[sanswork]

Every motel/hostel that I've been to with free internet has ended up with internet so slow that its unusable. I'm happy to pay for it to be able to access at faster than dialup speeds. As for why they charge it's because they can. Their target markets are already paying a premium for a room so a small extra charge for internet isn't that much of a deal. People looking for the savings of a hostel are just as likely to go to Starbucks/McDonalds for free internet.

[newman314]

Problem is even when you do pay for it (at say a Marriott), it's still slow.

[jiggy2011]

Just because they charge does not mean they re-invest any of that in infrastructure.

If you stay at a hotel with paid wifi and it is full of people who are either tethering from their phones or not using the internet then it will be fast.

Stay at a posh hotel where everyone pays out of their expense account and it's likely to be just as slow as if it was free.

Not to mention that you only need one person streaming 1080p to put serious strain on the bandwidth.

[tripzilch]

That's what Opera Turbo is for.