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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Day 13 - Connecting to the WWW

Having internet is important to us. Not necessary so to speak but very nice. Most places we have stayed have had free wifi but not all. And even when there is wifi it's not always a great signal. And when they don't have wifi at all we use our contract phone to make a mobile hotspot. It works out pretty good for us and by not having to have one of those wireless cards we save money.

When there is not internet there is usually the option to seek out other sources. Most of the time you can track down some internet, though there is usually some cost associated with it, even if it says free wifi. IF you go to Starbuck's, Panera, McDonald's, Hardee's or any other business like that you will most likely purchase something and then that makes it NOT FREE. Other places that we have been able to get truly FREE wifi is the library, community center, AT&T store. I will also tell you that we have sat in the parking lot of some of the establishments listed above and just quickly used the internet from our vehicle with our laptops. It works for a quick check in. Since we do have data on the contract phone usually we can make it with only that when there is no free wifi . But there are times when you need to get connected and accomplish a few things more then the phone is capable of so we find a way to get it done and move on!

 Extender on it's visor perch doing it's thing


Close up of the extender thingy


To help receive a better signal we have invested in an wifi network extender. It was on sale at Best Buy and we had gotten a gift card from one of the phone purchases that we made so the out of pocket to us was less then 20 bucks. Prior to making this purchase MiRV made the attempt to fashion homemade boosters which didn't quite deliver and we also purchased and returned two others before deciding this one would probably work best for us. Most days he's happy with it!

Check out the 31 day challenge right here!

2 comments:

  1. We had an air card (which really was not a card) that made being on the Internet a breeze - there were very few places that it didn't work and I could even blog traveling down the highway (or check out campsites and make reservations if needed). We had Verizon and the only place that we truly didn't have service for an extended period of time was Juneau Alaska - and that was because of the mountains. Not only did I blog everyday - but all our banking was handled online. I would go without TV before I would do without internet (which we did several times).

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  2. I'm certainly with you on going without TV before internet!!!!

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