My wife and I are currently on an extended trip. We spent some time in Vegas and are now visiting Chicago. Hotel prices in Vegas currently seem to be about as low as they're going to be, so we took this as an opportunity to stay in some nicer hotels that we might not have otherwise considered. We stayed in the lower-end suites at Trump, Vdara and our favorite from last year, South Point, and we must say that the Trump is now our favorite experience. We will for sure stay there again, if we can get a similarly reasonable rate.

What we liked most about the Trump was the lack of any major inconveniences or drawbacks. The suite was nice and had a great view overlooking the strip. The bathroom was the most marvelous of a comparable size suite or room that we ever stayed at. There was a lot of storage space; there was a nice little kitchenette; none of the space was wasted on a mini-bar with insulting prices; 24 hour room service with excellent food; a 24 hour gym; and quite importantly...

... fast and reliable internet access.

Thankfully, all of the hotels we stayed at in Vegas this time - Trump, Vdara, and South Point - offered great internet access.

Now fast forward to our stay in Chicago. The most reasonable accommodation we could find was at a Residence Inn, where for a decent price, the little suite has nearly everything you might wish for - even a full fledged kitchen with a large fridge and a freezer - except...

... fast and reliable internet access.

About a week ago at South Point, I clocked the download speed at 2.3 megabytes per second. Here at Residence Inn, the "High Speed Internet" connection manages a paltry 60 kB/s, or about 2.5% of that.

At Vdara, the ping time to Google was consistently around 60-70 ms. Here, the ping time ranges anywhere from 300 to over 1000, with an average of over 500 ms. Even just pages with a lot of images take long to load, let alone more network intensive types of access.

I called the hotel's internet help desk, provided by Guest-Tek, to ask about these issues, and was shocked at their response. I thought perhaps there is a technical problem that makes the network temporarily that slow. But no. This is their service operating as intended. They consider the service to be primarily for business purposes such as email and basic web browsing. The following, they explicitly stated, are not what they consider acceptable uses:
  • Watching streaming video (e.g. YouTube).
  • Downloading music (e.g. from Amazon or iTunes).
  • Skype.
I am perplexed that, with such limitations, they dare call their service "high speed" internet. What, exactly, is "high speed" about emails and basic web pages, in the year 2010? I could do that with a modem, fifteen years ago.

If anyone knows of a place to stay in or around Chicago that offers (1) a fridge, (2) actual high speed internet access, and (3) a reasonable price...

... please leave a comment.

Edit: We made the mistake of giving a chance to another Marriott-operated Residence Inn in a different area near Chicago. They again advertised "free high-speed internet", and again, the problems were identical. The average ping time is 500-1000 ms, and the average transfer speed is 30-60 kB/s. A simple text page can take some 10 seconds to load. A page with photos takes minutes.

I am reporting these guys to the Federal Trade Commission - if I can get the page to load. :)