Freelancing On-the-go: Wi-Fi Wireless Woes
Credit: @Saigon on Flickr
As I sit here in the Melbourne Airport, it’s starting to dawn on me that I’ve been looking at travel and freelancing with decidedly rose-colored glasses.
Up to this point I have always thought that working while on the move was a relatively simple thing. With the world-wide penetration of wireless, moving throughout the world with your laptop should be a snap.
The reality is, it makes me want to chew glass.
Where did things go so wrong?
My travels to Australia started off without a hitch. My hometown airport in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (try to say that fast three times) was dreamy in comparison to what I was about to come up against. Soft, reclined chairs with free wireless and charging stations built right into the chair made for a pleasant work experience.
Strangely enough, as I would soon discover, major airports guarantee neither free wireless access nor availability to a power outlet. I have a feeling that traveling on the Hindenburg would have been more comfortable and convenient.
As I arrived at Calgary, I could see things quickly going downhill. After hunting around for a wall outlet, I attempted to get hooked up to the Internet. There were several options to accessing the “free” Internet including logging on with your Facebook account or getting a password sent to your mobile. I elected to go with the text message route. I fully expect my mobile to be inundated with Viagra offers when I return to Canada.
36 hours in the air and 5 different airports later, I came to grips with my entirely dismal work-while-traveling experience. From snaking a power cable behind a wall in an attempt to grab some electricity, to being faced with paying $5 for 15 minutes of wireless time in the Melbourne airport, I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the idea that I won’t get a lick of work done while in airports.
McDonalds, you big jerk
Since I didn’t feel like paying $15 a day for my hotel’s Internet (seriously, what year is this anyway?), I decided to hit the Melbourne streets looking for a Starbucks or McDonalds where I could get a coffee and a cup of free wireless.
Right away I was overjoyed to find a nearby McDonalds that was not only offering free wireless but also had outside seating and was open 24 hours a day. So soaking up the sun and trying to keep down a McDonalds coffee, I was ready to get to work.
Logging onto the wireless was easy as pie, receiving emails, however, was as tough as a 15 year old fruit cake. For some reason, McDonalds was blocking all my outgoing email ports. With a few emails to my email host, and some back and forth tech support, my patience and battery was beginning to run low.
With laptop in hand I headed up to the counter to ask where the nearest power outlet was. The server looked at me and with a straight face said:
“I’m sorry sir, McDonalds doesn’t allow any plug-ins. For the safety of the children, you know.”
I looked at her and replied, “Well that’s fortunate because I was planning on finding one and sticking my tongue in it.”
Apparently, McDonalds figures that Australian children are completely stupid. Faced no doubt with the first wall plug they’ve ever encountered, they will be unable to resist the urge to stab a metal object into it. Don’t ask me where they will get these metal objects? I assume children in Australia are packed off each morning with butter knives and screwdrivers with the encouragement to go nuts on any unattended power outlets.
In the near future I look forward to McDonalds’ restaurants that are completely enshrouded in bubble wrap. With all the sharp corners and hard surfaces in the world, McDonalds will have to do its part to protect the children. Now if they would just do something to address the most severe danger that children currently face – their food.
Working from the road, just a dream?
A big part of going freelance is the ability to pack up and work from locations throughout the world. I had really hoped to get some work done during the traveling portions of our trip. This, unfortunately, doesn’t always seem to be the case.
With a backlog of work and growing frustrations, I’ve started to take a long, hard look at the convenience of being a digital nomad. So what are your experiences? How do you find working while traveling? Maybe I’m just doing it wrong.
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by @Saigon.
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“Apparently, McDonalds figures that Australian children are completely stupid. Faced no doubt with the first wall plug they’ve ever encountered, they will be unable to resist the urge to stab a metal object into it. Don’t ask me where they will get these metal objects? I assume children in Australia are packed off each morning with butter knives and screwdrivers with the encouragement to go nuts on any unattended power outlets.”
That one paragraph is just plain stupid. You should never compromise children’s safety just so a prick like you can plug in a laptop. If you dont like it, go somewhere else… or pay the $15 dollars you cheapo. That’s just a poor excuse to hate on McDonalds for not providing plugin access.
@Demrain
I don’t think it’s stupid at all. Considering this line pretty much sums it up:
“McDonalds will have to do its part to protect the children. Now if they would just do something to address the most severe danger that children currently face – their food.”
It’s a joke.
