Hotel wired internet

Many hotels offer wired internet to the room. I know that travel routers can be a convenient means of using this, creating a wireless hot spot to be accessed by smartphones, wireless laptops etc. However , although I do not have one of these devices, I do have a spare Thomson TG585 V8 modem/router and wonder if and how this could be used to provide the same facility.

Can anyone throw any light on this topic?

Possible ...

I have taken a 2wire 2700 with me, sometimes it works, other times it will connect but devices behind it cannot becasue they cannot get an IP address - IPs are allocated to ports and thus the router takes the only one.

The way to try it would be: Turn DHCP off and in most cases find the IP address range allocated to that floor/room and find an IP that seems to work ... do the set up using a wired PC and then open up for wireless devices.

Given the way hotel networks are setup, it can be easy or difficult.

In one hotel recently, I found that the service was supplied to each room using an ADSL service and there was a 2wire gateway/hub in every room - with wireless turned off. I connected my router to it, set it up and that was it. They charged $10/day for service although as a frequent guest I got it free. My two colleagues on the floor below could see my wireless signal and connected saving themselves the charges.

You can use this to turn a PC into a hotspot http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com/

Clearly then what I was considering does seem possible some of the time in some hotels. However I was hoping not to need to have a laptop with me, using only a smartphone or tablet to setup and access the internet by this means rather than by the hotel's often unreliable in-room WiFi connection. My intention is not meant to be a ploy whereby to deprive the hotel management of their ill-gotten gains made when connecting more than one device. So, if I do need a laptop to set up the connection in the first place then this rather defeats the objective of travelling light(er).

This one passed through my inbox yestereday:-

http://www.expansys.com/tp-link-nano-router-wireless...

On the face of it a very cheap and light device but, unless I am reading it wrongly, it also needs a wired device initially to set it up.

First time out of box maybe, but once you've set your various modes should not need ethernet.

Ah yes, on re-reading the spec, I see that this is the case. It does seem that at the quoted price and given the convenience and reliability in use, this would be a much more sensible way for me to go.

Thanks to all for the advice.