Last Saturday, when all of the most important things were already in place in my new laptop computer, I was eager to try the built-in wireless ethernet! Yes! My ThinkPad has built-in wireless! But in this country, hotspots are not that common...

So first, I went to a pretty swanky shopping center. Those guys have a hotspot in their basement level. Unfortunately, when I got there, the guy in charge told me that they charge about US$4.50 per hour, and the download speed is an amazing 56kbps! When he saw my expression of disbelief, he added that that's the standard speed of broadband in this country. Bullshit.

Next, I headed for Starbucks. There I found that they don't charge you anything separately for the use of their hotspot, provided you buy some drink, which is fair enough. If you do that, they'll give you a userid and password that allows you to use the hotspot for 30 minutes. I liked it! That was so fast! Unfortunately, they don't have power outlets, so you have to make sure you have a fully charged battery when you go. But it was very nice anyway.