[Hidden-tech] Broadband and Internet access while traveling

[Marcia Yudkin]

Thanks again to Hidden Tech members who shared with me
their experiences about Internet access while traveling,
last spring.  I've now tallied up my own experiences while
driving to Alaska and Yukon and back, as follows:

Wi-fi in motel or B&B room, worked fine: 34%
Wi-fi in office or restaurant, not in room: 12%
Wi-fi in room worked intermittently: 14%
Wi-fi took more than 20 minutes to get working: 8%
Wi-fi did not work after considerable fiddling, used modem
instead: 6%
Wi-fi down town-wide from storm or outage: 4%
Wired high-speed Internet in room: 4%
Wi-fi available but forgot to ask for password: 2%
No wi-fi available, used modem instead: 12%
No Internet connection at all available: 4%

Overall lesson: Have more than one option for getting
connected if daily Internet access is critical for your
business and for your psychological well-being.  My options
were:  1)Wi-fi through laptop;  2)Wi-fi on AT&T 8525 device
(iPhone-like device) 3)Data connection via 8525 within USA
(in Canada this would have been too expensive) 4)Modem on
laptop 5)High-speed wired connection for laptop 6)Virtual
assistant back home who had my password info to use for me
if everything else failed.

If anyone would like to see my photo narrative of the
highlights of the ten-week trip, go to:
http://www.yudkin.com/sabbatical.htm

It was great to take a long break!

Marcia Yudkin