Fifteen years ago we used to use Internet Cafes to get on the net.

Now they seem to have disappeared.

For the last 7 or 8 years everyone has been looking for Free WiFi. . . . . but for how much longer?

Risks

Using free wifi can mean a risk of; data theft, malware attacks, and malicious hotspots .

Often free WiFi that doesn’t require you to enter a username and password to use the network means its easy for criminals to be monitoring your internet activity. 

Another risk of free public WiFi networks is a lack of encryption, which increases the risk of sensitive data being stolen.

Costs

These days in Australia I get 18 Giga Bytes of data plus unlimited phone calls for $25 a month.

Travelling overseas to a single country my travellers hack is to buy a local Sim Card.

In the USA you can get Data only cards for around AU$6/GB, some countries much less.

If you are travelling to several countries then look for a Travellers Sim Card, a little more expensive than a single county card but still pretty reasonable.

Do you sometimes get a little bit jealous when your friends go to all those exotic places, like Bhutan, and then rub it in with lots of photographs on Facebook.

Well I have an antidote to that because I make a point of posting bad holiday photographs on facebook.

Most people would post the above photo on their facebook page.

I chose this photo of me, in front of the same view, but with everything hidden by cloud.

Other subjects have been stuck in traffic in Kuala Lumpur, and Venice in the pouring rain.

I must admit I do feel slightly disappointed now if I don’t get one crap facebook post for every holiday.