Mobile Internet - via USB dongle or iPhone

Hi folks,

Me and my better half from the UK have a 24-day Florida-San Francisco road trip booked for May and I'm just doing some preparation for it now.

I'll be bringing my UK iPhone along, and a little netbook laptop. We don't have the whole route planned to the finest detail though, so I was hoping to use the internet every now and again to check out either which motels/hotels are nearby, what attractions are close, traffic news, etc.

The tariff's for internet access via my iPhone overseas are incredible - so I don't think I'll be using that. I was therefore looking at buying one of these USB Dongles that could provide pay-as-you-go internet access via high speed mobile network (I know I won't be able to access everywhere though).

Does anyone know of any recommend pay-as-you-go USB devices that I could possibly pick up while I'm in Florida and then pay for a free GB of usage while we travel?

Any info would be appreciated!

Regards
Dave

There is enough wifi over here that you may be able to do what you need by using that, and a good percentage of it would be free. However, here is a service that claims to have what you want.

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

As glc pointed out, WiFi is becoming quite prevalent in the US, and much of it is free. Your motel will likely have it, if not for free in your room then for a fee in the lobby somewhere. During the day, you can stop for a cup of coffee at any Starbuck's and many other coffee shops or cafés and WiFi will be available. Finally, many local libraries will offer not only WiFi but free or low cost use of their terminals. My personal preference is to sit outside libraries which often have small parks associated with them that are still within range of the library's link

AZBuck

Just make sure you look up your information or do anything you want online before heading to rural areas. They will have internet but not nearly as much as an urban area. Personally, I carry my laptop with me and travel a lot around NY and NJ with some CT here and there. If I really need to get online I just pull into a town and there is always someone with a wireless network that is unsecured. I actually got lost in a town in NJ yesterday and was able to google map my way out since I forgot my GPS at home.

Also, I noticed on my trip to Canada that most of the rest areas on the interstate have wifi. I didn't notice if it was free or not since I didn't need to use it.

Have fun with your trip

Thanks for all this info guys! I'm also going to use an iPass account aswell hopefully so some of these Wifi zones should be suitable. The slingshot thing looks very good as well, but maybe a tad expensive.

Can't wait for the journey now though!!!