It’s stupid to bash people and take things out of context and build an opinion off that… Instead of looking at it as a whole. The major point was to express ones trials and tribulations while freelancing on the road. Not a political piece to bash McDonalds.
I thought the McDonalds bit was hilarious and a welcome bit of humor to something most of us have experienced at one time or another.
@Demrain, do me a favor and slap yourself hard at least 3 times. And after that google safety outlets or just go back living in the stone age.
Demrain – are you serious??
Coz I really didn’t expect to come across a troll on this site!
High time hotels and restaurants should start providing free wi-fi. Really frustrating when they advertise about the same in their brochures but when you actually try to avail of the facility, you realize how much of a rip-off it really is.
Work while traveling was a big bust for me. The main airport neither had an outlet to plug in my laptop nor access to free wifi. Not only that, you can’t really concentrate on what you’re working on because of the noise, the uncomfortable seats, and all the other distractions around you.
The experience might be better if I had lighter portable equipment to use, but with only a delicate laptop to use, I’d rather stay at home to work.
Plan ahead,
Those are very common problems, plan ahead- and set aside a long time for work, so you can research a good place with wifi and a way to find it.
I usually have a day of work when I travel, squeezing in an hour of work there and here wont be efficient and even possible in some cases. Plan to have some work that you can do off-line. I always get work that I can start doing offline, like for webwork I just host everything locally on my computer-
But there are always ways that this can screw with you. – so plan ahead, and have alternative back-up plans.
Working while travelling is next to impossible. Although not a big fan, I need to travel by plane quite a few times a year (within Europe) and I always dread the lack of internet
I find working in airports horrendous: lack of internet (well, unless you are prepared to pay unreasonable amounts of money on it anyway), lack of power supply and even those freaking cheap and annoying chairs. I sometimes go get a coffee (with all the added benefits) but in the airports I frequent, starbucks/mcdonalds/etc are not opened during the night. which needless to say, is frustrating.
So yes, my opinion is that it’s better to watch some movies or play some games than to try and do any work
Loved the part about McDonalds, both funny and true.
3G Dongles aren’t much of an option either, because of the subscriptions that generally go with them. And it’s not odd for hotels to charge 15-25 euro a night for internet.
So I generally find a Starbucks/Mac Donalds as well and charge the laptop at the hotel whilst I do some offline work.
It sucks but if it’s the only way to go it’s the only way to go. Makes you consider an extra Juice-pack for your laptop though.
In addition I now use the iPhone and it’s Personal Hotspot function when I’m not out of the country (to avoid outrageous charges). Instead of the 3G Dongle.
Works like a charm
As a Suitcase Entrepreneur this is my life – I work while being on the move – trains, planes, cars, buses, boats – you name it I do it.
First off you need patience. You need to expect that not every country in the world has decent wifi (in fact that’s guaranteed) or that they have plugs convenient to you – or that fit your plug.
That said not having access to wifi is when I get my most creative work done and really efficiently so I’d say planning to do work on planes and in airports that doesn’t require internet access is a smart move – you know writing, reports, planning.
Also I’d get Gmail Offline – it means you can read all your emails, reply to them etc and when you get back online it sends them all off.
There a ton of useful tools to use including your smartphone to make you more effective as a freelancer but planning and patience are the two most important things for sure.
Natalie
To be fair to Mickey D’s, I would assume that Australia is nearly as litigious as the US. They would be stupid to NOT protect themselves from liability.
And their business model is to serve bland food, not electricity.
Demrain – are you seriously saying that on that basis we should remove electrical outlets from the home, as 100% of the time this is where children grow up, and have access to such a device as the common electrical outlet.
I don’t mind paying for access, but make it easier and please make the cost reflective of what you get to what the airport would pay for it.
My experience was last year I went back to Africa for the first time after 12 years to visit my family for a month. I first felt that internet connection would be difficult and slow but to my supprise, I was able to buy a wireless stick for $50 and $20 scratch card lasted for the entire month. I could work from the jungle and my clients could not tell if I was in NYC or the Motherland. I said to myself: “This is nice. I can live here then, with a nice little hut in a beautiful village and make a ton of cash as a U.S. Patent Illustrator” LOL.
Just one piece of advice. I had the same problem, being stuck in a hotel in Ohio that would block my outgoing emails. The solution: Get a VPN service.
Starting from $8/month you can tunnel out of port-limited hotel and McDonalds internets and get your emails out. It also helps with all other kinds of routing problems and to get around regional blocks most of the time. And you’re safe on unencrypted hotel networks.
