OT: Getting e-mails on the road.

Fellow road warriors. I finally got a WIFI card for my laptop. I have found that many hotels provide free WIFI service. Otheres do not and I must give my credit card number to the local access point provider. I was at the Vancouver BC
airport and the telus company wanted money to get connected. I don't want to give my
credit card number out at every air port or hotel. Does someone have a better plan? It seems there are many small WIFI access points, each wants to charge money. There should be one universal WIFI card where I can provide a card number and it would be accepted by any WIFI access point.

Any suggestions?

At the airport I'm always also looking for an ac outlet to plug in the laptop and cell.
The first place I look is near the airline clubs. You know, the Continental, Delta, etc special areas where you need a membership to get into. The larger airports all have them and they generally (but not always) have an open WiFi network anybody can tap into. Stay within 50-100ft of the entrance and you should be able to get a decent signal. (free)
Or just join the club if you fly the same airline.(I don't ) Or a high-end Amex card gives you free access to a couple of them... I think??

Regarding the hotel access, it's one of the things I check before booking a room. (I also travel with a cable too in case WiFi is down) Hampton Inns are low cost, clean and generally all have free access. Same with the Choice hotel chains (ie. Comfort Inns/suites)

If you're not comfortable with that, consider a PCMCIA cell modem. It's slow speed(dialup ) and paying by the minute... but it's access from anywhere without the credit card.

Enjoy,

If you only want to check you e-mail, just cruise the local streets in the rental car with NetStumbler running on your laptop. Plenty of unprotected hotspots out there. I found over 50 on my 30 mile commute. There are at least two traffic lights where I can check my e-mail while sitting at the light!...

Also, try WiFinder to locate hotspots.

beerchug

-Eric

Thanks for the airline club idea.

Our sales guys use the T-mobile pcmcia wireless connections. They get unlimited connections for $39 a month. It is worth it for them. I don't like the their slow speed, but the sales guys just use it for e-mail. One can also get a connection almost anywhere with the t-moblie. The sales guys tell me they stay intouch while the drving down the freeway. I bought a 802.11G wireless card. I like the speed for surfing and downloading. I don't spend much time driving down the freeway so finding access points along the way is not a big deal. I just seem to spend a lot of time in airports and hotels. I also keep a spare e-net cable with me.

Another way to check email, while not blindingly fast, works fine for me. I just use the bluetooth link from my cellphone to the laptop, and use my cellphone's data network (AT&T in my case).

There are additional charges for going over my plan data usage, but at least it's a single-payer charge, and even billed on my statement, so I can get reimbursed

When you get stuck/delayed/bumped at an airport, some of the airlines will give you a 'voucher' to access the wireless net for a set amount of time...but you must be a little persistant to get it...but if you are going to be there for a few hours due to bad weather, what else do you have to do.

Along this divergent line of thought, that is , how to occupy yourself at the gate without getting into too much trouble, might I suggest we start a line of diversions that only a PLC person would find FUN....such as, at the Atlanta AP, you can ride the little inter terminal train with your laptop on,finding all the networks that show up...last count I got was 35...OR...find the proper speed at which to walk in front of the line of urinals so that they all will flush in sequence...or... my favorite, as a fair Hindu language speaker, walk up to some Indians and start talking to them in Hindi or Punjabi, and watch the blank expresions that comes over their faces as they try to figure out what this white man is doing speaking their language...I have met some great folks that way, even a few invites to dinner.

And Yours????

David