It seems that the more expensive the hotel room, the better the chance that you'll pay extra for anything more than the bed. So, when I recently booked a low-priced hotel that included free Wi-Fi Internet access, I was pretty proud that I had beaten the system once again. This time, though, there was an unwelcome twist.Instead of simply offering its own Internet connectivity with a broadband connection and a couple of routers, this hotel (a Red Roof Inn) delegated the job to T-Mobile. Although the Internet connection was indeed free, the T-Mobile prepaid Wi-Fi card was only good for a 24-hour period. I had to go down to the front desk to get another prepaid Wi-Fi card each day.

Each time the computer was put into standby or otherwise went out of range of the hotspot, the system would forget it ever saw this computer. I had to reauthenticate through a Web browser, which would reward me with a page full of encouragement to upgrade to an "Affordable Monthly Subscription Plan." When each one-day card was activated, I was e-mailed a message with more unnecessary reminders and sales promotions. I can hardly wait to see what ongoing spam I'll now receive.

Although the signal was nice and strong in my room, the performance of the connection left something to be desired. Most of the time it was slow, except for the times it was unbearably slow. This hotspot wasn't so hot. I'm not quite sure what was making it slow, because I ran some bandwidth tests and it was getting nearly 1,500 Kbps up and down. But in many cases there were long pauses before a transfer even started.

I suppose the upside of this approach is that once you've activated the card for the 24-hour period, you could use any T-Mobile hotspot that happens to be nearby. I didn't encounter any other hotspots nearby, and since the convention I was attending had free Wi-Fi I didn't need to pay for it there.

T-Mobile's whole cumbersome process is highly annoying. I suppose this is what Starbucks customers were going through before they dumped T-Mobile for AT&T. I sure hope AT&T makes it easier and sends fewer spammy e-mails.