Hello everyone,

Please forgive me if this question has been addressed previously. I did perform a basic search but it did not yield the results I was looking for.

Anyway, as I've mentioned in previous postings, I will be traveling to Europe (Switzerland and Italy) for the month of October. The bulk of my time will be spent in Switzerland (the first four days and final day will be spent in Switzerland).

I will be taking my notebook computer with me. The notebook is outfitted with a wireless internet card. Here in the US, as most of you know, accessing the Internet is as simple as locating a wireless hotspot and then connecting to the server.

I'm staying at a lot of B&B's in Italy, and I doubt that many of them will have Internet/wi-fi access, so I'm assuming that I will probably have to seek out Internet cafes in most of the cities (Zurich, Lucerne, Como, Cinque du Terre, Perugia, Florence and Rome) if I want to access my email and stay in touch with clients.

In areas where I am able to locate wi-fi hotspots, I'd like to know if connecting to the Internet is any different than it is here in the US. Similarly, I'd like to know if I need to do anything special to my notebook's wireless card, or if it will work "as is" anywhere in the world (or at least Switzerland and Italy).

Lastly, I'd like to know if there are any other wireless technologies that would afford me Internet access even if I am not in a hotspot (a couple of the places I'll be staying are in some fairly remote locations). I've occasionally heard about a satellite-based technology, but know nothing about it beyond that.

I also have many questions about using my cell phone while in Italy (I plan to only have the phone available for emergencies), but I know there are quite a few threads about this so I'll do my homework before posting on that topic.

Grazia.

> wireless internet card.
Just like at home. I doubt you know/care for the technical details, there are always differences in each local set-up, just like at home, but there also is a "manual" provided, if needed!! (sometimes things like WEP, WAP,IP, Gateway and DNS)
>other wireless technologies
Do GPRS, UMTS, bluetooth ring a bell?

"Just like at home. I doubt you know/care for the technical details, there are always differences in each local set-up, just like at home, but there also is a "manual" provided, if needed!! (sometimes things like WEP, WAP,IP, Gateway and DNS)"


I'm confused. Do you mean that manuals are provided at each location?

>other wireless technologies
Do GPRS, UMTS, bluetooth ring a bell?

Ummm, not really. Bluetooth is a name I've heard but I couldn't tell you anything about it (or the other technologies you listed) to save my life!

>manuals are provided at each location?
Either that or everthing works fully automatic, depends on the person that has installed/configured the access point. (who knows?) If it doesn't work fully automatically, a "how-to access" manual should be there. Anyway, your hardware will work just like at home.
>GPRS, UMTS
GPRS is a stardard to transmit (internet) data via mobile phones
UMTS is a new standard that needs different phones, but is faster.
bluetooth is one technology used to wirelessly connect a mobile phone to a PC. The data transmitted via GPRS from the internet through the mobile phone is relayed via bluetooth to the PC. That way you can access the internet from you PC through your phone without the need to connect any wires.

Well..even if they don't have wi-fi at the b&b you can try to see if there is some network available...yes, I know you are not supposed to use them (usually they are from people who don't care to put a password on them) but I don't think it minds very much if you just want to look at your mail for a few minutes

I'm no techie and can only say we used the laptop in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.
Amsterdam - bought a login from the hotel, which automatically linked us to the internet (I think it was 5 euro/hour).
Brussels - opened the wireless search window, saw about a dozen unsecured sites. took the one with the best signal and used it quite a bit. (free)
Paris - bought a login from the hotel for 8 euro/hour. also took it to a cafe, bought a couple of large coffees, and got a login card good for one hour.
There was nothing special or different at these locations to access the internet via a wireless connection than there was in the States. I did it all myself and I'm new at the wireless thing.

I don't know how to access the internet if there is no hot-spot read by the wireless network search.

On a recent trip to Italy this is what I found.

Rome. Near my apartment near Campo dei Fiori there were about 10 wireless networks visible. 9 of them were secure (password required). One was not secure, and I could connect to a weak signal about 10% of the time. I spent time at a nearby internet cafe when I wanted to check email, etc.

Venice. In a square near my hotel I found an open network - high speed, un-secured, no problem connecting.

Florence - abot 30 networks visible and could connect to about 4-5 without issues, except weak signal most of the time.

Bottom line, connecting is no different than in the US. Same hardware (linksys, netgear, etc), some owners password protect, and others do not.

Make sure you have adequate firewall if your are doing random connections transmitted over the open airwaves.

There's no one simple answer. You need either:
- a belt and braces approach, or
- to accept pretty patchy and unpredictable web access is likely, and organise your life accordingly.

First, understand that free, legitimate, wireless hotspots are rare in Europe. Aparts from pirating your way onto someone else's network (obviously more realistic in densely populated telecommuting territory than out in the wilds), most hotspots cost money to access - and €8/hour isn't rare in hotels. Although the technology of wifi access in hotels is the same in Europe as in the US, hotels and cafes have an astonishing range of business models for charging for access, and these sometimes require the "help" of hotel staff to operate. It took my laptop three months to become properly useable recently after a central American hotel did something to it to get me onto their network.

Internet access in internet cafes is usually a lot cheaper. Not all allow you to use your own computer, and they sometimes want you to plug into the LAN rather than use their wireless hub. Surprisingly perhaps, fluent English is far from universal among the people managing internet cafes.

If you're travelling a lot, and don't want to spend hours a day looking for wireless-equipped internet cafes, alternatives include:
- setting up a routine of going to any internet cafe and checking your email through a browser
- getting a BlackBerry and contracting for coverage. This means you can send and receive emails anywhere within reach of the local mobile phone company's network, though you can't do attachments, and you'll need to wait till you can log onto the real web properly to deal with attachments.
- get a GPRS card for your computer. This enables your laptop to connect through the mobile phone system. This can create some technical problems: although pratically everywhere can get a mobile phone signal, not everywhere can get GPRS, so the signal sometimes downgrades, making big emails take forever to send or receive. When last I did it (surf the Vodafone site), the card was cheapish (actually in my case free), but the access costs away from my own country were horrendous (at one point, £1 - yup $2 - a megabyte), especially with big files. My card then physically broke, and I've used this fact to cut away from the system.

If you're conducting business, see if the IT dept. at work has remote access options or guidelines.

Specifically if they have VPN options if you're using public wifi hotspots.

Some B&Bs do have Wifi. That is one of the things you have to look for when booking accommodations.

Hotels can be expensive or smaller ones can be cheap or free.

BTW, isn't it Cinque Terre and grazie?

If it's just for email I wouldn't waste my energy hauling around a computer. I found internet cafes in or near train stations all over Europe last year. Also in every hostel. Costs for connections were much less than what I am seeing here for hotel wifi. The only hangup is the strange keyboards. Get the attendant to show you where the @ key is before the meter starts running.