Internet Access — Category

Different ways to access the Internet while you travel. Using your own equipment or other’s.

My experience is the more expensive the hotel then the more expensive the Internet which also generally means the cheaper the hotel the more likely the internet is free. And generally the hotels that charge you will charge you a fortune!

You also need to consider what a hotel means when they say Internet Access:

Access at airports can vary. It seems to me that in the US they want to charge you but many airports offer ways to connect if you are already a customer of A&T, T-mobile or some other similar service. When out of the US I’ve found free access, at least it was when I was in Costa Rica and Egypt (both in the last 18 months).

My Thought:
Give me free Internet access at the airport and I’ll be early for my flight! I just hate being too early and having nothing productive to do.

Some of the airport privileged frequent flyers may get free access so if you can find a location near one of those areas you might me able to get leech some access from there for free. I’ve seen this in some hotels too, if there is free access in area, it leaks out to the other areas too.

I know from recent experience Detroit and Atlanta do require a charge (or membership with one of the WiFi companies) for the Internet, but one of the Las Vegas airports (McCarran Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA) do not. But remember, airports are big and access may vary depending on where you are (McCarran only has it in certain terminals). And finding power isn’t always very easy…

Everyone has access to the Internet while they travel, it just not might be as convenient as it is where they are used to.

These days Internet cafes are everywhere you just don’t know what they might be offering. You’re not really sure how fast they’ll be (either the computers or the internet speed). They might have wireless, they might not. Never assume…

Costa Rica: I just got back from Costa Rica (December 2007) and in one of the (very) small towns the Internet cafes were just a phone line (or two) for a cafe with a 1/2 dozen computers (or more). The Internet crawled so much I thought something in my brain was going to burst. Other towns in Costa Rica were fine, some kind of cable or satellite wherever you go. I think just about every in Costa Rica was a little less than $2.50 a hour.

Egypt: High speed everywhere I went, most places didn’t have wireless but were willing to let you plug in your laptop. If you went where the locals went I think it was pretty cheap, but in a hotel or a tourist area they’d usually charge you quite a bit.

England: It seems to me it’s always expensive at most places that I looked. I rarely saw free places to access the internet (other than open access points).

United States: These days I couldn’t tell you the last time I went to a place that has internet, but doesn’t have wireless. Many coffee shops are free, some are not, you just have to ask.

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