Touring the US: WIFI-advice needed!?

Hi there,

I'm a Dutch photographer and will be touring the US (New York to Seattle) by
RV for a month as of oct. 15th. Carrying a Mac laptop with airport. Need
good connection regularly for business reasons. Now the
question: where do I find connection? Will the KOA-parks have anything? Are
there any specific gas stations that offer WIFI? What kind of account(s)
and/or subscriptions
would you recommend for somebody only visiting one month? Do I have to visit
Starbucks all the time (hope not)? Prices?

In other words: any advice welcome!

Best regards,

T.Heslenfeld
The Netherlands
www.oostwestthijsbest.nl

thijs heslenfeld wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I'm a Dutch photographer and will be touring the US (New York to Seattle) by
> RV for a month as of oct. 15th. Carrying a Mac laptop with airport. Need
> good connection regularly for business reasons. Now the
> question: where do I find connection? Will the KOA-parks have anything? Are
> there any specific gas stations that offer WIFI? What kind of account(s)
> and/or subscriptions
> would you recommend for somebody only visiting one month? Do I have to visit
> Starbucks all the time (hope not)? Prices?
>
> In other words: any advice welcome!
>
> Best regards,
>
> T.Heslenfeld
> The Netherlands
> www.oostwestthijsbest.nl

Here's one site to get you started.
http://metrofreefi.com/

thijs heslenfeld wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I'm a Dutch photographer and will be touring the US (New York to Seattle) by
> RV for a month as of oct. 15th. Carrying a Mac laptop with airport. Need
> good connection regularly for business reasons. Now the
> question: where do I find connection? Will the KOA-parks have anything? Are
> there any specific gas stations that offer WIFI? What kind of account(s)
> and/or subscriptions
> would you recommend for somebody only visiting one month? Do I have to visit
> Starbucks all the time (hope not)? Prices?
>
> In other words: any advice welcome!

Well, if you can afford to drive an RV that far with what gas is going
for over here these days (although it shouldn't be as bad a month from
now with the hurricane recovery farther along), price may not be much of
an object, but free Wi-Fi is becoming pretty much ubiquitous nationwide
so you shouldn't have much problem finding it. Check out this website
to see what's available along your planned route:

www.wififreespot.com

Have fun and good luck!

DanR wrote:
> thijs heslenfeld wrote:
>
>>Hi there,
>>
>>I'm a Dutch photographer and will be touring the US (New York to Seattle) by
>>RV for a month as of oct. 15th. Carrying a Mac laptop with airport. Need
>>good connection regularly for business reasons. Now the
>>question: where do I find connection? Will the KOA-parks have anything? Are
>>there any specific gas stations that offer WIFI? What kind of account(s)
>>and/or subscriptions
>>would you recommend for somebody only visiting one month? Do I have to visit
>>Starbucks all the time (hope not)? Prices?
>>
>>In other words: any advice welcome!
>>
>>Best regards,
>>
>>T.Heslenfeld
>>The Netherlands
>>www.oostwestthijsbest.nl
>
>
> Here's one site to get you started.
> http://metrofreefi.com/

Good site, but very incomplete. I just added three free hot spots in my
own city (95014), and those are ones I happen to know off the top of my
head, there are many more I'm sure.

But the bottom line is that the original poster should not have any
trouble finding free hot spots.

"Jonathan L. Parker" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:eq2We.1101$(E-Mail Removed)...
> thijs heslenfeld wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I'm a Dutch photographer and will be touring the US (New York to Seattle)
>> by
>> RV for a month as of oct. 15th. Carrying a Mac laptop with airport. Need
>> good connection regularly for business reasons. Now the
>> question: where do I find connection? Will the KOA-parks have anything?
>> Are
>> there any specific gas stations that offer WIFI? What kind of account(s)
>> and/or subscriptions
>> would you recommend for somebody only visiting one month? Do I have to
>> visit
>> Starbucks all the time (hope not)? Prices?
>>
>> In other words: any advice welcome!
>
> Well, if you can afford to drive an RV that far with what gas is going for
> over here these days (although it shouldn't be as bad a month from now
> with the hurricane recovery farther along), price may not be much of an
> object, but free Wi-Fi is becoming pretty much ubiquitous nationwide so
> you shouldn't have much problem finding it. Check out this website to see
> what's available along your planned route:
>
> www.wififreespot.com
>
> Have fun and good luck!
>
>

If you're traveling through Iowa, all of the rest areas have free wifi now.
I used it on a recent trip to Colorado from Illinois. It worked great!

alien

Jonathan L. Parker wrote:
>
> Well, if you can afford to drive an RV that far with what gas is going
> for over here these days (although it shouldn't be as bad a month from
> now with the hurricane recovery farther along), price may not be much of
> an object, but free Wi-Fi is becoming pretty much ubiquitous nationwide
> so you shouldn't have much problem finding it. Check out this website
> to see what's available along your planned route:
>
> www.wififreespot.com

It seems like free wi-fi is very much a U.S. phenomena. I read one of
the U.K. newsgroups, and it appears to be almost non-existent in the
U.K. or Europe, kind of like free refills on coffee. Cell phone rates
are also at least 2x what we pay over here, when you factor in the extra
cost of calling a cell phone from a landline, or from a different cell
carrier.

Was looking at costs of internet access at other various countries
besides the US and see they get usually get charged by the amount that
is downloaded instead of a flat fee.
Maybe that is why people are a little more careful with who leeches of
their networks overseas and don't have it out there for free like most
neighborhoods here in the US.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Was looking at costs of internet access at other various countries
> besides the US and see they get usually get charged by the amount that
> is downloaded instead of a flat fee.
> Maybe that is why people are a little more careful with who leeches of
> their networks overseas and don't have it out there for free like most
> neighborhoods here in the US.

Makes sense, I guess. Geez, paying by the amount that is downloaded is
so 20th century.