wi fi in hotels and airports

Hi... having never needed it before I am in the dark. Wi-Fi access at hotels, airports, and now pubs. Great; on the move online but how does on access it with one’s laptop? Despite being unable to identify what is a ‘wireless communication button’ on my laptop as a couple of PC literates have said it can be used for wi-fi. Do I need a device plugged in?

It depends on how old your laptop is and whether or not you need a wifi dongle (I have a secondary laptop I use as a backup with this type of device). If your laptop is fairly new, then wifi is built in.  Most hotels will require you to obtain a "login key" usually obtained from reception, & at airports (where nothing is free) you will have to give your credit card details & be billed for the time you spend online.  Some diners like McDonalds  have free wifi connectivity.  You can do online searches for these free zones before you leave home for your destination.  Hope this helps a little.

Thanks, Jim; things are a tad clearer now so it is a case of suck and see. I guess I need a dongle. I supose I was a bit of an optimist to think it would be a free service (at airports) for customers. I think I need a dongle. Will delve deeper   :o)

If your computer is fitted with integral wifi you do not need a dongle to connect to free wifi access, you just need to click on the connect to listed in the all programs menu, all the available wifi signals in the area will pop up and then you just click on connect, however you may need to obtain the pass word from the hotel first for free access. Airports normally charge for access although I did manage to use my computer at Bournemouth airport free of charge, think it may have been a fluke though. Southampton charged me a euro for 30 mins.  Many of the bars in CB offer free wifi to customers.

I got free wifi in Alicante airport last week! Never have before though!

Most hotels see wi-fi as an income stream and will make an extra charge for providing the password and access code for their wi-fi system, although there are a few around who will give you the numbers for free.  I generally find that coffee shops provide free wi-fi access in order to get customers through the door and for the price of a cup of coffee you can surf (or whatever) to your hearts content. Also many shopping centres are now providing free wi-fi connection. Quite a few travel hubs now have open access wi-fi where anyone can log on.  In Spain I use a 3G broadband USB stick (dongle) for all my communications on the PC (even Skype), although the service can be patchy, but it's relatively expensive if you use a lot of data (I pay 20 euros for 1gb).  In the UK, British Telecom provide wi-fi hot spots called Open Reach, but I find them very expensive at £3 per hour, which can be paid for online, but I guess if you have something really important to send, it doesn't matter.  Generally open access wi-fi is not particularly secure. The difference seems to be that on wi-fi you pay for the access with no data limit and with a dongle you pre-pay for the data used.  If you do have an old laptop which has no inbuilt wi-fi connector then you can but wi-fi dongles.  I have a 10 year old laptop I no longer use, stashed under my desk which is wi-fi enabled, so it's not that new.

M