You've forked over more than $150 for a decent, bed bug- and corpse-free hotel room. You plop down on the plush duvet and open up your laptop to get online. Of course, you've got to pay for it! But not only do you have to pay for Wi-Fi—it only grants access to one device. What gives?

In a day and age when the average household has four mobile devices, it feels like a slap in the face. But there's actually a way to get around this problem (and it's probably cheaper than that Wi-Fi access costs to begin with).

If you plug in a Wi-Fi adapter like the Panda Ultra Wireless N USB Adapter ($11), you can pay just once to get Wi-Fi to all your web connected gadgets. While your device already has a Wi-Fi antenna, this dongle acts as an access point, rebroadcasting the signal as one that your other mobile devices can connect to.

It's petite enough that you could just leave it plugged into your USB port all the time, if you’re constantly traveling, or keep in a pocket of your backpack or messenger bag.

Of course, there are other options for getting around lousy one-device-only Wi-Fi access situations, too, like using the room's ethernet connection to create a hotspot, using a MiFi, or turning your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. But if you don’t want to use cellular data, then using a Wi-Fi dongle is a good, cheap option.