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Feb
28
Written by:
admin
2/28/2006
Traveling is always interesting, particularly that to another country where you often assume in advance that something as basic as Internet access will be readily available.
While the basics are always in place, the costs can vary dramatically from what we’re used to.
For example, when booking most hotels in North America, it is fairly standard to either assume that Internet access is included, or that it will be available for reasonable fee. One can also assume that this will be a high speed wireless connection, direct connection into the hotel network or some variation on DSL.
Not so in some countries where you would think access would as ubiquitous as what we are used to.
Many of the telecommunication companies will have arrangements with coffee houses and other enterprises, but this may not be obvious in advance and you really need to do the research before you leave to find out where you can get connected. Rural areas can be almost impossible, so plan well in advance if you are going to require access out of a major metropolitan center.
And planning is not as easy as it sounds. In many cases, there will not be information available on web sites, since they don’t get used as much for publicizing businesses, and once you get to your destination, locals may not understand your need for these services and where to get them other than at Internet cafes, which can be an experience in themselves. Some have printing, some do not. Keyboards may be different. Programs that you normally use may not be available.
You can chalk all of these it up to “lessons learned” and assumptions made and not materialized. In any case, do as much up front work as possible to determine what, where, and how if you rely on robust connectivity in your day to day activities.
On the messaging side, you also need to consider who of your foreign constituents will have access and possibly consider other methods to reach them. As an example, more people may have readily available access to cell phones, and your strategy me need to encompass more telephone communications instead of the web.
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