Globe Staff, 07/29/99

Being a business traveler has many downsides: cramped airline seats, mediocre restaurant meals, lousy hotel pillows.

Now one of the biggest annoyances -- slow Internet connections via phone modems -- is being eliminated at several Boston-area hotels.

The Wyndham Batterymarch Hotel, scheduled to open in September at 60 Batterymarch St. in Boston, and the Royal Sonesta just across the Charles in Cambridge have signed up with Wayport, an Austin company that is wiring hotels, airports, and conference centers for Internet access.

They're not the first Boston hotels to go to high-speed Internet access; the year-old Seaport Hotel on the South Boston waterfront also offers it.

Wayport (www.wayport.net) gives hotels speedy access in rooms and meeting rooms on a T1 line based on standard Ethernet technology, a service it has dubbed EveryWire.

There is no need to rewire the rooms; however, the speed of the connection does depend on the hotel's wiring system. The higher the category of wiring, the faster the access.

In general, Wayport says its connection will be about 50 times faster than conventional modems.

In addition, Wayport is offering a customized Web site for guests with Boston-area visitor information.

Guests pay one flat fee for unlimited daily use. Each hotel sets its own rate; the Sonesta charges $10 a day, for example.

Plug your Ethernet cable (if you don't have one, the hotel's front desk probably will) into the marked jack, and start your browser or email. It serves PCs running Windows95, 98, or NT, and Mac OS 7.5. Make sure you have a standard Ethernet network interface card installed.

You might even start to enjoy business travel.