Internet Access

The same as for the cars, the telephones and all the rest, it is difficult to imagine how we would live without internet nowadays. For someone like me, often on the move, it is a great tool to keep in touch with the rest of the world, exchange messages with my friends, purchase my weekly fix of vinyl records, etc. Nevertheless, we are not all equal when it comes to the connections. In France, I must admit that I am very happy about the speed everything is going. Singapore remains a nightmare, even with the best plan. If you do not live in the right location, downloading / uploading speed is a nightmare. But there is an advantage though, you can find free hotspots pretty much anywhere in the city. I have never seen a country with so many free accesses. But I use the word ‘free’ as in ‘gratis’. If not, many websites and blogsites are still restricted and that is a big frustration. The sensation of being controlled is terrible (and I am not talking about China). Another ground where we are not equal is the access from hotels. So far, the only country where I have experienced free access from all the hotels I visited is the U.S.A.

Here, in Australia, I have this 3G thingie that enables me to surf from pretty much anywhere as long as there is coverage. It is great but the down point is that it is often quite slow, not so reliable and pretty expensive (well, I am not paying for it but still!).