Accessed blocked to personal email - I'm definitely getting a UX50 to access WiFi

[Sam K]

Thanks to all the viruses that have appeared in the last couple of weeks my company has decided to block all access to personal email sites, Yahoo, Hotmail, Verizon, etc. I need the UX50 so that I connect to a WiFi hot spot and read my personal email. I'm glad I'm in Manhattan so I can get free access (since I have a Verizon DSL account) to the WiFi hot spots that Verizon is putting up all over Manhattan. I'm hoping I can pick one up from right inside my office but that might be wishful thinking.

In case you're curious you can get a list of Verizon WiFi hot spots at this site.

https://www33.verizon.com/wifi/login/locations/locations-remote.jsp

Or you get a list of WiFi spots at the following sites.

http://www.nycwireless.net/ - This one is for NYC only.
http://www.hotspotlist.com/
http://www.wifinder.com/

Anybody else getting a UX50 for this purpose?

[jamesgood72]

I doubt there will be an external WiFi spot near my office in Miami, but at least I can use bluetooth to check. You're lucky with all those WiFi spots up there!

[david.silva]

Just think....pretty soon you can buy a happy meal and check your email @ Micky D's

http://www.mcdwireless.com

[Orincarnia]

san antonio has 3 wifi spots for me starbucks, borders books, and my college, thats it, in my area........

[jonrule]

There are approximately 100 McDs around Chicago and metro area with wifi. I am lucky to have it in my neighborhood. My Mcdonalds gives out coupons with 1 hr. free browsing with a Value meal purchase. I hope this picks up more since Mcdonalds is all over the U.S.

[Orincarnia]

what? it costs? does it cost at starbucks? when it says commercial beside it does it mean its free?

 

basically i'm saying i don't have money........

[david.silva]

I don't think it's free when it says commercial. There is a specific search for free hotspots. There really isn't many free ones.

[acraniotes]

I just got an NX80/WL100, and can you imagine my surprise when I found out that the tiny public space across the street from my apartment building where I spend most of my "down" time (morning coffee, afternoon coffee, early evening coffee - I'm a freelance writer, so home doubles as my office) is a free hotspot! I was sitting by the fountain reading Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy on PalmReader when I thought, "Hey, why not pop in the card and see what happens?" Sure enough, in the time it took to open Netfront and click "Connect," I was reading the NY Times website.

And to think, I had resigned myself to hanging out in Starbuck's for the next month (I had already paid for a one-month unlimited T-Mobile account, just to try it on for size), sipping overpriced, bitter coffee... Neverthelss, I'd much rather get coffee from my neighborhood joint, and sit in my usual chair by the fountain...

-Adam

[Orincarnia]

ok i've been taught all my life that its rde to go saying "oooo how much did that cost" but this has to be an exception, i got a job, but its a smallone, how much did your subscription cost?

[edulabbe]

I'm just waiting to be able to buy a UX50 from Chile... I'll have to get used to Bluetooth (mostly) though, because there aren't too many hotspots here yet...:(

[acraniotes]

Orincarina, I don't think it's rude at all of you to ask. I paid $40 for one month of unlimited WiFi access. It's $30/mo if you get a one-year subcription - but if you cancel it for any reason before the year is up, they hit you with a cancellation fee (sort of along the lines of cellular providers). You can also use a "pay as you go" scheme, which, I believe can be set up on the fly - i.e. you can log on and pay for an hour's worth of WiFi once you sit down with your coffee. In my case, I just bit the bullet for a month's service so I could play around with it and "get it out of my system," so to speak (afterall, there are more Starbuck's than there are sewer rats in Manhattan...). I plan on cancelling it at the end of the month, especially now that I know the one place I spend most of my time away from the computer has a free connection.

-Adam

PS - visit http://www.t-mobile.com/hotspot/default.asp?nav=hm to find out more about their service.

[Sam K]

What I find strange is that Verizon Wireless is offering the same type of HotSpot service as T-Mobile offers for $34.99 per month and $6.99 per day but the hot spot locations don't include any of the ones that Verizon Communicatons if offering to their DSL customers. Here's a link to Verizon Wireless' Hot Spot service.

http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/wifi/index.jsp

I think it's kind of stupid that they don't leverage the Verizon Communication hot spots all over Manhattan because when you look up the Verizon Wireless hot spots in NYC, there are only 5...lol. So much for trying to come across as a single entity.

[Hakaida]

There aren't many here in Hawaii, either. But, I saw one hotspot listed in the Border's Books Cafe, which is just down the road from where I work. I think I'll go down there tomorrow with my NX70 and my WL100 and see what happens. We have a fair number of Starbucks here, but I don't think any of them have WiFi, like many of them do on the mainland. *Sigh* like everything else, it takes a looong time before we get the good stuff out here. Would be cool if they tested some of the McDs out here with WiFi....but no sense holding my breath on that one! ;)

[sralmas]

Originally posted by Sam K
So much for trying to come across as a single entity.

If you were to call either Verizon Wireless or Verizon, they would be the first to point out that they are NOT the same entity.  Nevertheless, your point is well taken and you would think that, of ALL the people to have the ability to get wireless access from a Verizon entity, it would be the Verizone WIRELESS customers.  Silly, huh!