hot spot

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On 19 Jun 2005 09:31:42 -0700, wrote:

But tiny Mauritius is about to stake a new claim to fame. By year's
end, or soon afterward, it is expected to become the world's first
nation with coast-to-coast wireless Internet coverage, the first
country to become one big "hot spot."

Global warming?
--
Martin

With the main master probably siutuated on the volcano near the centre of
the island that is still warm......

"Runge" wrote in message
...
Mauritius is in Europe, stupid ass ?


Its nearest neighbour Reunion was the first country in the world to have the
Euro as legal tender.

On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 09:42:20 +0100, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:

Why do you need a portable computer when you travel?
"My main use would be net bookings, local info on the net,
a trip diary, emails, possibly voice communication to home
in Oz. Possibly storage and transfer of photos."

You can do all that at an internet cafe (except the diary,
better in a paper notebook). So I don't see the point.

Internet cafes are almost soulless, expensive, dull environments to be
sitting in, also quite expensive for the trip diary and photo analysis
storage, for me going on holiday to sit in an internet cafe all the
time would be horrible. With a nice cafe, or pub, or in a park with
a laptop is an enjoyable place to site and work on those things. Of
course different people enjoy different things, maybe lots of people
enjoy internet cafes...

Jim.

"Alan S" wrote in message
...
On 19 Jun 2005 09:31:42 -0700,
wrote:

But tiny Mauritius is about to stake a new claim to fame. By year's
end, or soon afterward, it is expected to become the world's first
nation with coast-to-coast wireless Internet coverage, the first
country to become one big "hot spot."

Hi to all you computer experts.

Displaying my ignorance here. Would some of the experts here
please explain in words of one syllable (suitable for a
travelling-laptop-illiterate) how best to travel the world
with a portable computer.


Keep it in your hand luggage.

Assume only that I know how to use a home PC - just:-)

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would appreciate a
beginner's course in:

Choice: laptops, notebooks, PDA's? Selection criteria?

The 3 most important criteria a
1) Weight
2) Weight
3) Weight

Practical aspects of getting connected: hotels, wireless,
cafe's etc and costs of all of that.
Traps to be wary of, hints and tips.

But first - what is wifi (things like bluetooth, wifi etc
are just buzz names to me)? How do you connect in a strange
hotel? How do you choose an isp? All that sort of practical
stuff.


The most common method I have come across in hotels is to connect via an
ethernet cable, you just plug it in and provided it has been configured on
your PC to automatically allocate an IP address hey-presto it searches and
finds and connects.

The main alternative I have come across is dial up - The hotel telephone has
a (normally USA style) connector to plug your phone number in. and dial
away, There are packages around that will help find a local ISP and Windows
200 has its own built in package to do that. Or you can google for some
before you go.

Wireless connections are still fairly rare (IME) and you will need a
wireless card and simply configure it - probably with the user ID and
password given to you by the hotel, again making sure you are set to
automatically find an IP address.

My main use would be net bookings, local info on the net, a
trip diary, emails, possibly voice communication to home in
Oz. Possibly storage and transfer of photos.


Many of the better hotels have an internet connected PC sitting in the lobby
for guests to use free of charge.


The biggest issue is that the hotel connections usually don't allow outbound
email SMTP sending, so using a web based email hotmail,gmail etc is ideal.
Inbound (POP3) email should work fine.

Last time I spent a significant time searching for internet
cafe's to book ahead through Priceline, Venere etc. A
computer would be nice to have, but I don't want to find the
cost of it's use is more than I'd save on the hotels, rental
cars and internet cafe's.

The biggest pain would be carrying the thing around and making sure it is
safe and secure - Which is why I never take mine on vacations only on
business trips.

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 10:25:05 +0100, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:


"Runge" wrote in message
.. .
Mauritius is in Europe, stupid ass ?


Its nearest neighbour Reunion was the first country in the world to have
the
Euro as legal tender.

Reunion is an overseas French department, not a country.



OK:

Its nearest neighbour Reunion was the first place in the world to have the
Euro as legal tender.

