[Leica] Some tips on connecting in Europe

[photo at frozenlight.eu (Nathan Wajsman)]

Well, I do travel around Europe a fair deal, and I always have my 12"  
Powerbook with me so I can keep up with the LUG :-) In other words, I  
am an e-mail junkie, and connectivity is an important issue for me.  
Here is how I cope.

In most cities, you can find free wifi in cafes and the like.  
Specifically, in Germany Starbucks usually has free access, as do  
local coffee shops. In some cities there are free hotspots provided by  
the town--for example, in Wroclaw in Poland, the central square is one  
big hotspot, provided by the city. If you are travelling by car, in  
some countries rest areas on the motorways will have free wifi.

In hotels and airports, wifi is almost never free. Especially hotels  
tend to charge a lot for it. I suppose they are trying to make up the  
revenue they used to get from people using the in-room phones, which  
nowadays nobody uses because everyone has a mobile phone. But some  
hotels do have free Ethernet connections, either in the room or in a  
"business area" in the lobby. This was the case at the Holiday Inn in  
Prague, for example, when I stayed there a couple of years ago. The  
catch is that such hotels will often be out of Ethernet cables because  
people forget to return them to the reception after use. So I keep a  
short Ethernet cable in my bag for such eventualities. I am going to  
Copenhagen in early November, and the hotel where I will be staying  
has free Ethernet in the rooms.

If you are going to be in the same country for more than a week or so,  
then buying a 1-month subscription to their public hotspot service  
from a mobile operator makes sense. For example, in Germany, the  
biggest operator, T-Mobile, offers a 1-month deal for 29 Euro flat. T- 
Mobile hotspots can be found everywhere. I do that when I go to Poland  
for a couple of weeks every year, using Era, one of the biggest (if  
not the biggest) operators there. Their hotspots are conveniently  
located, for example, at every McDonalds in Poland.

Finally, if there is no reasonably priced wifi available, I use my 3G  
modem from Vodafone Spain. I pay a flat monthly rate, with no  
additional charge for usage in Spain (Geoff, that is what I used in  
your apartment in Barcelona last year). Outside Spain, I do pay for  
roaming, 12 Euro per 24-hour period (no data limit), but that is often  
cheaper than what the hotel would charge me for wifi. And it works  
everywhere there is 3G or GPRS service, in other words, pretty much  
everywhere in the world. So, before leaving on your trip, it might be  
worth checking with your mobile operator what kind of offers they have  
in this area. The service I used is called Vodafone Mobile Connect  
here, not to be confused with the stupid Vodafone Live.

Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com

Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog



On Sep 20, 2008, at 11:39 AM, grduprey@mchsi.com wrote:

> Steve,
>
> Well I'm not sure I qualify as a big time traveler, but this trip is  
> surely the biggest we have ever attempted.  ;-)  The Macbook has  
> been a real joy to work with and fits into my camera bag very  
> nicely, but adds weight... No surprise!  As for e-mail access, it  
> has not been bad, only a few spots so far with no access, mostly in  
> the ex-GDR hotels this past week.  OUtside of hotels, you should  
> expect to pay for access, as not all have free internet services.   
> In Poland the hotel had free internet WiFi in Warsaw's Old Town.   
> Italy was also not a problem, but the hotel in Milan had a high fee  
> for its use, where in Venice it was free.  Germany on the whole is  
> also not a problem except for this past week in the fore mentioned  
> Ex GDR area in the Thuringen area.  Photo opertunities are great as  
> expected.  And I am looking forward to Photokina next Friday and  
> Saturday (26th & 27th).
>
> The only down side has been my wife catching a bug this past week  
> and has not been able to get out of the house since, but she is  
> finally getting better.  She needs to get better soon as the two  
> things she has really wanted to do are coming up soon... This week a  
> trip down the Rhine, and in the first part of October the trip to  
> Paris.
>
> The weather is starting to cool down, so we may just have to take a  
> trip to Spain and visit Luis and Nathan in the second half of  
> October to get warmed up again.  ;-)
>
> Not sure if that answers your questions, but so far no real problems.
>
> Gene