We're going to be traveling to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy for a few weeks. My husband needs to connect to the internet so that he can work some of those days. Anyone know where you can get free/cheap wifi connections across Europe? Last time we used our Sprint EVDO card in Canada for less than 2 hours, we were charged almost $300.

Many of the McDonald's in France have free wifi. I used the one at Nice daily because the wifi at the hotel would only connect in the lobby and sometimes not even there.

I can't help with Belgium or the Netherlands. The hotel where I stay in Delft has free computer use in the breakfast area, so I don't use my laptop there. Also, the Tourist Office in Delft has two computers for the tourists to use free of charge.

Check with your hotel...many have it...also internet cafes.

Another idea,which we have used, but I keep forgetting about is:
Public libraries ! they have computers , free or very minimal cost, quite often. Even tiny libraries in small towns,,,,but this was in Scotland/England. Italy has internet "stores",,,, and I've used some in France in lobbies of hotels. Probably lots of rooms have connections now.

When we traveled in Europe in recent years, we connected all the time to the internet, either using internet cafes or keyboards in hotels.

The cafes were far, far, far cheaper, costing only a few dollars at most. For literally hours of time, too. The young men and women who worked in those places loved to help us. It gave them a chance to practice their English.

Hotels, on the other hand, usually had cards available at the front desk which cost about $5 for a half-hour of keyboard time. Sort of like phone cards.

We had these experiences in Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Italy, France, Russia, Belgium, Holland, and Spain.

A huge underground shopping mall near Red Square in Moscow was particularly memborable. Those kids would hardly let us go. They were particularly concerned that we had a Roman alphabet keyboard; most of theirs were in Cyrillic.

This past April, while in Shanghai, we had similar experiences. Great kids.

Another place was in the mountains of central Romania. The operator, a young lady, had a cousin who lived near Pittsburgh and wondered if we knew her.

So, all things being equal, use internet cafes. What fun!

I forgot to mention that, while staying at a Holiday Inn in Sydney, Australia, there was a computer with free internet connections for their guests. It was located in their lobby and available free of charge 24 hours a day.

Often available in hotels and apartments.

We used an internet cafe in Salamanca, Spain, that had desks where you could use your own laptop. Great for us, since we had some work to do and everything was on the laptop.

Free wifi is becoming standard in most hotels in France.

Paris has free municipal wifi in parks, public squares, libraries, etc.

All of the McDonald's, Quick, Starbucks, etc., in Paris also have free wifi as do all big cafés.

kerouac,

When I was in Paris last October the wifi at Starbucks wasn't free. I think I paid 2 euro for an hour. They gave you a code with your reciept.

Tom

That's probably why they are going out of business.