Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing really hates hotel wi-fi:

The way that hotels deliver Internet access is the single worst thing about the travel I do — particularly in Europe, where there’s a positive fetish for overcharging, using scratch-off cards that no one ever has stock of (at a hotel in Rennes: “Sorry, they’re in the safe and the woman with the safe-key is on holidays), port-filtering, rate-limiting, and double-charging. If I stay in one more hotel where the WiFi in the lobby costs an addition $20 a day over the $30 a day that the WiFi in the room costs, I’m burning it down.

So, I guess I’m fortunate that my ancient laptop can’t access wi-fi? Every time I travel, I remember why I love my cable so much when I hear all that dial-up screeching and boinging. Someday, when I finally get a new one, I’m sure I’ll join in the wi-fi lamenting.

Update: A list of some U.S. hotels offering free wi-fi, from gfn.com. Also, Hotel Chatters best and worst hotels for wi-fi in 2004.