A Common Traveller Tale:High Cost Net Access
My Dopplr friends know that I am in Ekaterinburg, Russia, a city in the Urals region. My hotel is superb in almost every way, but frequent global travellers will recognize the one serious flaw.
The rooms have Wi-Fi access, but it is outrageously expensive — about US $40 for six hours. At least this is not six hours from the time of first sign-on, but rather for a total of that time logged into the system.
Fortunately, and this is something I often find in such situations, there is a well-equipped business office where I’ve plugged my computer into the hotel’s network. Here I’m getting access at (still not sure yet) either at no cost or a fraction of the in-room charge.
Net access charges abroad are almost as annoying as the ridiculous mobile phone roaming charges. But for those of us who travel for business, the alternative is to be out of touch. Which is no alternative at all.
ekaterinburg eh? looking for the bodies? :)
this is almost as outrageous as stateside broadband prices. i pay US$70/mo for 768kb in the states and approximately US$40/mo for 100mb in japan.
randy
Although I do agree that it’s outrageous, if you consider the price of a meal in some of the restaurants tailored for travelers/foreigners I would say it’s in line with what one may expect.
I remember an article in the 1st make magazine about extending your wireless reception, by using an airport express and some tin foil to make a homebrew antenna out of it.
Just get yourself a high room with a view out over the city, and you might pickup on an open wireless network.
looking forward to the day they no longer charge for wifi. heck, they don’t charge separately for water or electricity.
just came back from mebourne. the crowne plaza was charing 55 cents per minute up to a max of 25 bucks a day. twisted.