January 20, 2005

Wi-Fi makes accessing Internet more convenient around world

Wi-Fi?s taking over the world. In fact, I did my own little foreign survey over the Christmas holidays, though admittedly in just one country. I went back to England to visit friends and family, for the first time in almost four and a half years.

Back then, Internet access was a nuisance. My father didn?t have access, and everyone else I knew, including my geek brother, either didn?t have access or just had dial-up. So I had to sign up for a month?s service with an Internet service provider and dial in whenever I needed to connect.
I got an account with Freeserve, a free service, back in the ridiculous days of ?everything goes to free,? during the last few months of the madness now known as the Internet bubble. So I didn?t have to pay, but it was still a nuisance to set it up and mess around with wires.

It?s a very different story today. My first stop was my brother?s house. I opened up my laptop, and within seconds I was connected to his wireless (Wi-Fi) network, and out onto the Internet through a digital subscriber line connection. Fast and simple.

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Next stop, some old family friends. We arrived at Dominic?s house the day after he?d had a DSL connection installed, and arrived at the door at the very same time as the geek he?d hired to hook up his home network. Within the hour I could open my laptop, and connect directly through Dominic?s Wi-Fi network and onto the Internet to check my e-mail.

Next, over to my friend Dave?s house, which has both broadband Internet access and a Wi-Fi connection. Unfortunately, though, Dave paid someone to set up the network, and didn?t really understand how it all worked, so he had no idea what the password was. Even a call to the person who set up the network didn?t resolve the problem, so although I was able to use Dave?s computer to access the Internet and get e-mail via the Web, I never could connect my laptop.

Then, down south to my father?s house, where I found rather a different situation. The last time I visited he didn?t have a computer. In fact my siblings and I bought one for him, for his 80th birthday (the reason for my visit that year). Since then my brother has hooked up the computer to the Internet … through a dial-up connection. Worse, it?s probably the cheapest dial-up available in England, provided by the Tesco supermarket chain.

Targeting seniors, the account is designed for people who are at home all day and don?t care about using the Internet in the evening. In other words, it?s only available from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m., and then access shuts off! Unfortunately, 4 p.m. in England is 9 a.m. in Colorado, so it only gives me one hour of overlap if I have to communicate with a colleague back in Denver.

Still, there are now more ?connectivity? options in the small town in which my father lives. There are two McDonald?s fast-food restaurants in this town, and both have Wi-Fi hotspots. (In fact most do in England, and Japan, too, and McDonald?s keeps promising to start doing the same in the United States.)

There?s also a little cafe about 100 yards from my father?s house, Caffe Nero, one of a chain of 200, and most have Wi-Fi hotspots. One problem, though, they?re a little expensive: Access costs $10 a day, or $60 for a month. McDonald?s charges, too, even more, $20 a day or $80 a month! In fact I found around a dozen bars, hotels, restaurants, and even a gas station with Wi-Fi access, though all charged a fee.

I don?t need an Internet connection that badly right now, so I put up with my father?s lousy connection.

While staying with my father, we went for dinner at another friend?s house. Now, Rick did have a fast Internet connection, though it was mainly his children who used it. No Wi-Fi, though, but I did my bit and convinced him he really should install a Wi-Fi network. He had bought a new computer six months ago, and has been meaning to run wires across the house to connect it to the DSL box, but he?ll never get around to it. Now he knows about Wi-Fi, though, he?s got a way to connect the computer with an hour?s work or so. Perhaps when I return, he will have joined us in the 21st century, too.

It?s a great thing, Wi-Fi. (My kids got sick of hearing me saying that during our trip.) It?s making connecting to the Internet a breeze while traveling, often for free though sometimes for a fee (if you really have to connect). What used to take hours of messing around now takes literally seconds.

And Wi-Fi really is a case of ?everything goes to free.? In the United States many cafes and hotels now provide free Wi-Fi access as a service to their customers and guests, and I?m sure the same trend will be followed in England, too. Perhaps when I return I?ll finally be able to connect my laptop wherever I go, and not pay a penny.

Peter Kent is the author of ?Search Engine Optimization for Dummies? and many other computer- and Internet-related books. For more information, see www.iChannelServices.com.

Wi-Fi?s taking over the world. In fact, I did my own little foreign survey over the Christmas holidays, though admittedly in just one country. I went back to England to visit friends and family, for the first time in almost four and a half years.

Back then, Internet access was a nuisance. My father didn?t have access, and everyone else I knew, including my geek brother, either didn?t have access or just had dial-up. So I had to sign up for a month?s service with an Internet service provider and dial in whenever I needed to connect.
I got…

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