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Thankfully, my company outfits its laptops with iPass Connect, which gets me access to just about any fee-for-service aiport hotspot in the U.S., and quite a few other locations, too. This has been particularly useful in airports: let iPass find the network and log on, fire up the VPN, and let my company pick up the tab. Nevermind that most of what I then do with the connection is random surfing.

I'll also note that my dinky local airport, which has all of four gates, has free wifi access. Unfortunately, it didn't make the list for some reason.

I do not know how oftern and when you use it but unless you and your wife have to use a TMobile hotpot at the exact same time, you do not need to pay for two seperate accounts, just share one.

My work provides me with a TMobile and an iPass account. I think I've used the TMobile account maybe four times in the last two years.

Odd that you've been told they'll provide no client as iPass makes an OSX client and Cisco makes an OSX version of its VPN client which I have running on my AlBook right now (I believe you must have an account with Cisco to get it from their site, but Google shows many hits with the download).

Most people's ISP won't let you send via their SMTP server unless you're connected via their servers. If you're roaming and connected via some third party ISP, you won't be able to send mail via thier SMTP server. This is already a problem for people using dialup roaming like iPass.

Will this perhaps cause a rise in authenticated SMTP (allowing people to send mail regardless of from where they're connected, while still addressing ISPs spam-control concerns)?

Do people have better solutions to SMTP while roaming??

You want iPass. Our company just signed up with them. It's pay as you go (so you don't waste money each month if you're not traveling). You do still get stuck with the hotel charges for local calls, but more and more hotels are using flat rates (ie: $0.25 per local call), and iPass has local access numbers almost everywhere. It beats fumbling with your dialer software and making it put pauses in the right place to dial your calling card number. The pay-as-you-go thing isn't bad, since the primary usage will be for checking e-mail, which, if your client is smart enough, you can do offline, with one call to send/receive all your queued messages. However, it's not designed to be your full-time ISP - it would cost too much - it's mainly for people traveling who have broadband at home, and need connectivity on the go.

Paid-for WiFi hotspots are much too early in the market adoption curve to pay for themselves. We're missing two of the critical inputs: [1] masses of users willing to locate and pay for hotspots, and [2] a broadly accepted clearinghouse for WiFi subscribers so that each doesn't have to have a dozen memberships/accounts.

I was at iPass early on, when the world was filled with thousands of small ISPs covering their own small corners of the globe. Currently, iPass aggregates and manages more than 20,000 dial-up POPs and 1000+ WiFi hotspots from hundreds of providers. What we saw early in the cycle was that almost all ISPs were marginal or unprofitable They drew from very small local markets (under 1000 users). Primarily, they existed because the owner wanted to be an ISP, not in order to make real money. Most disappeared, were rolled up, or become higher-level VARs/integrators/ASPs.

I believe local hotspot providers look similar: coffee shops and retail locations that can't earn significant profit from WiFi, but are experimenting with it. Don't expect a huge network to appear organically from atoms of goodwill.
Eventually the big slow carriers rolled out nation-sized services. I don't expect that any of these are hugely profitable, but instead are viewed as a necessary part of a full product offering.

IMO, the Joltages and Boingos of the world will be Chapter 11 footnotes. With so few paid WiFi roamers or subscribers (note the distinction here versus "free"), early providers and aggregators will watch their capital leak away, and either exit or subsidize with other service revenue.

This year's big push toward cheap WiFi hardware will help, and some services may be viable next year. See my January screed on this WiFi, 3G and Ten Million Landlords. I sized the continental US in units of 802.11b coverage at 56,000 access points wide and 28,000 access points tall. (BTW , the newsletter is free.)

Try IPass. They basically repackage access from ISPs all over the planet, you can get a decent cheap rate.

IPass is not an ISP, but if you navigate their web page you can sign up with an ISP that uses IPass, so you then have access to the entire IPass POP collection.

i2Roam is an ISP that works with IPass, for $100 you can get lifetime service, then you just pay for usage. This means if you go six months without using it, you pay zero. Or, you can pay $5/month plus usage.

See i2Roam's cost page for a sampling of how much it costs in various world cities.

• HereUAre
  
• iPass
  
• GRIC
  

Gric and Ipass are two providers that my company are investigating at the moment. Like the poster, we also use Compuserve for international roaming customers and the costs are excessive, we feel.

Matt

Last summer, I was in a small town in Thailand, and I was using Ipass. Sitting in my hotel room, batting mosquitoes, and suffering through a monsoon squall, I successfully repaired the mail server back at work stateside before the beginning of the work day there. I've found Ipass will have dialins when there are no other ISP's available..including aol and friends. I've used Ipass from all over the world in both rual and metro areas, and I've been much pleased with it. It works on linux fine, as it's a normal PPP connection. Just use Pusername@isp.com and set up a login script (which is usually standardized anyways) Everything else is as normal. Look at Ipass.com for more info. Dan

iPass offers over 5,000 POPs in 150 countries around the world - by far the most comprehensive coverage. The service is billed per minute. There are typically numerous POPs in the major cities offering very good connection rates (many 56K POPs). You can find participating iPass ISPs here. iPass also sells the service to corporations.

iPass offers over 5,000 POPs in 150 countries around the world - by far the most comprehensive coverage. The service is billed per minute. There are typically numerous POPs in the major cities offering very good connection rates (many 56K POPs). You can find participating iPass ISPs here. iPass also sells the service to corporations.

I feel your pain! I face the same issues at work. If you're really set on taking a laptop, you need to sort out two separate but related issues:

1) Local dial-up access. You really want a service that will give you connectivity in most countries. I use iPass, available through many ISPs, and reliable so far. I've used it at multiple locations in the US and Europe and so far hasn't failed me. It uses Compuserve or SITA/Equant POPs. Many of the numbers support ISDN. Note that you will want a service like this even if you are using a mobile phone.

2) Mobile connectivity. I have used a Nokia 8850 and an Ericsson i888 for mobile data, both are OK. Neither needs a cable, both use the IRDA port. The Nokia is GSM 900/1800 (European and Asian dual band), the Ericsson is GSM 900/1900 (Europe/USA dual band) and is much uglier than the Nokia. (The Nokia has just become available in Euro/US dual band.) Both of the phones feature built in modems, so the only software necessary is a Windows modem config file that takes up about 9k (yes, nine thousand). Other phones with an IR port do not incorporate data hardware, and require a soft modem on the PC. If you have local dial-up, using a mobile phone need not be terribly expensive.

However, you might be better off using Internet Cafes or a landline modem for the most part. Most Internet Cafes will let you set up a dial-up connection. If you're using a landline modem and need to dial out, however, look for a fax machine. Most of them use an RJ11 connector on the end of the cable that plugs into the machine, so with a double ended RJ11 adapter you're in business.

Take as large as possible a memory card for your digital camera, to minimize need for uploads.

Good luck in your travels! Make sure you're ready for multiple possibilities!