What Do You Do For Internet While Traveling?

What a wall of text! Please add some paragraphs in there for my poor eyes.

It is a wi-fi router into which you can plug USB dongles to get 3G or 4G connections to various networks. Since I have both AT&T and Verizon dongles, there's almost always a connection.

Works even while driving, just call someone you know is at home end let them do the Google stuff for you.

I just use the internet from the hotel in the morning, evening - my wife is not really interested in surfing and I do most of the driving, so needing it on the road is not valuable for us.

The Playbook is out soon. Might want to consider that.

Using a MiFi etc. is a problem if you're traveling outside your own country, since anything you purchase will only work in that country.

If you're traveling for an extended period, it opens your options. A friend travels to the US, Thailand etc and bought an IPhone directly from the Apple Store. Those units have Sim Cards and he simply buys a Sim Card for whatever country he is in. Then he buys prepaid cards.

Otherwise, I also use the laptop and the hotel wifi or an internet cafe.

Be careful that the wifi you're connecting to, is truly the hotel's. People set up wifi that people think is the hotel and then find that someone has been stealing their personal data. Ask the hotel for their network name and the password, if one is needed.

I have a exterior antenna, to a amp, to a Verizon air card on the bus. My phone also has a antenna plug. We have both Cell and INTERNET coverage in most places.

Not necessarily. A global capable smart phone that's capable of being a wifi hotspot is an option - and there are other global capable data devices available as well.

I tether my lap top to my rooted DroidII, If i have 3g, then my laptop is connected. When on foot I use the phone.
For those that don't want anything to do with smartphones, Oh well!

I only wish, I didn't have to wait for my last every two upgrade to get a 4g phone.

I tether my Android phone to my laptop for when I need wifi. It is invaluable.

When do you need it? Let me count the ways:

1) looking up CostCo or Sam's Club gas stations closest to me via Google Maps.
2) looking up nice sushi places or any cuisine that I fancy using Yelp website or app.
3) making hotel reservations based on distance, photos, cost, amenities, all online without trying to visualize it with a telephone customer service agent, and printing the reservation out right away to go to.
4) downloading important files from home or work, sending important information to family / friends / co-workers. Can't do that with a cellphone.
5) reading reviews on sites, products, services, anything, while on the road shopping. For example I was going to try out a new place for camping, read online about how it was infested with bugs / pests, so went another place instead. Saved me a lot of grief.
6) keeping my POI forum account active so I can post at least once per week while on the road.
7) using it for entertainment when bored, like viewing videos / movies / games online.
8) downloading new e-books, magazines, etc to read.

The list goes on and on. Why wouldn't you want to have instant, invaluable information available to you when you need / want it?

I love Android - for GPS uses, and for wifi tethering.

Tried the Motorola Xoom out at Best Buy and it was pretty fast.Large screen and mostly good reviews.A lot of tablets hitting the stores in the next few months.

When my boss and I go on a trip I have to take along my laptop for I do not have a cell phone but she does but would only turn it on if we had a breakdown and I do not have a land line. I have Vonage which uses my laptop so every evening I can check for messages and make calls to anywhere in the USA without having to pay hotel/motel phone charges.
I do not need immediate response to all messages for I do remember party line dial phones and we used to write letters for responses.
I also use my laptop to check the area for places to see/eat for billboards give a lot of information.

When the wife I are on the road or visiting out of town family we travel with his and her laptops and a iPod Touch in my shirt pocket. We have a Verizon MiFi with pay as you go.

We usually don't get the laptops out unless we are where we are going for the day and rely on the Touch for checking mail and such along the way. We use free WiFi in rest area, restaurants and such when we find them.

We only do light web checkups and mail downloads on free WiFi. We fire up the MiFi for anything that needs security.

We would be lost without connectivity at least once a day, with all the eMail communication, online bill paying, website maintenance, message board moderating, etc, etc. None of this is business, retired now. When I was working I left that at the office when I left for the day.

When we settle in at relatives (with no WiFi) or camping, the MiFi stays on till we pack up to leave, so we can jump on and off as we need.

As for our home WiFi I run both a secure and an open network. We have all our computers on the secure network. Visitors or passerby's are free to use the open network, my pay it forward for all the kind soles that left open WiFi's for me before I got the MiFi.

Jim...

I like Gary travel with my MacBook laptop, most places I stay have wifi which I check email etc... My wife has an iPhone that she uses...

Either the hotel connection or Starbucks.

