I agree that easy and simple have a lot to do with this system being attractive. OTOH if the cost were ~25c/min instead of ~2.5c/min I think the easy & simple part would not be so important.

Germany WIFI experience
 

I don't want to downplay the usefulness of @ home/wifi arrangements, but all that glitters is not gold. The WFI coverage was not good at all.

Back from 2 + weeks in Germany, Duesseldorf, Berlin & Frankfurt area. Stayed @ hotels in each place. Here are my WIFI experiences.

In Duesseldorf we stayed @ a small hotel with no WIFI or internet. Spent some time with wife's relatives and none of them had WIFI. First 7 nights. There was an internet cafe close at 2 Euros per hour.

Berlin Crown Plaza WIFI/internet rates: 30 min, 5 Euro; 120 min 10 Euro; 1 day 12.5 Euro.... 4 days 46 Euros. Needless to say I did not sign up. Next 6 nights. There were two internet cafes quite close at 2 Euros per hour.

Frankfurt (actually Gross Gerau). WIFI hotspot by T-Mobile Germany. Well, I did not even bother. Final 3 nights. There were two internet cafes quite close at 1 Euros per hour.

Stan

Well, I prefer WIRED internet, as I carry around an Apple Airport Express, and make my own Wifi network in the hotel room.

As well, I would imagine, many of us, as there is little choice, have to sign up for daily Internet access at the hotels... I just hope the @home works off any router.

clarification
 

Hotel in D-dorf had NO internet of any kind.
Wired internet in Berlin was the same price as WIFI access.
Hotel near Frankfurt had NO wired internet.

No sure how much help the Apple Airport Express is under those circumstances.

My bottom line is that my experiences in Europe (Germany, France, Malta) have been that hotels do not routinely provide any free internet services.

Stan

A travel router is helpful because it lets multiple devices share the same internet connection. Thus, your Nokia E61 could share the connection with your laptop.

By the way, it is my understanding that the TMobile phones work on German TMobile Hotspots at $0.18 a minute.

Yeah, that is true - but, when it's all said and done, doing it that way with a phone, considering the time between being on actual Wifi telephone calls, logging on, etc., the 18c a minute charge for the Wifi usage probably would translate to 50c a minute for the actual call time vs overall Wifi usage. There are options that are that cost, anyway, without Wifi.

And, no, you rarely find free internet in Europe. But, all things remaining the same, I pay around Euro18 a day anyway for internet use around Europe, having @home is just a nice extra.

I didn't think the Starbucks DE option was a necessarily a good option, I just felt compelled to correct the earlier statement.

I had free internet in two hotels in Ireland last year. The hotel I'll be staying at in Instanbul has free internet. It is on the European side of the Bophurus (sp?), but I don't think that is what you meant by "Europe."

In Dubai, intenet is all over the map. When I stayed at the Madinat Jumerah, they wanted $40 a night. Down the street at the Radisson SAS, it was free.