Slow or Not Functioning Public Wi-Fi

One of the things I usually do when I go to meetings and conferences that are attended by more than 40 people or so is to get hold of a local SIM card for Internet access, as the public Wi-Fi at the conference venue and hotel is usually unusable. When I was in Seattle recently for a smaller meeting, though, I thought I'd give the Wi-Fi in the hotel a chance again. And indeed, things were working o.k at a steady 2 MBit/s. That changed, however, as soon as I got out of the hotel. Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks, so no problem you would think. Not really, the Wi-Fi was completely unusable. Next, I went to the airport, again depending on the Wi-Fi installation there. This time, it was sort of usable but still painstakingly slow. Very disappointing. And in Paris on the way back, the Wi-Fi in the lounge wouldn't even let me connect. Back to 3G then…