Sometimes my BlackBerry.

Email so the family knows I haven't died in a scooter accident.

..and ditto to using the 295W and WiFi hotspots. (Why I bought the 295W.. scooter travel gps).

surfing using slow, boring blackberry

There are several options on a Droid. Connect via Bluetooth. Easy tether App. Or Pdanet App. All are free to some extent and the full apps are around $20. And you have a free hotspot.

We have a Sprint mobile wifi card. Generally it works good. Also there are lots of free hot spots available for free wifi access.

the connection in the hotel or the wi-fi in a relative's home. No need at other times.

Ditto!!!!!

WiFi - Businesses W/Free WiFi
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/30753

With 63,449 locations, this is a "Must Have"!!!

it's the last thing I think of....

It is not great but at McDonnald's if you can get past the small screen you can check you email, Takes a little time adjusting the screen size on the internet browser to read the screen or find the accept their conditions for use box or button.

It saves keeping the computer out of the suit case during a day of travel. The cost is better than an Iphone or other smart phone that cost $30 a month extra in data service costs. I guess you get what you pay for.

I used to be on the road extensively before retiring. Now it's just my laptop and wifi at night when on the road.

I tether my Evo (Moment before Evo, Touch Pro before Moment)to my gTablet, netbook or laptop.

I use a mix of methods. When my wife and I travel we tend to camp a lot and get a hotel every 3rd day or so. When in the hotel I use the Internet connection they provide. If I need to connect while camping I connect the BlackBerry from work to the laptop and use that to access the Internet. I've also used the BB to connect while sitting in a city park eating lunch and searching for more nearby geocaches while traveling.

For some reason, my work seems to always schedule big projects that I have to start the first day back from vacation. I end up with a ton of work email that I have to deal with while on vacation. I've used the BB connection while sitting in a campground in Colorado that was at an elevation of 2 miles high. I had Verizon service and knew I had a ton of work stuff to clear up so I just connected the BlackBerry to the laptop and logged into my work stuff.

It was kind of odd to be reading and responding to work email while sitting at a picnic table in a campground. I got interrupted when my wife asked me, "What's that?". I looked up and spotted a small bear coming down the hillside toward us. It ended up passing through the adjacent (empty) campsite and continuing on it's way. NOT a normal work experience.

I use my Netbook at any Free WiFi locations or the hotel I'm staying in. Most of the time I don't really have to do serious work during the day.

Fred

I receive and pay all bills via a bill pay service (Paytrust)

Since I spend months on the road traveling in the RV, rather than depend on free WiFi, I use a Verizon USB modem. It's 3G, for $60 per month. Computer is a NetBook.

Now they're offering a 4G (where available) for $50 per month, after a (I believe) $100 modem upgrade.

I thinking about upgrading.

If not in a hotel, I have AT&T for my ISP and T-Mobile for my mobile so here in Texas you can usually find one of thier hot spots. Starbucks is all over the place and I'm there in the morning for coffee & Internet!

I use an iPhone most of the time, and a laptop at the hotel.

I used to use a laptop and had to search around for wifi hotspots.

I picked up a 3G iPad and use it just about anywhere I want. I often plug the iPad into the car radio and listen to streaming music from the internet while I'm driving.

Generally, I don't really need internet during the day when traveling. I might use a hotel's wifi at night, but I don't tend to use much.

Most of the RV Parks we stay at now have free WiFi, which I can use with my laptop. If we happen to be in a place where there is no WiFi, I use Tether (from tether.com) with the BlackBerry for Internet access. With the increasing availability of 3G networks, data access is getting much faster while tethered.

tethering is all you need to set up a mobile HotSpot/router over 2/3/4G cellurar network with any modern smartphone.

then you can connect any of your mobile devices like notebooks, netbooks or other phones via WiFi to that tethered internet access

it works well for me on as needed basis, don't use it often just when need to use my or wife's laptop in car. I use T-Mobile G2 (HTC Vision phone, android 2.2). works well for this and may other purposes (e.g. Navigation when we forget our Garmin).

