Originally Posted by waffffffle
I am going on vacation to Greece soon and I want to be able to stay in touch, particularly over email with work. I would like to bring my PowerBook with me but I am taking a cruise so I don't know if I'll be able to get online much from the ship.
How common are internet cafes? How expensive are they? I would prefer to use my PowerBook to do work email since my company uses VPN and I like to be protective over my work email. Can I get an inexpensive dialup ISP for a week or so? How about wifi hotspots? Are they common?
Also what kind of telephone adapter do I need for greece? I have two international adapters on my desk right now but I think they are for France and the UK. By any chance do these adapters work in Greece?
Thanks to all those who know.
I think I can help you there. (I'm half Greek, and recently spent a month over there).
There are many different telecommunications/ISP companies that offer relatively inexpensive dialup options for internet access using your laptop. You would need to contact the cruise line to inquire about phone line access and any charges that would be incurred.
The cards are sold at the many newsstands that are found throughout Greece. The most common ones are the
Smile + web cards from OTE (the main Greek telephone company) and
NetKey by ForthNet (a major ISP). If you're going to be there for a month, I recommend the NetKey 20 euro card (one month of unlimited internet access). Otherwise, the Smile+Web cards look like the better deal for fixed amounts of online time.
The different cards work the same, basically. You get a phone number to call and a user name and password to enter in Internet Connect, and can get online with your modem with no problem. You may have to set your location to Greece in Date & Time, though, which will set your modem to work with the Greek phone system.
The only thing is that you will also pay telecommunications charges on top of the card itself, which are billed to the phone number you are calling from. These are 35.2 eurocents/hour from 8 am to 10 pm and 17.6 eurocents an hour from 10 pm to 8 am. Hotels may charge more, so check ahead with them. You can also use a
Chronokarta from OTE to bill the telecommunications charge to (kind of a PITA though... entering in all the numbers under internet connect to make the phone call can be challenging to get right).
I would also check with the cruise line to see if they offer wireless access too, if you have an Airport Card.
If neither works out for you, then there are
internet cafes in most major areas. They tend to be a bit pricey, though. Some places may have wireless hotspots, but I never really bothered to look because I used the dialup cards from my aunt's house when I was over there. Doing a Google search didn't turn up too much useful info on hotspots though.
For connecting things... The powerbook just needs a plug adapter to adapt it to the standard European outlets. No need to use a transformer as the power supply does 220 volt power without problem. The UK and France phone plug adapters will not work. Many places are using American-style phone jacks these days. (My aunt has these in her house). Again, call the cruise line to see what they would recommend.
Hope this helps, and kali diaskedasi ke kalo taxidi! (Have fun and have a good trip).
I can answer any other questions you may have about Greece in general (except the islands, I've never visited them).
If you have access to a phone and the telecommunications charges aren't a big deal for you, the internet access cards work great. The only problem I had was going from broadband speeds back to 56K dialup speeds.
The voice of reason.
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