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Jill Stone

Your Meeting Matchmaker Fairy Godmother

Fly Wi-Fi

in: Technology

Fly Wi-Fi

Good day meeting planner! What exotic location will you be off to soon? Bali, Hawaii, Cincinnati? If you plan on working while flying, the inflight Wi-Fi is a must. Here are some hints for making work in your favor:

  • Purchase Pass-time: Plan on purchasing your Wi-Fi pass at time of ticket purchase to save a few bucks.
  • Free Pass?: But before you purchase that ticket, make sure to check with your credit card companies or mobile carrier to see if you qualify for a free pass.
  • Log-In Lull: You’ve settled in, you open your laptop and the login page seems . . . to . . . take . . . forever. If the rest of passengers appear to be working along fine, it’s probably you. Some things to try are to switch back to automatic DNS if need be. If that does not work, clear you cache. If you’ve logged in to the same Wi-Fi previously, try manually typing in the login page address to see if it pops up (then bookmark it for future logins!).
  • Slow Go: Once your connected, you’re ready to go, right? Well, maybe, but not so fast. If the connection is slow or keeps dropping, make sure that you don’t have anything taking up bandwidth in the background. In other words, this is not the time for updates or downloading large files.
  • On Offline: Consider configuring Gmail, Google Calendar and Docs to run offline so work can keep moving along. Consider using something like Pocket to save articles for you to read later, connected or not. Services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and more allow you to download shows so you can watch them without the need for streaming.
  • Snoop Fly: And a word of warning, Wi-Fi on the fly is not encrypted, so be sure to stay safe by sticking with sites that begin with HTTPS. Also consider VPNs for keeping data protected.

May your Wi-Fi be strong, may your flying (and surfing!) be safe and may you accomplish all that keeps you moving along, meeting planner!

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