Ranking Hotels by Whether the Wi-Fi Actually Works

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Image: Yvan Cohen/LightRocket

By Samantha Murphy Kelly2014-07-25 15:15:24 UTC

Some business travelers may choose their hotels based on promises of free Internet connections, but that's practically useless when the service is spotty and the bandwidth is limited. There's nothing quite like the frustration of faulty Wi-Fi when you just need to get online quickly to upload files or Skype into a meeting (or even just stream a TV show).

A new website called Hotel Wi-Fi Test does exactly what its name promises — it tests the speeds of hotels in key markets (New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, London, Singapore, Bangkok, Amsterdam and Hong Kong), so you can decide whether or not to stay there. There's also a real-time feature that lets you determine how well the Internet is working at the hotel you're currently in.

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Similar to a Yelp review, hotel guests can review the Wi-Fi offerings to alert other travelers and the lodging staff to encourage changes.

According to the site, the top major hotel chains for fast and reliable Internet are Andaz, Le Meridien, Radisson Blu, Four Points, Scandic, Sheraton, Crownde Plaza, Marriott, Hyatt and Residence Inn.

When it comes to local hotels, Pod 39 in New York City ranked as the most reliable Wi-Fi (of the 153 hotels tested) in Manhattan, with a speed of 75.4 Mbps. The New York Hilton Midtown followed with its paid Wi-Fi service with 55.6 Mbps.

The Pickwick Hotel topped the list in San Francisco with 54.1 Mbps, and the Signature at MGM (75.5 Mbps) and The Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas (52.6 Mbps) had a strong showing too.

The site also factors in bandwidth potential and confidence value based on how many speed tests were taken, how recently they occurred and the diversity of the tests (what time of day and during peak travel season).

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Topics: hotels, Mobile, Tech, travel, Travel & Leisure, U.S., wi-fi