Hot answers tagged internet
19
My experience with China's internet has been "Have a backup plan" if you need access to some services.
You can use Google's Transparency Report for China to determine the current status of Google Services in PRC. As of writing, no it does not appear to be blocked.
However, there are cases where it has been - and it might happen while you are there. If ...
14
I arrived at the kit below by adding gear only as needed. I started with just an iPhone and laptop and only added to that when it was literally impossible to get reliable internet at my accommodations with the gear I already had. I have trial-and-errored through a bunch of other gear that turned out to be unhelpful or not worth the bulk (e.g. higher ...
10
The biggest problem with hotel wi-fi (and conference centre wi-fi) is us. Travelling nerds who need 2 or 3 IP addresses each (and try to do their work each evening while regular people are watching TV) typically bring these systems to their knees. I've had so many hotel people tell me they never get complaints like these the rest of the year, and I actually ...
9
I'm in the same position as you -- I've been working in Sweden for the last 5 years, and I can tell you from experience that certain things will be difficult or nigh impossible if you don't have personnummer.
Talking specifically about banking, no, it won't be possible at all. Even with personal number you might run into difficulties if you are only a ...
9
Boingo offers "worldwide" Wi-Fi, with fixed fee, per minute, pay-as-you-go, and package deals. Their full plan listing is here. It starts at $7.95/month for unlimited worldwide access for two mobile devices.
I've not used the service and am not affiliated, but have them bookmarked for my own travels.
8
There are at least three sites online that cover this:
Jaunted
Wi-fi Free Spot
Airport Hotspot Finder
When I asked a similar question about Astana airport, my eventual solution was to use Foursquare - if people have checked in there, there's a good chance they had wifi, or may even mention it. I found the relevant page for the airport and voila - lots ...
7
TrueCrypt (unless it is already installed) requires administrator access to the computer. This will almost certainly be problematic. This even applies to the TrueCrypt Portable version. TrueCrypt is not designed to be run on non-trusted machines.
Instead of TrueCrypt, I recommend you use KeePass to store this data. It is built to handle string data ...
7
Like Jonik said, the WIFI usually only covers hotels, cafes and malls (shopping centres).
In Singapore however, the coverage is bigger, you can get WIFI freely across the island using Wireless@SG. The registration and usage are free. However the bandwidth really depends on the location.
In Malaysia / Indonesia, it would be better to buy a temporary 3G ...
7
The short answer is, "yes, in most places at most times." But there are some important exceptions.
China occasionally gets into "tiffs" with Google, or other Internet providers, which could cause a service disruption. Also, there may be a crackdown against the internet generally, possibly including email. Here's an example:
...
7
This is NZ we're talking about. It's still lagging with a smaller population in terms of technology up-take and bandwidth capacity.
As such, currently, there are no unlimited data plans in NZ for mobile phones (Orcon has introduced them for broadband internet at home). Why? You can read the whole discussion about what might be required for this to happen ...
7
@alx9r wrote a fantastically detailed post here, but I think it may be overkill. I'm on the road for most of the year and need to be connected 24/7 for work. For the most part you can get away with:
An mini-router (I use an Airport Express).
Flakey hotel wifi can be remedied by using a LAN cable to your mobile router, providing a personal wifi spot, ...
7
There are several different companies in Japan that rent or sell pre-paid SIM cards and portable Wifi Routers:
mb.softbank.jp
pupuru.com
bmobile.ne.jp
rentafonejapan.com
sallysrental.com
econnectjapan.com
6
Use Mifi
Mifi is a device that able to host a Wifi connection using 3G card.
Small enough to fit in your pocket, but powerful enough to bring the Internet to your whole family wherever your wireless phone goes - no cables required. Just power it on and instantly connect up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
6
After some more research, and help from a friend here in Mexico, I have found that the following bus lines (listed in alphabetical order) offer free WiFi on some of their routes:
Autobuses Americanos provided me with Internet access between Austin, TX and Laredo, TX, but once we crossed into Mexico, the Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey stretch had no Internet ...
6
According to Mexperience.com, some buses do indeed have wifi onboard, but generally only in Executive Class buses:
ETN's buses now offer WiFi on some routes. The service
is free and enables you to send/receive email, surf the net and make
internet-based phone calls from the bus using a service like Skype.
Service quality varies and, depending on ...
