These days, most of us take complimentary, high-speed wi-fi at an airport for granted at airports. But that was not the case in Tahti, at least practically, and that made for an excruciatingly painful layover.
Airport Wi-Fi Elusive in Tahiti
For better or for worse (and I think often for worse), I am chained to my phone and laptop. In every business venture, the internet is a necessity and I have not gone a full day “disconnected” in over a decade (one reason I’d like to visit Mount Athos).
French Polynesia is in the T-Mobile international roaming network (free throttled data and text messages, calls at $0.25/minute) but it did not work on Tahiti (or Tetiaroa). Unless I was on wi-fi, my phone really could not send or receive email or connect to the World Wide Web.
We arrived into Fa’a’ā International Airport in Tahiti (PPT) in the afternoon and had a five-hour wait for check-in to open for our journey home. We both had work to do and I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to get our work done so that we could just eat and sleep on the flight.
After finishing our lunch at L’Aviation, we sat down outside in a public seating area. There was coffee, check:
There were power plugs, check. And there was free Wi-Fi, check.
Only the wi-fi didn’t work. It would connect for about 30 seconds and then disconnect, warning us we had to wait 20 more minutes to reconnect.
We sat putzing around for a half hour and simply could not get the internet to function.
Finally, we hopped in a taxi and went back to the InterContinental hotel, where we sat in the lobby (the hotel was sold out so we could not have gotten a day room even if we wanted one) and worked, interspersed with a lovely conversation with a couple from New Zealand also waiting for check-in to open.
And this whole episode made me thankful that as I travel through much fo the world (Mainland China one glaring exception), I typically do not have to think about the internet…it’s there. It works. It’s fast.
I know there are some airports where the internet is tedious and expensive (Dubrovnik comes to mind), but those are the exception, not the rule.
So I guess my only point is that I am thankful for the widespread availability of the internet because when it’s not available, my productivity is crippled…as I found in Tahiti.
Sometimes it’s nice to not be connected and take a break. Been in the habit of not using in-air wifi so I can be unplugged and found it to be a more conducive and rested state of mind.
I try to minimize use of in-flight wifi. I consider ubiquitous connectivity and associated reachability to be an electronic dog collar of sort.
Mobile phones and lithium batteries ought to be forbidden from air travel .
Our parents made it just fine without wifi for most of their careers. Wow, our generation is so weak lol
In more and more places nowadays, there is an increased expectation that people have smart phones with internet connectivity and even build processes that require the use of such devices to participate or access a service. I don’t like it any more than I like the hard and soft efforts to eliminate cash acceptance, but it is the world as it is rather than the world as it is wished by some.
As someone who does most of trips based on same-day bookings, I find the lack of working airport wifi access to be a nuisance. Fortunately, I plan with backup plans that work if and when I need to count on the backup plans.
How could you even think of back-up plans in Tahiti ? Tahiti isn’t a place for back-up plans .
1) If you can call in, then there is generally a way to call out. And when phones still work, people on the other end of phone calls can assist by going online to assist as instructed/pre-instructed.
2) Go in knowing a variety of hotels, retail spots and government service locations which make wifi internet available on site for their visitors.
3) Carry an Ethernet cable and adaptor to use it with the personal electronic device.
Except for some exceptions when in some sensitive environments or occasions when subject to deliberate government blocks of online connectivity, I have managed to get online just about every day for over the last 25 years. Tahiti is no exception.
Sure but back then a lot of daily activities were carried out in a completely different manner too.
For example , they read literate newspapers , magazines , and books , and watched silent comedies .
Now , they listen to illiterate foul-mouth fools .
Again, we are not talking about entertainemnt.
I don’t watch anything for fun unless I am working out or on a plane.
Jan, it has nothing to do with being weak. It’s how I earn a living. Your parents and mine would have as well, perhpas, if they had the intnret back then. The interent is the gateway through which I support my family. There’s nothing weak about it.