I’ve made good experiences with tuvpn.com, but only pay for those months that when really need it (like when travelling abroad) because I’m too cheap to pay for it every month.
I’m just glad to know that Mexico isn’t the only place where they charge you (ridiculouss high prices) to access the hotel’s wifi.
Funnily enough, I did find where to plug the laptop, not only in airports, but in bus stations as well … and for free.
My three things when working while travelling: light laptop with long battery life (or iPad only if I can get away with it), noise canceling earphones to eliminate all the extraneous junk, and pain killers for the chairs and other uncomfortable arrangements. By the time I am sedated and have my earphones in, I can sometimes get some work done. And if not, who cares?!
Seriously, the only problem I have had is with the wireless and I can usually find that or enable tethering on my phone for a brief time.
Rooted my Droid, installed Barnacle, and voila — instant wifi hotspot anywhere I have phone service (including airports). And since the phone is rooted, there are no additional charges. The downsides are it’s a slow connection and it drains the phone battery fast — so it’s best to be able to plug the phone into a charger.
Which of course, gets back to one of your original points about not being able to find an outlet in many locations!
Wow, you come off as a bit of a leech. Sure, the wireless is wide open but ethically you shouldn’t use the internet and complain about an establishments lack of power outlets when you haven’t given them any business.
Not to mention, McDonald’s is a fast food restaurant not a power outlet store.
Hey, he bought a coffee:
“So soaking up the sun and trying to keep down a McDonalds coffee”.
I rock out with MyWi. Jailbreak iphone app for a Huge win. It is fast, reliable, and easy to use. The app creates a wifi hotspot from your iphone.
If you were grandfathered in with the unlimited data plan it is even better.
I’ve only traveled in the UK and that with a MacBook that won’t interact with wifi anywhere in Europe or outside the USA without tech support (who has no idea what to do with it either). Without an ethernet cord it just wouldn’t tap into the net. But that’s Apple.
In the USA I have a list of hotel providers who provide free internet and make a point of not reserving a room if they charge for it. Campgrounds – most of whom offer internet access and wifi and charge $5 a day for it – don’t really have wifi. Most don’t know what it is, what it means or how to configure their router so I avoid campgrounds unless I really want a campfire or roasted marshmallows. (I travel in a camper van). The best place on earth for wifi, outlets and quiet are libraries – public or colleges. They have outlets like every 10 feet, comfy couches, great wifi, on-site techs usually and they love for you to sit and stay as long as you want. Free parking too. Wouldn’t hurt to buy Virgin’s Broadband to go – with month-to-month pricing from $10 to $40 or $50 for unlimited access, it’s the way to go. Plus, you can buy the USB adapter at Walmart (most open 24 hours) and be online in a few hours if you can get Virgin Customer Service on a good day (hard to do).
It sounds as if a great deal of frustration could be eliminated if you simply pay the hotel’s wifi fee. For the record I travel internationally several times a year and can’t stand those charges (up to $30 a day in some hotels!!!) but as a freelancer it’s a cost of staying in touch and doing business. It’s frustrating yes, but I just don’t get the author’s anger towards these businesses and establishments. I don’t think the author is “doing it wrong”, but you really gotta allow yourself some space and acceptance and realize it’s never going to be as ideal as working in you own office. At least we get to travel and see the world, no?
I would be glad to pay for the hotel WiFi costs if the WiFi was actually fast. The majority of the time, the WiFi is either not working or so slow that it is not even usable for actually performing work tasks.
Tanner, boy do I hear you there…
1. In my opinion, slow wifi beats no wifi any day.
2. I’m never afraid to ask the hotel for credit or a refund. In the case the wifi is managed by a 3rd party (it often is) I simply email and ask.
3. Someone mentioned earlier planning for moments like these. With a slow network I hold off sending my large files if I can help it and use the pokey network for email only. Sure, sometimes I have to explain to clients that their high res image isn’t going to make it just yet and they’ll have to settle for a screen grab but it’s only a temporary situation.
I haven’t used a non-web-based email client in years, but accessing my webmail on secure networks is equally frustrating. Trying to access it (or things like cPanel) on really secure networks, like the wifi in a major hospital, has proven interesting.
As for plugging in my laptop for power, I do it wherever I go. And I keep doing it until someone comes over to me and tells me to unplug it. One time I was in a waiting room full of about 40 people. Every outlet was being used by a person with a laptop by the time I even got there. It was frustrating day. I began to miss the mid-90s when I would be one of the only ones in an airport or lobby with a laptop.
Yup… Free hotel wifi can blow just as bad as not having any at all. Always be prepared. Last trip the free hotel wifi died and I had to use easy tether on my android phone for web access with my laptop. Next time it’ll be our 2 phones with hotspot access.
I’ve done the travel/work thing numerous times… for months at a time, once for more than a year. Most of the workarounds for your problems have already been mentioned, but I would like to echo the most important points:
1. Patience. Don’t travel (especially abroad) without it.
2. Planning. Line up your offline work for times when you know you might not have reliable access.
3. VPNs. Using a vpn will not only get around the email port issue, but also provides security when using public wifi networks. What would your clients think about you ftping into their server over some public coffeehouse connection? WiTopia is $40/year and has servers all over the globe from Singapore to Dublin to Washington to Amsterdam to Toronto and on and on.
I think these your issues are very minor when compared to the great benefits and enjoyment that come from traveling. Traveling rocks!
I think the point of this article is that you can’t depend on power outlets and free wireless Internet to be provided to you while travelling and that is a lesson I’ve learned too. Airports though are often the worst. In Canada we have “Boingo Hotspots” which are the biggest ripoff in the world.
I for one won’t book a hotel that doesn’t at the very least have free wired Internet. Their are also resources such as iPhone apps that show you where the free WiFi is but sometimes these turn out to be a bust as well.
McDonald’s policy about no plug-ins is related to cables not power points. The cables are a serious choking/tripping hazard for small children.
This doesn’t surprise me. I work at a library and we only allow people to plug-in their laptops if there’s a plugin under or on the table. Cords stretched across or down aisles is a real hazard for anyone.
Love the bit on McDonalds – Too true.
Australia charges a fortune for anything internet related, try looking for an Australian hosting plan.
I live 20mins from a major city and can’t get ADSL2 nor can I get decent phone coverage let alone digital tv reception.
I use a wireless pre paid dongle on the go (if I can get coverage) but I don’t count on it, unfortunately it’s a way of life in Aus.
By the way I have 3 kids and none of them have ever stuck anything into a power point, it’s called parenting.
When I’m on a long flight from Manila to the US, I always plan to do offline work so that when I get a chance to connect, I’ll just send the completed work. But alas, I couldn’t work in the plane properly. So whenever I’m on the road, I just don’t take a lot of work anymore.
Australia sucks for Internet access in general. Wifi is ridiculously hard to find and when you do it usually costs a bomb! I recently travelled through France and the USA and free wifi was everywhere, I even got it while on a bus from Boston to Rhode Island! One day we might catch up with the rest of the world…
Maybe they don’t have power points because they just don’t want a whole heap of tight arse freelancers hanging around their store all day #justsaying.
As you found out wifi in Australia is like nowhere. Most other airports have it and in most countries it is much more available freely.
There are also monthly services you can subscribe to like boingo which have 100,000′s of wifi points for you all around the world.
I think you might be doing it a bit wrong. Macca’s isn’t a good place to work.Try renting an apartment via airbnb, they let you know if there is wireless etc on the site.
Am I the only one that considers the fact the power cords over the ground IS a risk for children tripping over etc. The the issues with the power points imo
LOL! Loved the bit about McD’s *applause*
This post is spot on – wireless coverage in most places of the world sucks. I usually save all of the materials I normally access via the Internet on a flash drive. Then I get the work done offline and only afterwards do I search for a hotspot to send the results to my clients.
Also, one could always buy a USB modem that utilizes EDGE, 3G or 4G technologies. It’s sometimes slow-ish and not very cheap, but it’s better than 15 bucks per day. In fact, I’m doing it now while I’m on Cyprus – combination of free Wi-Fi plus flash-stored materials plus USB Internet is playing out fine so far.
Perhaps the secret here is not to expect that every country in the world will offer what you have at home? I have very successfully travelled and worked – I find the key is to learn about the realities of countries you are visiting before going (where possible). Great that you are privileged to have access to free WiFi in Canada – just don’t expect to have that everywhere you go. In my experience, every country has great (and not so great) things about it. One of the reasons to travel is to discover those things, not to arrive expecting what you have at home.
