As self proclaimed traveler and blogger, internet connectivity is a must for me, and I think on the information era nowadays, one cannot leave home without it. Internet (and mobile communication in general) has evolve so rapidly for the last couple of years, mobile connectivity enables people connect to the world wide web almost everywhere. From the city centre to villages and even deep into the forest, by simply using their mobile phones, iPhones, Blackberry or any mobile gadgets. As long as the device able to get signal from the respective provider, internet is in your hand, literally.
Currently, I am not using mobile broadband connection to do my internet activity such as blogging or the so called social networking activity. Not that I don’t want to, but it is easier to type on laptops or netbooks. I am heavily relying on wi-fi or fixed wireless connection, since I am carrying either my laptop or netbook to almost everywhere. The first feature that I look in a place like cafe, hotel or basically place to stay or hang out is wi-fi availability. For instance when I was traveling to the Netherlands last month, I bring along my net book with me, the first thing I look when I arrived in Schipol is Wi-Fi, and of course it’s available, also in the hotel where I stayed for 3 nights.
In Singapore, wi-fi hot spots available island wide, and it’s free, it is widely know as wireless@sg. So, whenever I get bored at home, I take my laptop with me to the nearest place of interest or cafe, and online from the spot. It’s easy, all you have to do is register your unique username and password, and instantly you can connect to the internet.
As I often travel back and forth to Indonesia and went to places like Jakarta, Batam, Balikpapan, and Bandung, I also seek comfort for the same thing, wireless connectivity. So far, most of the time, I didn’t find any difficulties in finding wireless connectivity in places I’ve visited for hanging out or stay whenever I travel back to Indonesia. In Batam for instance, I’ve stayed in a considerably cheap hotel, yet they have free wi-fi available. When I was traveling to Balikpapan last year, I’ve easily connected to the internet provided by the hotel, eventhough I have to pay a considerable amount of money. But, for a good connection, I don’t mind. Also when I spent a weekend in Bandung, the hotel where me and my family stayed for the night also has free wi-fi. I can say, wi-fi is a must have feature for a place, since on the information era, internet become more and more of a necessity.
Beside the comfort of wireless connectivity I’ve been having in places I visited, I also experiencing a minor glitch on one of the five star hotel at the heart of Jakarta. By the end of last year, I was having my year end holiday back home. I had an appointment with few friends after lunch on one of the most prestigious shopping center in Jakarta which is integrated with a five star hotel. I was thinking while waiting for my friend to arrive, I might as well as having lunch at the hotel and hoping that the hotel would provide free wireless connection to their customer. So I went up to the hotel, before I sat and order myself lunch, I asked the waiter whether the restaurant has wi-fi connection. Apparently they didn’t have wi-fi on the restaurant, and she suggests that I should visit their business center. Meh! The idea behind my question is that I want to connect to the internet while having lunch on a quite place. That’s the idea, not after lunch, and not on some kind of business center where I bet they would charge me by the hours I am using. I might as well as go to starbucks or coffeebean downstairs for free wi-fi.
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