Online travel giant Expedia.co.uk has challenged the expensive rates charged by some hotels for wireless (Wi-Fi) broadband Internet access. It's a problem that any roaming worker or holiday maker will be familiar with, especially with some hotels in Venice (Italy) topping the chart by charging anything up to £6.43 an hour for access:


Indeed Expedia found that hotels with a lower star rating than five were often also the ones most likely to offer FREE Wi-Fi. Naturally not all locations are the same, with some hotels in Florida reported to be charging just 0.78p per hour for access.

Sadly the report does not cover the difficulty of coverage, with many Wi-Fi operators still refusing to sign roaming agreements with one another, which inhibits coverage and complicates trips. Likewise most roaming Wi-Fi providers still offer a mix of poorly explained pricing structures.