Without Your Own Computer
San Francisco is totally wired. You'll find that many cafes have wireless access, as do many hotels. Check www.wifi411.com for a huge list of Wi-Fi hotspots -- including every Starbucks coffee shop, Kinko's copy store, or McDonald's -- or stop by one of the following locations around town where you can get online access, perhaps with a sandwich and a cup o' joe.
You can do your laundry, listen to music, dine, and check your stocks online at SoMa's Brainwash, 1122 Folsom St., between Seventh and Eighth streets (tel. 415/861-FOOD; www.brainwash.com). It's open Monday through Thursday from 7am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday from 7am to midnight, and Sunday from 8am to 11pm; rates are $3 for 20 minutes.
You can't wash your clothes at Quetzal, 1234 Polk St., at Bush Street (tel. 415/673-4181), but you can get a cup of coffee and a nosh while you're online for 16¢ a minute. They're open Monday through Saturday from 6:45am to 9pm and Sunday from 7:30am to 8pm.
For access without the ambience, try Copy Central, 110 Sutter St., at Montgomery Street (tel. 415/392-6470; www.copycentral.com), which provides access cards costing 20¢ per minute. It's open Monday through Thursday from 8am to 8pm and Friday from 8am to 7pm. Ditto Kinko's, 1967 Market St., near Gough Street (tel. 415/252-0864; www.kinkos.com), which charges 25¢ per minute. Both of these companies have numerous locations around town.
With Your Own Computer
More and more hotels, resorts, airports, cafes, and retailers are going Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), becoming "hotspots" that offer free high-speed Wi-Fi access or charge a small fee for usage. Wi-Fi is even found in campgrounds, RV parks, and entire towns. Most laptops sold today have built-in wireless capability. To find public Wi-Fi hotspots at your destination, go to www.jiwire.com; its Hotspot Finder holds the world's largest directory of public wireless hotspots.
For dial-up access, most business-class hotels in the U.S. offer dataports for laptop modems, and a few thousand hotels in the U.S. and Europe now offer free high-speed Internet access -- though you might have to pay a one-time connection fee that's good for 24 hours.
Wherever you go, bring a connection kit of the right power and phone adapters, a spare phone cord, and a spare Ethernet network cable -- or find out whether your hotel supplies them to guests.
