[cocteau3]

Hi!

I'm wondering if I should bring my laptop with me to New Zealand next year for a two month visit. I have a wireless card, and use Wi-Fi routinely in the states at places like Starbucks, or various bookstores, and hotels. Is wi-fi generally available in a similar fashion in NZ?? Or is it better to leave behind the computer and use internet cafe type sites?

I would love to bring it along to facilitate booking rooms and transportation, etc.

Thanks! ;)

[willowshouse]

We also enjoyed wi-fi all through the States, practically eveywhere you went and thought that it would be fairly widespread in Auckland but we were disappointed that none of our local coffee shops offered it. None of the motels that I looked at advertised it (although they may have had it - I didn't ask). Hotels I am sure will have it. For our internet access I used the local library which was quite slow actually.

Over here you can get wi-fi from Vodafone which offers you a truly 'mobile' service if you are in range of one of their transmitters.

There was a very good thread on here not so long ago about getting internet, have a look ..

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8641&highlight=internet

Dawn

[wiki]

This is Telecom's list of wifi spots. The NZ Vodafone website may well have their range as well.

http://www.telecom.co.nz/content/0,8748,204163-1036,00.html?nv=tpd

[Howie]

I stayed at this little motel in ChCh that had wireless Internet access, but it was quite expensive. Have you noticed that NZ is weird in that sometimes you find things that work well and are technologically advanced and sometimes you really don't. But there's no rhyme or reason to where you find each and I'm continually surprised.

[*Paul]

NZ was a bit slow to get into computing, not helped by very high import duties in the late 70's and a restriction on accessing foreign currency. I remember the mainframe at college (Canterbury in Christchurch) actually had flashing neon lights! They even had staff to type out the punch cards for you.

During my college years, my bank (the NZ Post Ofiice, now KiwiBank) handled all transactions on index cards kept in secure file cabinets. Not a computer in sight. Not that I needed much money - in those days living expenses for studends were about $20 a week, not including beer.

In the 90's I tried to locate my dormant bank account and went into a branch in Napier. I did not have the account number with me, only a name. The elderly female bank teller handed me (most politely) this priceless pearl of wisdom: "We have a computer now. Computers can only understand numbers, not letters, so you will need to find the account number."

[eternalkiwi]

Hotels and Motels rarely have WiFi, though some are starting to introduce it. According to them, their guests have not normally requested WiFi, so they do not offer it.

Another WiFi provider is CafeNet.

Shawn

[*Paul]

If you have (or a friend with) an Xtra ADSL (a so-called "broadband") account, you could use the username/password to access Telecom Hotspots in many Starbucks. It's free until Dec 07.

I've found the hotspots in Auckland, Napier, and Wellington to be reliable and faster than the DSL connection in the base account.

Many hotels offer broadband (often wired) but still have the mentality of charging obscene rates. Internet cafes are by far the best way to go.

[gpbenton]

I've been here a week and stayed in hotels in Auckland and Wellington, and they both have wired access. The one in Auckland (Mercure Windsor on Queens) was charged by the minute.

I also stayed in a Motel in Taupo, who offered wireless internet. I didn't ask the price and didn't use it.

I would bring you laptop, but make sure you can access your e-mail via a web browser, because it will probably be cheaper to use an internet cafe in some places.

Your laptop will be useful for other things (such us updating CVs) when its here.