wired only exist.

the only problems I ever have with Hoel wireless is that it is ALWAYS slow. In fact the speed of hotel internet is inversely proportional to how important of a project I need to send by email over hotel wireless.
 
Why would you configure the airport express as a router for hotel room access???

Third option is to use mywi on your iphone and connect to it from your ipad and utilise the 3G connection. You never need to restrict your choice of hotels again using this method.
 
This is pretty much a "me too" post, but for anyone still on the fence about the Airport Express, just get one. I also travel frequently, and have stayed at some very nice hotels with no wireless (or with horribly inadequate wireless). But my AE has never failed me.

I actually have five of the things -- the rest are for printer sharing, the incredible optical output for audio, and to extend my home network. I think it actually might be my favorite Apple product ever.
 
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