I think what Jan is referring to is the “always available” mentality that is routinely demanded in modern society. It’s unfortunate and shouldn’t be that way. Think about it for a second – why can’t your clients respect your ability to disconnect for a few days? I mean, blog posts are one thing, but that “urgent” expert witness report or legal brief really can’t wait a week? My profession isn’t all that much different than yours, and we inevitably deal with clients that plan vacations a few days before April 15th or October 15th and demand that we provide their tax returns before they leave, but then won’t respect my time off and pitch a fit when I tell them I’m not available to take a phone call to deal with their “priority” situation (which usually isn’t) until I come back. Are those types of clients really worth the fees they pay?
Heh, thanks for elaborating.
But would also emphasize modern -American- society; I work with both Europeans and Japanese, and those guys are generally completely unplugged during their holidays/time off.
Meanwhile my (American) coworkers/bosses be like “I’m on my Thanksgiving holiday but here’s my personal phone number and my mama’s number as well if I’m needed for a call!”
I agree. It’s also rude in places like Korea, Japan, Germany, and Sweden to even call/contact when they’re on holiday and they will not respond until they get back.
@Malik I have culturally appropriated their style.
Australia already has in place a “right to disconnect” law giving employees the right to ignore phone calls and emails from their employers while off-duty. My state of California has a bill in the legislature that would do the same thing if passed and signed by the governor.
It is no longer as uncommon for my circle of professional services types in Europe — even in Scandinavia — to nowadays be expected to be more electronically tethered and to do their work pronto for clients or at least be available to quickly inform the clients to expect a delay over a client’s sudden need and expectations for delivery.
As the hourly rates rise, the expectation and demands from clients is higher. The worst of the bunch in demands for quasi-“instant gratification” tend not to be the clients as much as outside advisors for the clients when dealing with both. And that’s in the big leagues.
The sole proprietor and small business owner types have it tougher, since delegation either isn’t as practical, or clients want to deal with “the boss” anyway. And if you aren’t sure how long your business model is going to keep flying to bring in the bucks, then the drive is to lock in the customers and the money sooner than later because later may not work.
National security and crime paranoia has been one of the main reasons I have sometimes been unable to use airport wifi freely. And sometimes it is harder to get online with some given airports’ wifi than it used to be before the governmental paranoia ramped up. For example, at Muscat airport, they even set up passport scanning kiosks if you want to get a code to use the free airport wifi network. Some Indian airports where it used to be easy to get online for free switched to requiring a phone number on to receive SMS authorization codes to get onto the free airport with networks. In some places airport wifi is unreliable or just not present — and then it’s back to traveling sort of like it was during the Clinton Admin and the first term of the G W Bush Admin.
I feel a bit sorry for you, and all the others, that can’t wait a few hours without having an internet connection. I know I am in the small minority however, and will be told I need to get with the program. I also think most passengers on a plane these days would trade removing all the windows (to eliminate glare) for free wifi. All everyone wants to do is stare into their tiny screen anyway. Think how much better the flight to Tetiaroa could be if the plane had no windows, but instead they streamed a video from MS Flight Simulator of the flight to your phone.
@jeil … you are not in a small minority .
Your words are rational and important .
Social media is hypnotic crazyness .
Calling soical media crazy, while posting on a social media site (internet forum) using internet you think is unecessary. Laughable
@Mike … good point .
@Alert, I don’t doom scroll on Instagram or even engage on platforms like TikTok.
But I do make a living writing blog posts, legal briefs, expert witness reports, etc…
Don’t you see the differnce?
@Matthew … Thank you , and I agree with you . Cheers .
Many people don’t get it. Many use electronic devices for consumption only: social media, video, or games.
Travel offers a rare opportunity for me to be productive away from other demands, allowing me to respond to emails, beginning thought projects, complete training, or finish personal finances. My entertainment is curating and processing travel photos.
Yet, many equate this to being slothful, because I am “on the computer”.
All the while they do …what?… that is more productive?
Yep. Agreed. The people who think that being plugged in is lazy or addictive have a very incomplete picture.
