I am going to a place called Bedzin, which is situated near Katowice and Sosnowiec. Does anybody know any shop in this area where one can bring his own PC and connect to a wireless network ?
hot spots (I guess you need Wi-Fi in your notebook/laptop):
Hotspot's name: ZamekNet-J1 Będzin
Będzin | ul. Grunwaldzka 7 | Hotel | e-mail:biuro(at)zamek(dot)net(dot)pl
paid net access
standard: WLAN (802.11b/g)
you can check other hot spots in the Katowice area (or any place in Poland) at: hot.spots.pl/eng/index.php
when you search for one, "County" refers to "Województwo" (and Bedzin is in "slaskie" County from the pop-up list)
other possbilities:
- net cafes (cyber cafes) usually called in Polish "kawiarenka internetowa" - they normally allow you to bring anything on a CD, usually also to install your own applications on their comps (in case you need a specific programs, but don't forget to uninstall them when finished), burn your CDs, I don't know about other portable drive types as I'm using only CDs/DVDs (CD-RWs are rather cheap). I once wanted to connect my notebook instead of using their PC, but the older lady didn't know how exactly we could do it, so I gave up, but if there are guys with an actual knowledge of the network systems, you may always try and ask if it's possible to use your own notebook. Prices vary, may charge 1$ to 3$/hour;
they have not internet, but they have a telephonic line. Is there any way one can buy a prepaid card and call any ISP with the modem ?
- "antiquated" phone modems are the last resort, as they charge way too much for a minute of a dial-up connection, their only advantage is that you most likely won't have to sing anything, just plug in, connect, disconnect, wait for the bill next month :)
- the pre-paid version is possible, but I'm not sure it's a good idea if you come there only for a month - it depends on the ISP (if it's Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. then your family would still have to sign a contract with them, and they have these nasty contracts where it says it becomes automatically prolongated, unless you state 30 days before you want to terminate it - just immagine: 4 years ago when I changed from pre-paid dial-up to broadband - all within the same Internet service provider - they still charged me for the next month of pre-paid though I didn't need it anymore. The Company is changing, but slowly, so they may still have these stupid regulations)