I responded to the prior request on a WiFi experience. Flying J has WiFi for $4.95 per day and the rate decreases if the subscriber decides on a monthly or yearly plan. If your laptop is wireless equipped (as mine is ), no cords, plugs or cards are required. A card is purchased at the fuel counter very much like the Wal Mart fuel card and you pay to charge the card, When you turn on your pc inside the restaurant or even from your coach in the parking lot, the pc will "sniff" out the wireless service and asks for the card number. The rest of the setup is very user friendly. What we liked about the Flying J service is the number of hot spots they have along the interstates. Many times we pulled off at a designated hot spot and accessed the internet and our e mail. I would recommend this service to all. (Don)
Just returned from Alaska via beautiful British Columbia. Used wifi in many
places with super results. I will continue to enjoy the speed and
uncluttered availability. I'm glad it is getting to be added to more places.(Dean)
We have been using wi-fi in our RV travels for over a year. We use RV park systems, Flying J and various other commercial hotspots. Recently, we were in a small town where the campground did not have wi-fi or a modem connection. We noticed a local motel that advertised free wi-fi for their guests. I pulled into their parking lot and was online in a couple of minutes. In another town, I parked next to a public library with wi-fi and, again, was online quickly. If you check around, most towns have at least one hotspot, some free, some with a charge.
One bit of advice, when checking into a RV park that offers wi-fi, make sure it is at all sites. Recently at the Salt Lake City KOA, we found out too late that the wi-fi only worked within 250' of the office and not throughout the park. What RV'ers need is a wireless adapter with a good external directional antenna that can be pointed to the signal source. Overall, we have been very pleased with wi-fi service throughout the USA and Canada. I do agree with others that the price in most RV parks is too high. One RV park owner stated he dropped his charges for wi-fi after the first year because the availability was bringing in an extra 20-25% additional business over previous years. He found out it was an excellent drawing card. Maybe other owners will 'see the light'.(Jerry)
We are in Maine (Portland area) and found that the Scarborough Public Library has Free Wifi hotspots. It's great as we can take our laptop in and handle our personal business (e-mail, finances, etc) without using someone elses computer. You have to do it during their business hours. We've been fulltimers for a year and a half and are working in Maine for this summer. If all else fails for a place to get our e-mail, we'll check the local library of where we are staying. We did not need a library card to use this service. I hope this is the start of a trend within the Library System nationwide. This is also a new service to this particular library branch.(Brenda and Jim)
With your help, I purchased and installed wifi with PC card with SSID set to ANY. I was able to log on at several sites (coffee shops) and used free KOA Hotspotzz and a couple for which I paid $4.00 per hour. I worry about the security - if I am using my online banking, is it easy for someone else to see it?(Thanks)
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