I'm writing an article for a business/tech magazine (Business 2.0) about modern day nomads. One thing I'd really like to include is a chart listing cities, or entire countries, that are -both-

1. Very cheap and
2. Highly wired (easy to get internet or phone connections).

I've seen various cost-of-living lists but nothing really seems to be geared toward frugal-minded, long-term travelers. So, I'm looking for some good hearsay. Could anyone share some cities that they've been to and found to be perfect for the two criteria above? It'd be much appreciated!

Just so y'all know, cstmorr asked in advance about posting this question, and I said it was all hunky-dory. I hope you can help him out with his quest!

I think Chiang Mai fits that description pretty well. ADSL all over, although wi-fi was a bit scarce. It was great for the web work I was doing for this charity at the time. And it was, if you staying away from the western oriented restaurants/etc., super cheap.

I'm not sure if it counts as cheap enough, but I spent almost a month in and around Buenos Aires in 2005 while working on my laptop. After the currency collapse in 2002, prices in Buenos Aires were about a third of what they were before. It's like a REALLY nice European city, but my somewhat fancy hotel room downtown cost $30 per night and a 10-minute cab ride was $2 and so forth.

There was a fancy shopping mall one block from my hotel with free wifi in the basement food court. I went there every day to upload and download my work, and I'm sure wifi is much more popular in 2007.

I've also stayed in a nice hotel room for $8 in Vagator, Goa, India, and there were several internet cafes, but no wifi in 2005 that I found. A friend of mine rented a basic room across the street from my nice hotel for about $1 a night.

I can provide more details if this helps at all.

I'm currently on my RTW, working my way through the Pacific.

I have found Internet access everywhere I've been so far, including Easter Island and the Yasawa Islands in Fiji. (where most places only run a generator a few hours a day)

I've really been astonished at how wide spread internet access has been.

quote:

I have found Internet access everywhere I've been so far

But was it fast, cheap and plentiful?

I have to agree with Buenos Aires. I am not sure about the wifi, but you can find phone and internet shops all over the place...and they are cheap (or were in 2005).

BTW...love business 2.0!

Fast? Reasonable enough for web surfing. It wasn't dial up.

Cheap? I usually only got access at Internet Cafe's so I'd have no clue how much it would be if you got your own connection. I've paid anywhere from $1 to $10 per hour.

Plentiful? Does it matter? So long as its available, does it matter if everyone else has it?

That being said, the best cities for net access are places like Seoul and Singapore, but they aren't that cheap to live.

You should check out Working Nomad: http://www.workingnomad.com/

Thanks, everyone! Agreed that the most wired places aren't the cheapest.. although I suppose part of the point is that the relationship between the wealth and internet connectivity of various countries is diminishing. Several of the people that I've interviewed have told me about visiting poor, remote locations a few years ago and finding nothing, then returning more recently and stumbling across internet cafes.

@anniebanannie- it's nice to hear that someone still does read (or at least know about) magazines