A couple of hints for those of you traveling through France specifically:

1) residential Wifi networks that are "accidentally" left open by ignorant users are getting very, very scarce indeed, simply because for the past few years all DSL providers here have been shipping set-top boxes instead of plain modems. On top of the usual Internet connection, these also provide TV and telephone (VoIP) services, and can be configured as routers (with NAT & FW) and/or Wifi APs. In the latter case WEP (and now WPA) are automatically applied without user intervention.

2) open APs nowadays are generally intentional, in a community spirit. There are not that many still, and need to be spotted in advance (there are dedicated web sites for this). As noted, FON is also an option.

3) There is an extensive rollout of free municipal Wifi under way inside Paris. McDonalds there also provide free (but low-quality) Wifi, if you can bear to eat there.

4) It may seem like a paradox, but in general, the smaller and cheaper the hotel, the better chance you stand of finding free Wifi service for its guests. Ask in advance. All brand-name hotels are usually a ripoff Internet-wise, as already noted.

5) The only exception I know of is a widespread chain called "Campanile", where I found good, free service for residents. I have only been in one of those (in Lyon) though, so I don't know if it's local or corporate policy.

HTH,
fp

Found this info

Thanks, all, for your valuable insights and suggestions! For me, it seems to boil down to use of my N800 on domestic business travel where most hotels I use offer free wi-fi for guests. Beyond that, my use at home and around the Washington, DC metro area is largely at the usual places...Caribou, Wegman's supermarket, in particular. I have not been able to tap my cell provder's data access with the N800 (bluetooth, yes...but data, no), but it's an employer-provided BlackBerry so I didn't expect that would work. Consequently, I wouldn't mind paying a modest fee for access points. I'll check out Boingo and T-Mobile focusing largely on U.S. services.

Fwiw locally the public libraries offer free wifi. You have to ask for a code which is given on a ticket and presumably changes daily.

"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.

There seems to be an issue with FON and N800
http://boards.fon.com/viewtopic.php?...t=n800&start=0
I wonder if this has been resolved yet?

To add more US data: My friend just got back yesterday from a trip from California to Pennsylvania in her Edsel, using wireless communication all the way. She bought a Flying J wireless access card for $30 for a month, and all the motels she stayed in had free wireless access except the most expensive hotel she stayed in, which gave her free access after she protested.

She discovered that you have to confirm whether wireless access is available when registering -- some places with Free Wireless big signs didn't have wireless at all, they just left the sign up. Once she had this happen and she didn't stay in that motel, only to move to a motel nearby that didn't have a free wireless sign but did have free wireless anyway. In her experience, almost all the cheap motels she tried had free wireless.

I stayed in one hotel that advertised "free wireless internet" but upon trying to check-in it turned out they had no internet at all in any of the rooms (wired or wireless) just that they had it in the lobby via a hack-job Linksys wi-fi router.
Then they told me that they do have a military discount, but not on the weekends.
I turned around and walked out.
They're now on a local off-limits list for military personnel costing them dearly since they are located near a main military post.

Now I ONLY stay in the "Quality Inn" chain(s) of hotels/motels in the U.S. since I've NEVER had a problem with their wireless internet.

From today's NY Times, the first paragraph of a story

Rail passengers on the London-to-Scotland east coast main line will get free Wi-Fi as part of National Express' 1.4 billion-pound ($2.8 billion) winning bid to run the franchise.

Meanwhile in the U.S......Amtrak says you "may or may not" have an AC power plug if you spend an additional $40 to upgrade from coach to business class on their trains.
As far as wi-fi...forget it.