Wifi in the US

[Buddhaboy]

I'll be taking a month long trip to the US this June and I'll be taking my laptop with me from California to Nevada to New York.

What I'd like to know is should I bother to sign up for a one month account with let's say, T-Mobile or iPass? Which is the best wifi povider given the states which I will be going to?

Or would I be better off not signing up for any accounts since there are, I assume, enough free wifi hotspots in the states?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys!

[Maverick]

ipass connects to most wifi providers... that's what i'm using now... but the client for the mac has a problem with osx airport extreme cards... it does not get detected... iPass already knows this bug and is trying to fix it asap... i'll let you know when its ok...

if your going to use a PC... iPass for PC works flawlessly

[potemkin]

ey me too, ill be going to sfo sometime in july. wondering where the free hotspots are

[jsaure]

Go with T-Mobile. No problems with APE's. You can use it at any Starbucks, w/c is around every corner anyway.

Get the DayPass but don't refill until it won't let you log on. With APE's this may mean never having to. But then again there may just have been a snag when I switched plans.

At any rate, T-Mobile hotspots are more widely accessible and it works well with APE cards.

Better yet, just go to the nearest Apple Store and use any of their demo units to surf to your heart's content. They won't mind.

[penmanila]

stepping out of wi-fi for a minute, if i had to go wired, will those free 45-day offers of AOL on CD be of any use for a month-long US sojourn? might be there myself in october and was pondering this option.

[Buddhaboy]

Thanks guys!

It looks like I'll be going for T-Mobile since i'm on APE. Thanks for the Day Pass tip jsaure! I'll try it out. I was actually considering getting the month long plan since it looked like a good deal to me.

Another question though... I've read that some Mcdonalds stores give you wifi with some combo meals. Who is their provider? Are there any issues with APEs?

Thanks again!

[NiX]

once you get here in NYC...there won't be any problems when it comes to wifi...too many public hotspots you can use... go to www.nycwireless.net to locate all the hotspots...

[Edited on 5-31-2004 by NiX]

[jsaure]

penmanila, I don't think there should be any problems using AOL cd's.

Buddhaboy, I believe McDonald's offers wifi only in Chicago, NY, and SF. If I'm not mistaken, their carrier is Cometa. Suffice it to say, I have never knowingly used their services to be able to advise re APE compatibility.

[kibs1111]

free hotspot? i used to stay in west new york and my neighbor had wi fi and i'd leech of him... in my cousins place, we didn't have wi fi, but from the kitchen, i could get a signal from their neighbor :-)

[radar]

The PhilMUG Ladies' night out was heavily covered. Perhaps this trip can trigger a series of get togethers by PhilMUGers.

I'm in the SF Bay Area, more specifically in the Silicon Valley (San Jose). Any interest by PhilMUG members in the general location in a get together? I'll be on summer vacation starting June 17.