If he needed to get work done, I can appreciate that. One challenge I’m working on is being more social and in such a situation, reach out to the locals and see if they can help. It’s possible there was another cafe there that had wifi you could use.
That’s a good point and I did ask at the restaurant, but they did not have their own netowrk (at least that they were willing to share with me).
Not me. I am one who actually looks out the window. Doing away with windows on planes would be very bad for those who are claustrophobic.
Time to visit mainland china
I never use Wi-Fi on airports and rarely use any open Wi-Fi in hotels, cafes, etc… I have ATT International plan and so far it works flawlessly anywhere I go. I use my phone as a hotspot and I am always good to go. I don’t trust Wi-Fi in open spots.
Well, that is generally my MO with T-Mobile, but it didn’t work in Tahiti, even wtih the high-speed plan.
It’s been a few years but my parents were able to use Google Fi in Tahiti without issue.
There are still parts of the world where having internet is not a guarantee. Closer to home, Mexico thad this problem not too long age but they are now mich more reliable with their free airport WIFi (in the larger resort cities).
Your T-Mobile didn’t work in Tahiti? That’s weird. It worked fine for us both on the Island of Tahiti and Huahine when we were there. This was June of 2023.
That being said, I wouldn’t call your issue with WiFi at PPT an isolated case. It’s an issue in many foreign countries. I don’t know if this is still the case, but India used to require an Indian mobile phone to receive an SMS to activate the WiFi, just as one example. In others, the WiFi is simply slow and/or unreliable. If you absolutely can’t separate work and vacation, it’s something you have to be prepared for.
When you think you’re good without the internet for periods of time, suddenly you will discover an immediate need to connect. Or at least I will imagine this need. Probably it’s more of an addictive behavior with me, unlike Matthew who seems to be a 24/7/365 worker!
When traveling abroad, internet is extremely useful for many things. Among them is using Waze, being able to make reservations in restaurants and other places button my case I want to make sure all my pictures taken during the day are backed up to iCloud in case my phone is stolen or damaged.
Obviously for work you might need wifi or a cell connection. That doesn’t apply to me and I’m one of those people who doesn’t sleep on planes, trains, etc. I always download movies/tv shows to my ipad and also have a few games to occupy my mind.
The bigger issue without wifi/internet is how painful it would be if you needed to change or search for alternative paid or FF mile flights. Standing in a hours long line just to make a flight change would drive me crazy.
Matthew, could you have purchased an eSIM from Airalo for $6.50; see https://www.airalo.com/french-polynesia-esim? Then established a hotspot from your phone to your laptop.
Within the last several months, I learned the hard way not to be able to count on any given SIM/eSIM provider/operator to work at the destination for which it supposedly had coverage. And this applies to Airalo-sold eSIMs too. I literally got stranded off the side of a road after having been dropped off for a food run in the middle of the night in a less-developed country and thinking I could call myself a ride to get me out later. None of my SIMs and eSIMs were connecting to any networks. I eventually ran into an old taxi that had pulled in and asked the driver for a ride. He refused the presented cash and refused — in a language which I don’t understand much of at all, and his English was non-existent — to drive me but eventually he took pity on my situation and agreed to take me. Turns out the guy either had no valid license to drive or no license to drive a taxi and the security guys at the drive entrance gate found that out when checking him out and his car. I got the security folks to let him go and explained that he didn’t want to drive me and was doing me a favor as I was stuck out there and that he was not doing it for money. The poor old guy didn’t even know where to drive me and had to ask random drivers if they knew where a certain location was. And this was all because of a late night food run to a “highway”-side place where I assumed mobile phone connectivity would work where it had worked just a few hours earlier.
We have a great rule for using Internet or cell phone service while a group of us are on vacation eating or at home at a restaurant. The first one in the group who uses either one pays for everyone’s bill!
This was me my first time flying out of Burbank airport earlier this year. Got there almost 2 hours before my flight and wanted to pop my laptop out for some work, only to be greeted by the fact the airport’s wifi did not work. