International Travel With Wireless Connection Vs. Internet Cafe

[persianpower]

International travel with wireless connection vs. internet cafe

I'm travelling and have had enough of internet cafes - I want to get wireless.

I have a laptop (but not the wireless card or the service).

My question is what is the best option for someone who travels regularly (from different cities in Asian countries and eventually the entire world (including Europe).

At this point, I've been going to cafes and connecting my laptop to the shop's ADSL or cABLE INTERNET. I've caculated I spend roughly $1-2 every day in these cafes. Now, how much would wireless cost?

Also, aside from cost - is wireless international or do I need to cancel my in-country service every time I move to a new country? I mean, how convinient is it to have wireless when travelling to different countries all the time?

Case in point:

Will my hardware (card) be comptabile with international wireless service? If I buy the card in Thailand (my current location) - Can i use wireless service in China later on.

If you're travelling on wireless (and you understand where I'm going with this), please share your experiences.

thx

[astral]

The wireless standard IEEE 802.11 a, b, g.

The "b" and "g" versions are compatible and are commonly used around Europe and Asia. "g" is just a faster version.

"a" however is on a different frequency band and as far as I know is only used

in the USA. Bear this is mind when you are buying a card to plug in your laptop.

Finding hotspots to use wireless is not always so easy.

Many airports and hotels have the service, but you may find yourself

paying $10-15 for 60 minutes of use, as a minimum.

Not sure what the situation is in cafes that offer wireless internet service.

I have a little programme called Net Stumbler that will scan and look for any

wireless signals in the immediate area, and help me to connect.

Most private services are encrypted to prevent outsider access, but some are not.

Pay services will allow you to connect easily, then present you with a Subscriber

screen, where you can sign up, or enter your details if you already have a subscription,

before giving you access to the Internet.

Where I live there is a wireless service, but it requires an antenna on the roof

and a cable down to the room where I have the computer. This is an alternative to

ADSL which uses the standard telephone cable. I do not think this is available in Thailand yet.

Edited April 22, 2006 by astral

[persianpower]

so i'll buy a card in bkk, and head to starbucks everyday to use free internet?

does that sound right?

if so, my only real cost is buying the hardware (the service is free)??

[tjo o tjim]

Sometimes you can find a free access point, but usually only in residential areas where people didn't know how to set up their routers. Starbucks most certainly is not free- you will likely find it more expensive than an internet cafe.

So, no free lunch.

Also, if you send any sensetive information over a wireless network that isn't secured, it is trivial for someone to intercept the information. An example of this problem is if you use the same password for your mail or ftp access as for anything else. If you downloaded mail and then check your bank account...

In Thailand, GPRS access is cheap, albeit slow. You could hook a gprs (gsm) phone to the laptop and use that for your internet connection.

[kkengvibul]

Astral, does it mean that if my laptop has a 802.11b/g wireless LAN, I wouldn't be able to use the wireless internet in the US??

[stumonster]

Astral, does it mean that if my laptop has a 802.11b/g wireless LAN, I wouldn't be able to use the wireless internet in the US??

No it does not mean that - the first standard was 802.11a and I doubt if you will find many/any still using that standard , nearly all across the world will be dual b/g .

[kdvsn]

International travel with wireless connection vs. internet cafe

I'm travelling and have had enough of internet cafes - I want to get wireless.

I have a laptop (but not the wireless card or the service).

My question is what is the best option for someone who travels regularly (from different cities in Asian countries and eventually the entire world (including Europe).

At this point, I've been going to cafes and connecting my laptop to the shop's ADSL or cABLE INTERNET. I've caculated I spend roughly $1-2 every day in these cafes. Now, how much would wireless cost?

Also, aside from cost - is wireless international or do I need to cancel my in-country service every time I move to a new country? I mean, how convinient is it to have wireless when travelling to different countries all the time?

Case in point:

Will my hardware (card) be comptabile with international wireless service? If I buy the card in Thailand (my current location) - Can i use wireless service in China later on.

If you're travelling on wireless (and you understand where I'm going with this), please share your experiences.

thx

Having a 802.11 wireless card and using cybercafe's aren't mutually exculsive. If you happen to be in places that have a wireless access point that option is clearly convenient. However unless it's your hotel that has a wireless access point or has wire broadband in the rooms, using wireless is going force you to parade your laptop around in public. That's not necessarily a problem but sometimes you might rather not be walking around with a laptop. If your hotel doesn't have broadband (at an acceptable price), then you'll probably end up going someplace like a Stabucks as others have mentioned, or perhaps you'd end up right back at a cybecafe where you'll probably be charged something on order of 1 baht per minute to connect your PC to the cybercafe's "broadband". Not a high percentage of cybercafe's in Thailand haev wireless set up but a decent number will allow you to connect a laptop to their network by wired ehternet.

The above said, these are the things that I bring with me while travelling in Thailand to maximize my chances of being able to connect.

1) Laptop with a bluetooth adapter, wireless card, phone modem, 802.11 wireless card, and VPN software.

2) An ethernet cable. Using either this or the 802.11 card would be the first choice in cases where you can conveniently find somethign to connect to.

3) A phone cord to allow use of dial up access from a hotel room. Inside BKK this is a reasoanble backup for me because my company has a dialup number to access our corporate network. I undestand that you can also purchase prepaid cards that let you use dial-up on one of the Thai ISP's.

4) A 512 Meg USB keychain flash drive with Firefox, Thunderbird, and some other software loaded onto it. See http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1846805,00.asp for information on how to set that up. Using this I can go to a cybercafe, plug in the keychain drive and run my customized copied of Forefox (for browsing) and Thunderbird (for downloading in sending emails). My most common use for this is to download all my email onto the keychain drive and take the downloaded emails back to my notebook computer in to read and reply to them at my leisure. Replies would be saved back onto the keychain drive and sent next time I'm at a cybercafe. The adantage of this is that you can always have the keychain drive in your pocket and and if all you do is download the messages and them log off you don't run up a very big bill at the cybercafe. It works out well if you only need to check your email once or twice a day and if you don't want to be taking your laptop out in public.

5) Cell phone with GPRS support & bluetooth. You can easily get prepaid cards for cell phones in Thailand and in a pinch you can use a cell phone as a modem via a bluetooth connection to a PC.

6) A compact wireless travel rotuer. Generally I'd use this for added security or to get wireless in a hotel room that has only wired interet access.

Between the above options, you can be reasonably expect to be able to retrieve & send your email and access web sites unless you go really far off the beaten trail, though obviously the cell phone GPRS and the dial up options aren't going to be speedy.

[monty]

kdvsn sums it up pretty well.

Have all the equipment necesery to connect to whatever internet is available!

Wireless b/g card (most recent notebooks have this built in). Starbucks wifi is not free, but many places offer wifi for free as a service to their customers...

Free wifi spots in Thailand

GPRS/edge capable mobile phone, connectable to your laptop either by infra red, bluetooth or cable. In most countries, Thailand included, you can get affordable pre-paid sim cards which allow you to access the net through gprs. Not fast, but usable and will work from the privacy of your room...You would have to do a bit of research for every country you travel to.

[Pink Mist]

I use a gprs card plugged into pcma. used 2 isp's both dropped out a lot, bit slow but it worked.

[astral]

From my experience wired broadband in hotels is usually charged at a lump sum for a 24 hour period (one day).

Whereas wireless services allow you to sign for a certain number of minutes,

and these do not have to be used in one session. This is much better as

it leaves you free to connect each day, when you want to, without running up a large bill.

Usually the more minutes you pre-pay for the cheaper it becomes, but you

need to be sure you will use the time.

[sfokevin]

http://www.wififreespot.com/asia.html

Also note that most Airline frequent flyer lounges will have hotspots that are free and many are not password protected (And you do not have to be inside to use them :>) Try sitting outside the EVA lounge in BKK....

Edited April 23, 2006 by sfokevin

[EdgeThailand]

International travel with wireless connection vs. internet cafe

GPRS would be the best choice. You can use it in over 190 different countries, i.e. everywhere apart from Japan and South Korea. In Thailand coverage extends to the whole country and there are three networks to choose from. Dtac charge 1 baht per minute for prepay and AIS is even cheaper. When you go out of Thailand just buy another SIM and connect up with the local network.

If you use a Class 12 device such as the Sierra Wireless 750 then you will have dialup speed everywhere you go. In Thailand the Dtac network is particularly good, it always connects first time and never spontaneously disconnects. The network is also being upgraded to EDGE (in the cities) which will give three times dialup.

The network is also secure, the data SIM provides 128 bit encription. If you go hunting around for open WiFi hotspots then sooner or later you will get into trouble. If the hotspot is open for you then it is also open for someone else to access your computer and track your internet activites - beware.

Regards Tim at EdgeThailand

[sfokevin]

"coverage extends to the whole country"... That is a very broad statement - You will be disappointed if you think that will be the case.

"You can use it in over 190 different countries"... You will need 190 different sim cards and each country has a different protocol so it is not as simple as just buying a sim at the local timbuktoo 7-11 and popping it in.

"it always connects first time and never spontaneously disconnects"... Tim is truly at the Edge in Thailand...

If you are going to globe trot I would use the KISS method... Keep it simple and stupid...

Both are cheap so buy yourself both cards (wifi & gprs) - I think you will find the wifi the easiest to work with.

Edited April 24, 2006 by sfokevin

[tjo o tjim]

sfokevin- sadly, I have to agree with edgethailand that gprs is the best bet for someone that will be *moving around* frequently, as opposed to travelling. It sickens me to say it, but... Gprs is reliable. That hurt. It is reliable where it is well established. Coverage is actually pretty good, but here in Thailand an AIS and dtac sim are both required if your connection is really important to you.

Me, on an island, find that dtac comes and goes, but ais is fairly reliable.

[sfokevin]

Pick any five cities on the earth - here are mine:

Bangkok

Rome

New York

Cancun Mexico

Coralville, Iowa (to visit Mom)

How difficult would it be to get Gprs to work in all those places vs a wifi card and a trip to Starbucks?