I never recommend relying on public wifi. There are certain tools of the trade in any profession and having your own hotspot as a freelancer is a must. The thering on a Jailbroken IPhone wifi keeps me connected anywhere for free. I can literally meet clients or work anywhere with cell phone signal. I’ve found this to be massively important, sometimes I even take my laptop on to the beach and work out there. If I need to save battery I use the USB tethering option to save on battery draining wifi. Also just having a local install of whatever I’m working on keeps me from needing to be online anyway. You don’t really need internet if you have a MAMP/WAMP install. Plus if battery is your problem, I’de recommend getting a hypermac battery extender (or whatever pc equivalent), you can get 20-45 hours of extra battery life out of your Mac. If you’re not shelling out for an office space, a personal hotspot (free-$20 a month) and a battery extender ($150-$400) are a must.
What? At the la quinta inn internet is free. How can they justify charging so much?
As others have said and as you discovered first hand, Australia’s wifi situation is woeful. It’s uncommon to find places that have it, and when you do, often they are restricted or limited in some way.
I recently spent 5 months around various countries travelling, and these would be my tips (similar to what others have said):
1. Plan and research ahead: If you’re booking accommodation, check what their net situation is like before you go. I visited Croatia last year and made sure to check with the owner if there was wifi at any place we considered staying, since I had to be online for the work I was doing.
2. Line up work you can do offline before travelling, and do that when possible.
3. If you’re in a place for an extended period, buy a local wireless dongle that works on the mobile phone network (this is a good option in Australia, I think)
4. As others have said, patience
It takes a while to find hotspots sometimes, but with persistence you can.
Australia is a bit backwards, but I found other countries I travelled to a bit better.
Lovely and welcome reading. As for McDonalds, well, it’s McDonalds
Best trick is to use a smartphones web connection through a wireless or USB tether. I can work from anywhere that way, provided there is a cell phone signal.
I found it!
I’m typing this in an Aussie McDonalds, using their free but sluggish wifi, and sucking on a caramel thick shake. I’m getting a bit of work done while I wait for my daughter to finish her first shift.
And under my seat is a double powerpoint! I’m not using it, and won’t be here long enough to need it. But it’s good to know.
One day I might bring my power supply and see if I get away with using it.
Thanks for the story, Travis.
In other news – Adrian is better than I am.
Thanks Travis. I hope you’re finding the wifi in Japan much better—despite the trying times there.
- Gmail or Google Apps for browser based e-mail will help with the port issue. (Google Apps lets you have your @domainname.com e-mail accounts run through googles servers with all the perks. Even the free option … though it does take some skills to set up.) Hook it up to Mac Mail or Outlook so you can download and browse later offline if needed also.
- Planning will help with the time factor, have a backup option or 4. Plan when you have proper internet access for researching.
- Plan for working offline … what can you do offline if you really need to be productive. Can you prep some things while you have internet access.
- VPN backup option (hotspotsheild is openvpn based and free) and/or onion router (Vidalia with Torbutton on my mac.) I had to use the onion router to get someone’s email in France because the small US ISP decided to block anything outside the US.
- International data package for a smart phone … just make sure you turn it off most of the time. This allowed me to compose e-mails and then send them all at once. This also let me use my phone map capabilities when the stupid TomTom GPS wouldn’t work … repeatedly. I used this in Switzerland when I didn’t have the option or time to go look for a local coffee shop and the wifi was wonky at a couple of the hotels.
- If staying more than one week look at your options for local cell phone data plans or computer dongle. Orange for most of Europe. Not sure about other locations.
Though to anyone saying “just pay the hotel fee” – it’s not always worth it. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
Before I switched to Google Apps I did the paid wifi at a nice hotel in a major US city (in 2007? I think)… took 40 minutes to get online (after dinking with settings the average person wouldn’t bother with) and then because I hadn’t switched to Google Apps at that time I couldn’t get to my email incoming or outgoing.
And to the people freaked out about kids and wall outlets … houses have wall outlets right? And cords to lamps and such? And I’ve seen plenty of small children in Starbucks and other locations with power outlets. I won’t go into my rant about people’s parenting skills. I doubt though that McD’s instructed that employee to give that response though (if they did, that’s idiotic.)
Wifi at McD’s is really an afterthought and fairly recent so that’s probably real reason there are no power outlets there. No outlets at any Chick-fil-a I’ve been to which also has free wifi.
I would love to see someone stick their tongue in a McDs power outlet in protest of bad wifi!
A Solar Laptop Charger & abroadband.com would be your best bet! (sorry crappy coffee not included)