[NTLUG:Discuss] OT traveling with a router question

[Courtney Grimland]

Fred James wrote:

> All
> Tech support (for the company that provides the broadband Internet 
> connection for the hotel we will be staying in) said we should be able 
> to connect both of our laptops to their service, at the same time, if 
> we bring a router (connection in the room is a single, standard Rj45 
> Ethernet).  My experience has been that one must, upon connecting for 
> the first time, open a browser, visit the provider's site, and click 
> through some agreements, before one may continue.  So, I am not sure 
> how this might work with a router.  Has any one had any experience 
> with this type of thing, or any thoughts or insights to offer?  Thank 
> you in advance for any help you may be able to offer.
> Regards
> Fred James
>
I work in the hospitality IT industry and, among other things, I provide 
this kind of service/equipment in many hotels (though not this one - I 
never would have told you to pack a router in your suitcase!).  There 
shouldn't be any need for a router inside the room - only a hub or 
switch.  In fact, guests behind their own router could lead to liability 
issues because someone might be allowed out without "agreeing" to the 
CYA legalese.

If there is in fact some funky VLAN/DHCP setup then the router should 
not prevent you from clicking through the agreement pages.

PS - Depending on the number of public IPs they get from their ISP, you 
may find VPN issues.  Most hotel guests (and their companies' tech 
support folks) assume that their VPN problems are due to firewalled 
ports but that's not usually the case.  I'm not aware of any hotel 
router that can NAT more VPN connections than there are public IPs 
available and less-clued hotels often purchase discount service packages 
that only include 1-5 public IPs for hundreds of potential users.