"Jack Campin" wrote:
"My main use would be net bookings, local info on the net,
a trip diary, emails, possibly voice communication to home
in Oz. Possibly storage and transfer of photos."
You can do all that at an internet cafe (except the diary,
better in a paper notebook). So I don't see the point.

In the past, I lugged laptops all over for these purposes, and as
a GPS display while driving. I stopped, finding that are many
less cumbersome ways of accomplishing the same things. If I
want an internet connection, I use my hotel's business center or
a nearby internet cafe.

Recently in Venice, I misplaced a couple of tour vouchers. I
stepped into an internet cafe just North of the Bridge of Sighs,
reprinted the vouchers and read my e-mail. The total cost was
3 Euros. But uploading photos can take a lot of time. IMO, its
simply better (lighter) to carry extra memory cards instead.

OTOH, next time I will carry a DVD player. I'd like to watch
Tommy Lee Jones speak English, not dubbed Italian. :-)
=R=

Jim Ley writes:

Internet cafes are almost soulless, expensive, dull environments to be
sitting in ...

It doesn't matter if you spend the time hunched over a PC.

--
Transpose gmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.

Jim Ley wrote:

[]
Internet cafes are almost soulless, expensive, dull environments to be
sitting in, also quite expensive for the trip diary and photo analysis
storage, for me going on holiday to sit in an internet cafe all the
time would be horrible. With a nice cafe, or pub, or in a park with
a laptop is an enjoyable place to site and work on those things. Of
course different people enjoy different things, maybe lots of people
enjoy internet cafes...

All things being considered, I'd rather use my own laptop than be in an
internet cafe. I remember a rather unpleasant internet cafe in Barcelona
last year where it was very hot (much hotter than the outside
temperature) and horribly smoky. When I travel on business, I take my
laptop, but I really wouldn't want to do so when on holiday- just
another thing to worry about carrying around- I know it suits some
people more than others.

I just use my phone to read email etc., get news headlines etc., while
on holiday, and so far that has been quite a cost effective option.

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco wrote:
Internet cafes are almost soulless, expensive, dull environments to be
sitting in, also quite expensive for the trip diary and photo analysis
storage, for me going on holiday to sit in an internet cafe all the
time would be horrible. With a nice cafe, or pub, or in a park with
a laptop is an enjoyable place to site and work on those things. Of
course different people enjoy different things, maybe lots of people
enjoy internet cafes...

All things being considered, I'd rather use my own laptop than be in an
internet cafe. I remember a rather unpleasant internet cafe in Barcelona
last year where it was very hot (much hotter than the outside
temperature) and horribly smoky. When I travel on business, I take my
laptop, but I really wouldn't want to do so when on holiday- just
another thing to worry about carrying around- I know it suits some
people more than others.

Internet Cafes are all over the place. There's one in Munich where you can
get a decent pizza and order wine, with music playing, and it's quite
inexpensive. Another one in the Hauptbahnhof had a nice bar and was very
pleasant with friendly people. In Berlin, they have a couple of terminals in
the main lobby of the youth hostel. A little bit institutional, but nice and
fun. Also a small cafe/bar there. I've been in plenty of soulless ones, the
one in Rothenburg ob du Tauber comes to mind, computers in study carrels.

The coffee and internet in Cozumel was charming and bright and colorful and
pleasant. The one in Rome was cold and impersonal.

Can't characterize them one way or the other. When I'm travelling, I try to
minimize internet usage, but I might upload photos, keep in touch with email
and the like. I prefer an internet cafe where I can connect via a web browser
to my own domain and take care of stuff. I backpack and would rather not carry
a computer!

Julie




--
Julie
**********
Check out the blog of my 9 week Germany adventure at www.blurty.com/users/jholm
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

In article ws.net,
"Miss L. Toe" wrote:

"Jack Campin - bogus address" wrote in message
...
Why do you need a portable computer when you travel?
"My main use would be net bookings, local info on the net,
a trip diary, emails, possibly voice communication to home
in Oz. Possibly storage and transfer of photos."

You can do all that at an internet cafe (except the diary,
better in a paper notebook). So I don't see the point.

Its nicer and more convenient to do it from a hotel room.

Plus the security risks of using a public computer. You don't know if
there are key loggers and such.

And even using your own computer at a public hotspot carries risk.