How I Paid $200 a Night for Internet Access (and Loved It)

I arrived in London this morning and made my way to the suburb of Maidenhead, where I’m working this week. I’m staying at a beautiful little hotel called Fredrick’s. There’s a story behind the reason I’m staying here.

As you know if you’ve traveled in Great Britain, England is one of the most bandwidth-starved countries in the civilized world. Internet access isn’t easy to find, and when you find it, it’s expensive (like everything else in the U.K., especially given the current exchange rate).

Since I don’t drive in Great Britain, I wanted to find a hotel within walking distance of the place I’m working this week. That left me with two choices: a Holiday Inn with no Internet access for $200 a night, or Fredrick’s, which has high-speed Internet access, for $400. Since a week without e-mail is a long time, I chose Fredrick’s.

Forget investing in the stock market. I think I’ll become an ISP in Great Britain.