"Don't count on free Wi-Fi at all. Very few places offer it these days."

In the US, this is not all that true. Zillions of public libraries (including most of them in that city called Los Angeles) offer free wifi. In Henderson, NV, I had a choice between library free wifi and a coffeehouse chain's free wifi (It's a Grind), and I used both with no problems. If you look on the Internet under free wifi you will find many listings. Skype may be more problematic.

In Europe, you may be able to find free wifi in the hotel you stay at -- check before you make your reservation. I had free wifi in my hotel in Paris, for example, near Notre Dame, and a hotel in London, near Heathrow. In Ketchikan, Alaska, I found a bar with free wifi. In Seattle, Washington, I found several cafes with free wifi. In Victoria, BC, I found a bar with free wifi.

Almost all of the places that don't have free wifi have low-cost Internet; for most purposes the N800 is not quite indispensible.

In the US, cheap wifi can be found in truckstops such as flying w or whatever the name of that chain is. Again, many hotels have free wifi, too many to count. In most places you can just drive thru the hotel rows of towns and look for "free wifi" signs. If I remember correctly, some Holliday Inns have free wifi.