Shortly before I left for Britain, I learned about RoVair, a service that offers wireless mobile broadband (WMB) access. I have no idea just what aircards, datacards and evdo cards are, but as one who now drags her laptop around the globe, I do know what a hassle and/or expense it can be to find WiFi or Ethernet connections while traveling. I have struggled with Internet access at sea, because many cruise ships seem to have Internet centers with painfully slowly service via satellite at dial-up speed. I have paid through the nose in fancy hotels, where you would think that WiFi would be as much an included amenity as it is in many mid-range properties. My laptop and I have camped in hotel lobbies where that was the only place with WiFi service. I have driven for miles and paid usurious per-hour WiFi fees and otherwise sacrificed time and comfort to check E-mails or do some timely blog posting.
Therefore, RoVair's explanation that it is available anywhere there is a cellular signal seemed like a traveler's dream innovation ("hundreds of thousands if not millions of hotspots," the company says). As I understand it, you get a datacard and then use a "day pass" that is activated all the time -- or maybe the datacard and the day pass are the same thing. There are all sorts of other bells and whistles (including a price break for multiple cards and the ability to "light up" other devices elsewhere, which I probably don't need but might be useful for people traveling on company business).
Currently, you order your day pass for a certain number of days with a three-day minimum and return it to the company in provided packaging when the time is up -- sort of like NetFlix. "Soon," RovAir says, "day passes will be available from handy kiosks at airports, hotels, train terminals, shopping malls and other convenient locations."
In any case, card rental starts at $5.95 a day with a multi-day purchase, which made RoVair sound really, really, REALLY good. I was ready to sign up. Unfortunately for me this time, the service is currently available only in the US and perhaps Canada, but not in Europe or Asia.
To read about our trip, see my postings between April 26 and May 7. If RoVair had been in Britain, I could have dealt more easily or inexpensively with these specific situations:
- Lack of Internet access on trains, which was a bit frustrating, because there was an outlet and a table a each seat, which would have made good use of travel time
- The Famous Wild Boar Hotel in the Lake District has no Internet service. We didn't have a car, so took a taxi (£6 each way) to Bowness, where I found a cafe with Internet access at £3 for 30 minutes. We took advantage of being there to wander around Bowness and stay for dinner, but we did have to lug the laptop around.
- In Carlisle, one of the two hotels we stayed at had WiFi only in the lobby at a cost of £5 per hour. The second hotel had no Internet service at all.
- In Edinburgh, we lucked out at a B&B that had free WiFi in the rooms -- the only one of the five places we stayed with such an amenity.
- At the Sheraton Skyline near Heathrow Airport, Internet service was available in the rooms for £5 per hour or £15 for 24 hours. Gulp!
Therefore, I cheer: Go RoVair! I look forward to trying it in the US next time I am on the road, but more significantly, I hope the service is available in Europe next time I go overseas -- which, come to think of it, might be a long time coming given the state of the dollar.
And for anyone who has not yet navigated the rocky shoals of traveling with a laptop but wants to, the Independent Traveler website recently published a primer of what's out there, what you can expect and what you should take with you.
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