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Saturday, November 27, 2004

TravelCenters of America Wi-Fi - Smooth Sailing
A third option for getting online wirelessly onto the Internet is using TA's SpeedZone WiFi Hotspot (TravelCenters of America). The other two options are either with Flying J or TruckStop.net (read below). So what experience did I have using TA's SpeedZone?

Very satisfying.

I parked my rig some distance away from the building's antennae although I could still see the roofline amongst all the rigs. I opted to purchase the 24-hour rate ($4.95) by taking the 24-hour card off the rack to the checkout counter. Then I was given a paper receipt with my pin number. (Warning--don't lose the small paper receipt or you will be paying again!) Flying J has a plastic gift card that you receive and you can keep adding minutes to the card anytime you wish. I don't believe TA has such a gift card system at this time in case you're wondering.

Back at the truck, it took a couple of minutes for my computer to sniff out the wireless system. Once it did, I was on without any hitches for the rest of the day. Very cool! In addition, surfing speeds were good to very good and I didn't once lose my connection. All-in-all I had a very pleasant experience and wo uld recommend using the TA SpeedZone WiFi Hotspot system.

PostScript: A bump in the road (see December 5th comments in the daily log).

5:36:44 PM comment [] back to top