Internet access on the move becoming a breeze

It˜s a wired, wired, wired world, but pretty soon it˜s going to be unwired. It˜s getting easier and easier to connect to the Internet wherever you are, through the ether. Here˜s a case in point.

A friend, computer illiterate and in need of advice, came to me recently and asked me how he was going to keep online when visiting his wife˜s family in Tokyo. He would be there for a month, and has become so addicted to e-mail — haven˜t we all — that he really wanted to find a way to connect to the Internet while over there.

A few years ago I would have told him to check out CompuServe or some other online service with connections in Japan. He˜d have to make sure he had the right kind of modem, and the necessary cable and connectors, but the real problem would be the knowledge factor … figuring out how to actually get everything working.

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A few years ago, visiting my uncle in Austria, I had huge problems connecting my laptop to the Internet. In fact I never did. I was writing a book at the time, and had to keep in contact with my editors. So each evening I would drive down the valley in which my uncle lived until I hit the freeway running along the River Inn. I would drive a few miles along the freeway, then turn into another valley, parallel to my uncle˜s, and drive a few miles up the windy road until I reached a Gasthaus I had been told had an "Internet cafe." Actually it was a bar, with a little room behind in which a PC sat, with an Internet connection. I would work for an hour or so, then drive back down the valley, along the River Inn, and back up my uncle˜s valley. What a hassle.

Well, times have changed, and the advice that came to mind immediately was, "Lets see if we can find a hotspot!" My friend had recently bought a new laptop, with a built in Wi-Fi modem … a wireless modem that allows the laptop to connect to what are known as Wi-Fi "hotspots." So I visited a Web site called Wi-Fi 411, http://www.wifi411.com/, and did a little search for hotspots in Tokyo and found a bunch. I told my friend that the easiest way to connect while visiting his in-laws would be to take a trip to a local McDonald˜s — many of them in Japan have hotspots, as they do in England, too, and probably will soon in the United States. Or he could visit one of the many bars and coffee bars with hotspots.

Before my friend left, we met in the lobby of the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, which has a free hotspot (some hotspots, such as most at U.S. airports, require a fee). I showed him how to connect to a hotspot, and off he went on his trip to the Orient.

He returned a few days ago. Did he find any of the bars or restaurants with hotspots, I asked? Well, no, he didn˜t. What had happened, he explained, was that when he arrived at his in-law˜s home he took out his laptop and turned it on. When it had finished booting, he saw a message asking if he wanted to connect to a network, so he clicked OK … and instantly connected to the Internet. Somehow he˜d stumbled across a Wi-Fi hotspot, perhaps a neighbor˜s. For a month, he had free, hassle-free high-speed Internet access.

I˜ be visiting my family in England soon, so I thought I˜d do a little digging around to find out what the access situation will be when I arrive. In the past I˜ve signed up for slow but free dial-up connections for a few weeks while I˜m there, but it˜s always a hassle.

In the future, it˜s going to be a lot easier. There are a couple of McDonald˜s with hotspots close to my father˜s house, a little drive away, but there˜s also a coffee shop with a free hotspot a hundred yards or so away. Now and then, I˜ stroll over to the coffee shop, buy myself a drink, and sit and check my e-mail.

Hotspots are turning up everywhere, some paid, many free. Coffee bars (most Starbucks and Peaberry˜s have paid access) and fast-food restaurants (Schlotzky˜s now demands that all new franchises put in a hotspot, for instance), hotels and airports … hotspots are turning up everywhere.

And wireless access is going to see a huge boost in the next couple of years, as WiMax comes online. While Wi-Fi hotspots have a range of around 300 feet at best, WiMax has a range of around 30 miles. WiMax equipment will begin appearing early in 2005, though equipment allowing laptops to connect may not be available until 2006. But even with Wi-Fi, let alone WiMax, Internet access on the move is becoming a breeze.

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.