For the last few months I have been spending my time in multiple countries, which in Europe means that the almost universal 3G high speed access I enjoyed in the UK is no longer available to me. What I hear you say? well the issue is not one of service but one of cost. 3G data roaming is pitifully expensive in the region of £1.50 per MB – yes per MB. There are a variety of options for reducing the cost slightly but they still price my usual traffic levels in the £150+ range, if not higher.

I could get a contract service in some of the countries but that is darned fiddly and also I have challenges about payment as I would not have a local address/bank and they get a little awkward with that. I could also get a PAYG SIM for the country I am in but it seems that this provision is low speed (less than 384kbps at best) and still remarkably expensive – nothing as enlightened as the PAYG tariffs that are appearing in the UK.

So I have been relying on Wifi – not exactly a perfect solution as I have found. In many hotels, the WiFi service is a charged for service which makes some of the Roaming or PAYG options look cheap. Really, is €25 for 2 hours a cost plus percentage service or a big fat fee with a tiny cost attached? However with judicious use of the options on sites such as Booking.com, you can find hotels with free WiFi – an absolute godsend when away from home and for working in the better comfort of the hotel room rather than the client site.

However, not all free WiFi is created equal. I have come across hotels that have WiFi only if you cross yourself and place the laptop in precarious positions… in the hotel lobby… only on particular floors or in specific rooms, and (my personal favourite) with WiFi so maxed out that you have trouble actually sending and receiving email never mind running a Skype call. All in all, this is something a little trial and error needed in your selection of hotels.

The last week has introduced a new one on me, which is the WiFi Access Point and laptop incompatibility. An incredibly frustrating situation that left me out in the cold for a few days until I figured out the setting in my driver to force it to be compatible (oh and the installation of a slightly older version of the driver that worked/works perfectly fine at home and in the office).

So watch out… particularly if you have Realtek Wifi built in or if you happen to use a hotel with Apple WiFi kit. I am thinking one thing I could do next time is to have a USB WiFi adapter to deal with the incompatibilities…at least reducing the possibility that I have a complete no-go situation. Or reconsider my 3G possibilities.