WiFi Where Are You
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007by Christopher G. Erckert
Small Business Technology Advisor
So it’s pretty fair to say that if you’ve bought a laptop within the last few years you can tap into WiFi Hot Spots everywhere, if you can find them.
I found this out first hand on a recent trip to Florida. Armed with my WiFi laptop and needing to keep in touch with clients and friends back home I had to find the closest Hot Spot when I was out and about. Fortunately, I was armed with Google Mobile Maps for my mobile phone. It’s a simplified version of Google Maps which most of you may already use today. The neat trick was that I was able to type in WiFi + the city I was in, and it listed all the nearby Hot Spots, everything from McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Starbucks, to a nearby UPS Store.
Google Maps is available for both Windows Mobile, Palm and many other phones. You’ll also need a data plan in addition to your regular calling plan so that the map program can access the internet over mobile network.