How does hotel know what rooms are connecting to internet?

Fmlmacro Macro: How does hotel know what rooms are connecting to internet?
The hotel I am currently staying in said they charge ten dollars for me to connect to the internet. Question is.. I didn’t have to “sign in” or any kind of log-in, I just clicked on the hotel’s connection in “available connections” on my computer.
How does the hotel know exactly WHICH room is connecting? Curious, as their really doesn’t seem like there would be any way to know unless they were tracking IP addresses, and I could have brought a friends computer so the IP address would not even be me. Thanks!

Answers and Views:

Answer by john
Normally when you click connect the screen comes up for payment, at that time you enter you enter your CC information. I travel more than 100 mights a year and HATE hotels that charge for internet, The more you pay for a room the more likely it is you pay for internet too.
Embassy suites if famous for this

Answer by Darius
For wireless, there isn’t a way to connect you to the room. More than likely someone screwed up in configuring the access point or the payment page is down for some reason. Also it’s possible they don’t charge for wireless but charge for hardlined connections. Hard-lined connections are specifically configured to the rooms, and thats how they know who is using it, but those normally have a sign-in + payment screen too.

Answer by george
well…
maybe this is incuded in the price already and no other way that they can charge you
They do not know what pc you use and they do not even know if you have pc
I bet the price includes the internet

Answer by Hugh
You’ve got your answer, but you should know that IP addresses aren’t portable.
IPs are assigned, generally, by the router you’re connected to.

Answer by The Phlebob
Connecting from your room? That by itself could be the giveaway. They could have an access point in every room. The closest one would be the one likeliest to get the computer’s signal.

Hope that helps.