Chapter 4. Wi-Fi on the Road

Now that you've learned what you can do with Wi-Fi, it's time to find Net access on the road. One of the biggest benefits of equipping your Mac with Wi-Fi is being able to take advantage of the wireless access that's available outside your home or office.

The major difference between using Wi-Fi in your home or office and using it on the road is that you can't simply open up your laptop and find your usual broadband network. Instead, you'll need to track down connectivity, and helping you to do that is the goal of this chapter.

One word of warning: no one has yet figured out how to consistently make money selling wireless connectivity to travelers. It sometimes seems as though even-numbered days of the month are devoted to press releases from new wireless access companies announcing their arrival, while odd-numbered days mark the demise of other companies. In other words, while this book mentions a number of companies that are currently alive and kicking, remember that the Wi-Fi access market is constantly changing. By the time you read this, the business models of the companies we mention may be different, or they may even have gone out of business.