Worried About WiFi? Tricks for Making Sure You Have Access Everywhere

There’s seldom anything as worrying as being on a business trip and not being able to connect to WiFi. When you have people depending on you back home, the last thing you want to do is to appear flaky.

1. Set Up a Wireless Access Point

You can set up your own wireless access point with a mobile data plan. All you need is a 3G or 4G cellular data connection. which you can get for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices — some electronic readers even get cellular data. Enable the hotspot service with your cellular data provider and you’ll be able to connect to your mobile device as though it was a wireless router. You can also get 3G or 4G cellular data pumped directly to a laptop, provided that its system allows it.

2. Find a McDonald’s

This may seem like a joke, but if you’re in an international location and desperate for a WiFi connection, one of the best things you can do is look for a McDonald’s and purchase a small coffee. Why? McDonald’s is available in almost every country in the world and nearly every McDonald’s offers free WiFi for its customers. In fact, if there’s a particularly understanding manager you may not even have to buy anything.

3. Avoid Internet Cafes

As you get desperate, you may start to consider Internet cafes. Though Internet cafes are extremely affordable, they’re simply too dangerous for business use. Internet cafes use public computers and these computers could have malware on them that could steal your business information. If you absolutely need to use an Internet cafe, follow these rules: never log into a bank account, always delete your cookies and history and avoid using a computer when its screen can be seen by someone else.

4. Don’t Use Unsecured Connections

How can you tell whether a WiFi point is secured? Simply: when you log into it, you should be told its encryption and be asked to enter a password. A WiFi access point that doesn’t ask you for a password is very dangerous; anyone could be on it and looking at the information that other people are sending. Though many hotels do have business centers, not all of them are properly secured. You are almost always better off trying to get your own secured Internet connection rather than attempting to share someone else’s.

Posted in: corporate travel, travel tips