I generally for work use the sprint card in my work laptop. Sprint is so so as far as speed but usually consistent.
Lately I have been using my iPad 2 out side is have great coverage and speed. The only trouble I have is in some buildings with allot of metal. I have been able to replace my laptop about 90% of the time with it. Only problem is the same with my iPhone no Flash. If it wasn't for flash I wouldn't need my laptop al all. I have sponged off of McDonalds and Wendy's but lately I goi in and buy a small coke ever since I read about a McDonalds that prosecuted a guy for using their wifi sittinig out in his car every day and never purchased anything. Another way I have rid myself of carrying my laptop is that I leave it at home and use LogMeIn to access manuals that in use for work remotely from my iPad

I generally for work use the sprint card in my work laptop. Sprint is so so as far as speed but usually consistent.
Lately I have been using my iPad 2 out side is have great coverage and speed. The only trouble I have is in some buildings with allot of metal. I have been able to replace my laptop about 90% of the time with it. Only problem is the same with my iPhone no Flash. If it wasn't for flash I wouldn't need my laptop al all. I have sponged off of McDonalds and Wendy's but lately I goi in and buy a small coke ever since I read about a McDonalds that prosecuted a guy for using their wifi sittinig out in his car every day and never purchased anything. Another way I have rid myself of carrying my laptop is that I leave it at home and use LogMeIn to access manuals that in use for work remotely from my iPad

Tethering is okay, but KNOW YOUR CELL PLAN before you do. Up here in Canada we have fairly limited competition in cell providers and there are lots of horror stories about people unknowingly using their data plan - especially while roaming - and then receiving a HUGE bill for it.

When I'm in America I just synchronize my schedule for my caffeine and Internet fixes and use McWiFi.

If business travel; laptop and wifi at hotel or wherever existent, if pleasure travel; just my cell phone internet connection.

I WiFi my notebook computer onto the in room service, when I stay at hotels who offer it-

Me too!

a co-worker has 'Clear' wifi hotspot thing and it works pretty good, fast too. They have good 3G coverage.

It costs about $45 per month for the service.

If I'm traveling by car, I'll take my laptop. If I'm flying, I will usually use the hotel computer. I just don't see the value of an Ipad. For that price I could hire a helper to carry his real computer. If everybody else jumped off a bridge....

We leave our laptop at home when we go on vacation. Nothing is that important that I have to have the laptop. I have my cellphone (without the app) if I need to be contacted. This is a vacation, don't have time to be checking computer. Everyone will have to wait until I get back home to see the photos that I took.

I ride my Harley cross country every year. I've always traveled with my laptop, originally because the Garmin eTrex could only hold a few states of maps, but now to make changes to my route for the next day, download my track log nightly so I don't lose it accidently. I'll upload photos and videos from camera to laptop to Picasa to make sure "what if" doesn't befall me and I lose what is important to me. Cellphone is for emergencies only so I'm not connected while riding. Just at the hotels at night. After this last ride, I'll never stay at another Mariott that wants to charge $15 a night for wifi and $15 a night for parking. I have no need for "Apps" or data plans and text messaging is blocked. Somebody wants me, it's the old fashoned ways, call or email. Works for me as I've been retired for 8 years and am not tethered to a desk anymore.

On our past two cross country trips, my husband drives I don't have to navigate, Garmin's "Jill" does. I use my Samsung Solstice with unlimited data $10 to stay connected via Instant Messenger with my daughter. I can give her location updates, and send her cell phone photos of where we are and what we are seeing.
I also use the Internet feature to find and call restaurants. Our GPS does this too, but doesn't give us the ability to see a menu.
I was thinking of upgrading to an iPhone, but the data plan is $15 for the limited plan, they don't offer an unlimited (as of last week anyway). Walmart has the iPhone 4 for $147 with a 2 yr. contract.
Still weighing the options.
We do take advantage of hotels for our laptop use.
Still wish carriers would offer a temporary 3, 6 month plan for aircards for snowbirds or cross country travelers like myself.

I am wifi'ing at the hotel I'm in-

We are currently on a three month, 26,000 mile road trip and internet is sometimes problematic (ie not available in Coldfoot, AK which is disconcerting as some family members are not in teh best of health.

Solution is to try and stay in places that have wifi (even if it means using Starbucks services!) but we also send notes to our contact list lettiong them know when we wre internet deprived. (It seems that of more significance is the inability to use my cell phone everywhere due to lack of coverage (not my provider just no coverage in some areas.)

Plan to use a tablet in the future to keep up with email etc.

I just tether my old WM-based smartphone (with ridiculously cheap grandfathered data plan) to the laptop. The phone is capable enough to check email, to use IM, to use navigation software, and tethering of internet to the laptop works just OK, it is not lightning fast, but for general needs it works fine.

wifi wherever available using Apple iTouch