One unusual gadget I take with me whenever I travel is a wireless pocket router. Just like a standard wireless router, this device turns a wired internet connection into a wireless one. The only real differences my travel router has from a standard router are: 1) it is tiny, so it is very easy to pack; 2) it can be powered via USB; and 3) it has a shorter range than a standard router. The one I have is from D-Link, but I expect that others are good too. The router has proved itself worthy in multiple situations:

No Hotel Wireless

On a few trips I’ve been surprised to find that the advertised internet access was wired-only. That is, no wireless was available at all. Since I regularly travel with my iPhone and iPad, but without a laptop, the lack of wireless is a big deal (since neither comes with a network port). With my travel router, the problem is easily solved: power it up, plug it in, and voila, I have wireless internet!

Slow Hotel Wireless

On several occasions I’ve found the hotel wireless access to be unbearably slow while, at the same time, the hotel’s wired internet was much faster. In these situations, the pocket router has allowed me to surf the internet at the faster wired speed while remaining un-tethered.

Charge for Multiple Devices

Some hotels not only charge for internet access (which should be considered a crime in itself!), but exasperate the situation by charging, not by room, but by device. That is, they expect you to pay for internet access for every device that you connect to the internet. When I travel with my family of three, we usually have six or seven devices that we would like to have connected to the internet. With the pocket router it can appear to the hotel as if there is a single device connected to the internet rather than six or seven. Note that this depends on the technology the hotel system uses. The trick has worked for me twice, but struck-out once.

Some hotels have wireless internet, but no wired internet. Others have great, free wireless internet. In those cases, the router hasn’t helped at all, but it’s so small that I’ve never regretted taking it along… just in case.

I’ll keep this post short since I’m writing on my iPad’s touch screen. I love my iPad, but writing more than a sentence or two is a bit tortuous. I’m writing from my room at the Hotel Intercontinental in London. I booked three nights at this fabulous hotel using 80,000 points I “earned” by signing up for the Chase Priority Club visa, plus 10,000 points I had earlier accrued, plus $60 per day. The same room, if I booked a paid stay, would have set me back over $700 per night! Despite getting such a great deal for a standard room, I hoped for a room upgrade as well. The good news was that the Chase credit card bonus alone was enough to bump me up from no status to Priority Club Platinum level. However, I had heard that Priority Club status means nothing to Hotel Intercontinental since they have a separate Ambassadors Club program (which I am not a member of). Worse, I have read that even Ambassador Club members do not get any perks when booking an award stay. So, I went in with two strikes against me: no Ambassador Club, and an award booking. At check in, I asked the clerk if room upgrades were available. He told me they were, but that there would be an up-charge. So, I pointed out my Platinum status. He typed furiously for a few minutes and soon enough came up with an upgrade to a gorgeous room on the club floor! Pushing my luck, I also asked if he could comp my internet. In return he gave me a code for 24 hours of internet access! So, back to the title of the post: it never hurts to ask

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