6
There is an important distinction to make between the UMTS/3G USB stick, which is the hardware that allows your computer to connect to a base station, and the contract you have with a mobile network provider to allow you to use their infrastructure, embodied by a SIM card that plugs into the USB stick.
You need both, and they need to be compatible, which ...
6
I don't know the current situation about Wifi in those countries but I am a developer and I've travelled in all of them. I did not have a laptop nor did I do any work but once in a while I did some coding just to keep my brain in shape and learn new things.
I general expect the Wifi to be better in Chile and Costa Rica than in the other countries and again ...
5
Are you only talking about hotels in your own country, or do you also visit other countries frequently on your trip?
In New Zealand the WiFi/Broadband connections in hotels are either non-existent, not included (some charge you an extra $25/day for wifi!) or terrible slow; that's why i carry my own 3G modem stick whenever i leave my house. Faster and ...
5
I'm not sure whether this is what you're looking for as it does not offer access for a 'fixed' fee, but Skype has a feature called Skype Access that allows you to login to paid WiFi hotspots around the world and pay for them using Skype credit in your account. The advantage, of course, is that you don't need to enter your payment details. Still, you'll need ...
5
Finally I got a 3 (http://three.co.uk) SIM for 1 pound and unlimited traffic data for 15 pounds.
You can get a 10 pounds - 500Mb plan too.
All of these things as a prepaid plan and working in less than a minute.
You get a ticket with a code to set your SIM card credit and that's all. Take a look at their plans here.
5
Internet options in Spain:
ADSL/Optical Fiber if you have a permanent residence and only want to be connected at home: 30-50 euros/month, 3-50 MBps. The best is Ono, but limited to some big cities. The problem is that most companies have a minimum stay time of 1 year (if you go early you will have to pay a "fine").
Mobile solution (USB or Mobile Phone): ...
4
Search for "wifi tethering". There are some apps that turn your phone into a wifi hotspot in android app market, but i have also seen dedicated devices who are essentially wifi+3g modem+battery in one box.
see also the section about carrier contracts at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethering
4
Here's what I've found. If anybody has had personal experience with these hotspots, please share your experience. I would be happy to choose your answer instead of this one, especially if you've tried skyping through it using a smartphone.
As of now (Jan 2012), several companies rent out mobile hotspots. They all seem to be renting out the same device, ...
4
This solution may be a basic one, but I've done a fair amount of international travelling and I just bring my unlocked Android Smartphone with me. Whenever I find an internet wifi hotspot at my hotel or at a cafe, I just Skype my friends and family. It's free Skype to Skype or you can pay for a subscription (dirt cheap. I think it's maybe ~$3/month for ...
4
I'm not a TrueCrypt expert but I would avoid to give access to personal and important information (like credit card number) to a computer I don't know it is "quite safe".
I wrote "quite safe" because in my opinion and from my experience it is impossible to consider a computer completely safe.
In your case, for example, if I were a malicious internet cafe ...
4
The SIM is free, but you have to buy a service package. I looked up on Orange site, they charge 119 shekels for a 10GB package for private people (99 for businesses), and 4 shekels/1MB for prepaid plans.
$1 = 3.75 shekels, and there's a VAT charge of 16% on top of the price.
In addition to Orange, there are two other major providers - Cellcom and ...
4
You should have no problem in any of the countries you listed. As others have said, places like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand will have more reliable internet/wife access. But even in Cambodia and Loas, which are less developed, you should have no problem. As long as you are in more heavily touristed areas (and not the rural countryside) you will ...
4
Not 'prepaid' per se, but Starbucks in Japan now offers free Wi-fi and an English log-in page. I've found many of the FON hotspots to be inaccessible even though I have a FON router at home as many are sponsored by Softbank and hence need to be accessed through a Softbank 3G connection to add the appropriate profile / cookies.
4
I've been living in Shenzhen, China, for over a year, here's my experience:
VPN: I believe a safe choice now would be www.julyrush.com. It's the one I've used the most and it works reasonably well.
The most stable protocol is usually Cisco IPSec, since it seems that it's the one with which the Great Firewall has the hardest time blocking, so try to get ...
4
I'm not aware of any carrier here that offers the kind of service you need. Most of them have an "unlimited" traffic options but after a certain threshold of GBs what happens is that you can still navigate the web but with a MUCH slower speed.
Your best bet is to subscribe for ADSL and then unsubscribe it before leaving but you have to be VERY careful ...
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