Global ISPs
 

About 1/3 of my travel is international and I am continually looking for an ISP (Internet Service Provider) that:
* has POPs in lots of cities
* 28.8 or faster connects the majority of
the time
* reasonable cost
I currently use AT&T Global (www.attglobal.net), formerly ibm.net. For $20 per month basic I have a pretty good selection of POPs but I do get charged a per minute connect fee for each call outside of the USA.
I'd like to hear of other alternataives that FT'ers are happy with.

Regards,
Dan

If I am traveling in a country where I do not have a permanent provider, I will generally buy pre-paid ISP access (local access numbers, per-hour costs generally no more than 25 cents), and then use webmail where I have the option of POP3 downloads.

look into www.ipass.com

Thanks UAL Traveler
Now where/how do I acquire such a thing?
I have found pre-paid phone cards and GSM SIM cards in news stands, etc. but have never seen (or noticed) pre-paid ISP advertisements...

follow the Ipass advice, I've used it for 1 year and 1 month now. Not one problem

I had a look at Ipass and don't understand where to find info on buying access on a worldwide basis... can only see them providing service to the other side, those who want to sell worldwide access. Can anyone fill me in on costs or point me to the right place, thanks

CVO, what countries do you typically travel to? I mainly get prepaid access in Asia, and have had good luck in a number of countries. I've found that most computer shops, some bookstores, and office-supply stores usually have some sort of local ISP. Also, hotel concierges are a lot more knowledgeable nowadays about decent, temporary ISP's.

From the iPass Pricing Page
This seems awfully steep to me, especially if a temp local ISP is an option.

iPass is typically something that companies contract for in order to ensure that travelling employees overseas have access to POPS. I do agree that the cost is high. IMHO, it is very convenient however, and I've had it for a couple years without any problems.

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CVO, what countries do you typically travel to? I mainly get prepaid access in Asia, and have had good luck in a number of countries. I've found that most computer shops, some bookstores, and office-supply stores usually have some sort of local ISP. Also, hotel concierges are a lot more knowledgeable nowadays about decent, temporary ISP's.
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Thanks again UAL Traveller for the additional
info. Now that I know that such a thing
exists and at least where to start my search
I now have more options than I had.
As requested in frequency of visitation:
* UK
* Australia
* Canada
* Western Europe
* South Africa
* Malaysia/Singapore

We've just returned from Munich and used the business center at the Hilton, but found that the connection was really slow. So, we ended up at the Easy Everything Internet Cafe. It was about a block from the central train station (Haftbahnhof), had T-1 lines, about 500 computers, and we got about 60 minutes for 5 DM. Plus all three of us could be online at the same time. We used them in London Kennsington Highstreet, and they are located all over Europe and open 24/7. Good luck! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

In the UK, I use http://www.freeserve.com/ (free).

For the rest of the world, I use http://www.attbusiness.net (the former IBMnet, which as noted earlier in the thread charges a rather stiff 15c/min "roaming" fee outside your home area), and http://kqtravel.com/ (the former Eunet, which charges about 5c/min in most places, and provides access to the IPASS POPs as well as its own). Both have worked well for me in a dozen European countries, Japan, China, and Australia.

There's also http://www.PrestoAccess.com/ (10c a minute toll free in Europe). I've not tried it.