I'd bring both ethernet & phone cable... my dad has traveled to a ton of places with his and about half the time they did not have a phone or ethernet cable for him to use. I even stayed a place that was supposed to supply but people had stolen so many they didn't have enough anymore. The places with broadband connection usually require a credit card to sign up for their connection. While it is okay, I have found my dial up with roadrunner is almost as fast loading websites as the hotel's is. So sometimes it is cheaper and just as nice to just use your own ISP (or AOL as a trial) than to pay the $10/day for broadband.