In Love With Wifi

Until recently I haven’t had much exposure to wireless networking, but my recent Powerbook purchase, combined with my holiday in San Francisco have opened my eyes to the brilliance of ubiquitous 802.11. The convenience of sitting down for a coffee and clearing my email at the same time is just amazing. If was still traveling for work, the billing department would be in heaven, they could charge for all my cafe time!

Thankfully my current job means all the travel I do is for myself, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t loved the internet access.

Unfortunately, returning to Wellington will mean this lovely experience will become slightly more expensive. CafeNet has pretty good coverage, and it’s about the same price as the t-mobile hotspots I’ve been using here at StarBucks. However, most of my Wi-fi access has been courtesy of free open Wireless access points. With names like “Linksys” and “Public”. Wireless penetration in New Zealand isn’t quite as high, so odds are, my days of free internet are almost over. Who knows, maybe one of my neighbours is either kind or inexperienced enough to have an open wireless setup.