Wifi in London

As we’ve planned our trip to London, one key aspect is our need to have high speed access to the internet. We Skype-call home, check voicemail and email, upload photos so family members can see what we’re doing, and look up info on day-trips or make modifications to what we’re doing on-the-fly.

Our American chain hotel has Wifi in the rooms for 15 pounds per 24 hour period (about $28) which is laughingly expensive for our needs. There is free Wifi in the lobby which isn’t optimal…but we can use it. There’s also an Apple store less than a mile away so free Wifi is an option there too.

British Telecom has something called BT Openzone. I could buy a month’s access (we’ll be there for 8 days) and it’d run roughly $74 but would provide us access just about everywhere (including our hotel). What was interesting to us is that we use TMobile here in the States and their TMobile Hotspots (which include Starbucks all over the world) could be used there BUT we’d incur an $.18 per minute surcharge (roughly $10 an hour) plus, of course, the $20 per month cost of TMobile Hotspot.

Gotta admit that I smile over how expectations have changed. My son and daughter have talked about the movies on the plane, she’s taking her video iPod populated with TV shows she’s purchased, and my son has his Nintendo DS and is delighted he’ll have laptop internet access when we get there so he can manage his online life.

Me? I was tickled to take my first plane ride at 17 years old and being in a position to afford to buy a couple of magazines and comic books for the trip. I didn’t even take my second plane trip until I was 24 years old and my kids have been to Japan, Peru, all over the US (including Alaska and Hawaii) and simply embrace, expect and are delighted to be connected and have access to the world.