Review of the Kensington Wi-Fi Finder,
Airline lounges provide wi-fix,
a few more Wi-Fi Priceliners converted, and
a little mill town mixes amazing espresso, wi-fi and books and instantly becomes tolerable.

First, a quick review of the Kensington Wi-Fi Finder: The little thing runs about $35 retail and is carried by places like Circuit City and by mail for about $20 through Amazon.com (do a search for Kensington Wi-Fi Finder) The reviews on it at the Amazon site are tepid at best. It is a small and simple device which can fit in a credit card case. You push the button and three LEDs light up according to the presence and strength of available wi-fi signal.

The weakness of so simple a device is that you don't know anything about the signal except that it's there, and sometimes it's there but the Finder doesn't light up. You don't know if it's secure, passworded or open. My first experiment with the Kensington Wi-Fi Finder was to drive up Everett's Rucker Avenue to see if any signal emenated from the nice homes in the north end of town. I got maybe 20 flashes in two blocks, which told me that if I was really desperate, I could sneak around for a quick email check and would likely find something open. Or go ring a doorbell with brownies, and beg for a password. My second use of it was when I set up my home network with DSL and a new wireless router, and NONE of the little lights lit up, even as I sat there on line. It's not overly reliable but I'm glad to have it when I travel. I don't always want to pull the iBook out and stoke it up, so it's a good little device if your expectations are low. A better (though more costly) tool would be a Bluetooth enabled palm type device which is pocket-sized and you can send email from it.

Airline Lounges - Continental Airline's President's Clubs have complimentary wi-fi at Cleveland (CLE), Houston/ George Bush (IAH) and New York/ Newark Liberty (EWR) locations. British Airways provides internet access in a few of their lounges. Since signal knows no barriers, one might, if desperate, be able to stand waif-like at the door and grab some bandwidth instead of paying Boingo, T-Mobile or other pay services. Of course, for a few bucks to these services, you can avoid the whole pathetic spectacle, and they do have some reasonable prices for infrequent users.

Air Canada's Maple Leaf lounges have wi-fi provided by Bell Mobility. United's Red Carpet Club, Delta Crown Room Clubs, and American Airlines Admirals Club have T-Mobile wi-fi available, and you can earn miles by signing up for a whole lot of T-Mobile minutes.

Priceliners Unite! After reading about the amazing last-minute hotel bargains I've been getting via Priceline with my iBook in tow, I have two new converts. Marcia "the Muse" Tapp and our friend Susan Nielsen decided late last summer to go to Banff. It was a pretty free-form car trip and I suggested that they book a hotel room via Priceline for their first night's lodging - the night before they left. Marcia got on Priceline and bid $60 for a four star hotel in downtown Vancouver, BC. They got a room for two, and so for $30 each they stayed at the luxurious Vancouver Westin Bayshore Resort and Marina. Rooms there are in the $140 range according to a quick search I did for shoulder season. Marcia kicked herself because she would have started at $40 if she'd known it was that easy.

Next, my friend Wendy and her husband had a couple unused airline tickets festering and decided to spend two nights in San Francisco being tourists for Valentine's Day. She overcame her apprehension over Priceline bidding on a hotel when she would be paying for something she didn't know about specifically. I told her she could wait until the last minute instead of trying to get a bargain a month before her trip but she just couldn't let it sit unresolved. She started with 3 star upscale, at $50 for a room. The message Priceline usually sends back sounds a bit like an ultimatum but isn't - something like "Your bid is well below market price and you might consider raising your price to increase the odds of the bid being accepted" yadda yadda yadda. Ignore it, I told her. Stick to your guns. And five minutes later, she gets two nights at the Fisherman's Wharf Hilton for $50. Quite honestly, I don't see much difference between a three-star and a four-star - the locations are great and the rooms are lovely. Services and amenities are all excellent. (Some hotels are wising up and putting free wi-fi in the lobbies, too.)

Finally, a reason to stay in Everett. One would think that since I discovered the thrills of wireless internet the sheen would have worn off. But let's make no mistake. We're talking about obsessive and addictive behavior here. A legal drug and access to the whole damned world from the comfort of a Stickley knock-off deco chair is the stuff of which a happy life is made.

Let me describe my situation at the moment: I've moved to Everett, Washington and have resigned myself to long drives to Seattle for free wi-fi at the King County libraries and a few coffee houses I know. I also have to go afield for decent coffee, period. A few local coffee roasters have absurd hours, and the one cyber cafe isn't very cyber and has wretched espresso.

A few weeks ago at the beautiful Everett Public Library, a new Espresso Americano coffee house opened up. It's a sit and read and surf and meet and chat and listen to live music kind of place. After the street people checked it out and deemed it hoity-toity (and left), it's become my favorite haunt. Now that it's got free wi-fi, I may never leave.

Go to Amazon, get current, and save dough.

Go see the cool goings-on over at Seattle Wireless TV

DUMB-ASS TRIPS
by Leslie Strom

Attack of the Wi-Fi Girls Part I

Attack of the Wi-Fi Girls Part II

A good place for comparison shopping: Wi-Fi Rates