TEN years ago, I travelled around Vietnam, and on top of a mountain in Sapa, discovered that I had a better mobile signal than in my hometown in the UK. In fact, it was so good that I managed to negotiate the sale of a house and contact my bank to ensure the transaction was successful.
Four years ago, I travelled around the ‘wild’ western regions of the US, booking accommodation as I went, thanks to superfast, and free, internet connections in the middle of Monument Valley.
Today, I would like to report that internet speeds are even faster, and life has been made even easier for me as a traveller. But I can’t. We are going backwards. There are several issues, but I want solutions.
The first issue is about location. It is becoming more and more difficult to find free wi-fi hotspots. And when I do find them, the connection ritual is so complicated I feel like I’m being tested. I recently went to a press centre of a trade show and asked if they had free wi-fi. The girl behind the desk nodded and pointed to a table, where I took my seat, made myself comfortable and prepared to report on the show. However hard I searched I could not find a signal and reported my ineptitude to the girl at the reception desk. She just told me to ‘plug it in’. I’m not famous for my technical knowhow, but if I need to plug anything in, it is not wi-fi. And where was she expecting me to plug the ethernet cable into my Apple laptop?
The second issue is about cost. As a traveler, I want to book my next night’s accommodation. I may even want to go onto TripAdvisor and rate my current accommodation. I certainly want to upload my articles and send them to my editor. If I have to pay to use the wi-fi, or am given a limited number of megabytes, the stress will not help me to rate the accommodation very highly. Who knows how long 100MB lasts, for goodness sake? I don’t want to feel like it’s an added luxury, packaged nicely with the shampoo or free tea and biscuits. I’m not curled up happily on the sofa downloading a movie. I’m either trying to find my next bed, or working; there are a hundred other things I’d rather be doing.
The final issue is about speed. And this really is the crux of most technology issues, especially if you are charging me. If your internet is so slow I can’t even open my emails, let alone do any meaningful work, what is the point? If each website takes five minutes to download, it is probably quicker for me to write a letter the old-fashioned way and find a carrier pigeon.
Free wi-fi at high speed is no longer a luxury. We have changed the way we live because technology has made life easier. When washing my clothes, I don’t use a mangle. When making a cup of coffee, I don’t get my water from the well. When organising my life on the road, I don’t want to actually visit my bank or save up all my jobs until I get home.
Technology has meant great time savings have been made. But if I have to stay somewhere that doesn’t keep up with technology, the workload is placed back onto me, the traveller. Instead of seeing the sights, or writing positive articles about my experience, I’ll be queuing at the bank.
By Helen McClure