Wi-Fi on Planes, Trains and Ships

It seems that you can never go far without there being a Wi-Fi hotspot nearby. Many restaurants are now using this as a selling future especially for business people, social networking addicts and any other person who want internet access. It is very convenient to have internet access while travelling so you keep in touch with family and friends when you are on the go especially since a lot of times many people don't want to use their cell phones because of roaming fees.

Now even airlines are offering Wi-Fi access but unfortunately this internet access is not free and not all planes are equipped with the technology yet. The price for using Wi-Fi on planes does vary from airline to airline but it is around $4.95 for flights 1.5 hours long 12.95 for flights longer than 3 hours. There are also Wi-Fi hot spots on cruise ships but you have to pay a lot more to use these hot spots and it is not worth the price for a lot of people. The use internet on a cruise ship you have to pay $0.65-0.75 a minute or a lot of times there are internet usage packages so you can get a bit better rate. The internet on cruise ships works using satellites and because it is satellite internet it is not the most reliable, which is a big downside if you are paying so much to use the internet.

I did find it surprising that there was Wi-Fi on planes but then again it is a good marketing ploy to attract business travellers and just people looking for something to do on a flight. This Wi-Fi on planes works like mobile internet; it works with cellular towers on the ground. The in flight internet Wi-Fi works in the continental U.S. and 100 miles beyond the border into Mexico and Canada. Wi-Fi technology on planes is fairly new and not on all flights, even if an airline advertises that it has Wi-Fi on board doesn't often mean that Wi-Fi is on all flights.

On trains you can also have internet access the VIA rail offers Wi-Fi in both economy and business class. It also says there is Wi-Fi available at many of the train stations. Like in flight Wi-Fi it VIA also uses cell phone towers (mobile internet technology) to provide internet access.

Internet access can be useful when travelling but depending on the price to use it may not be worth the money. It is a lot of times better to just wait until you get to where you are going and finding internet access there. It is great to stay in touch and it is helpful to have internet while on route but we don't have to be connected all the time.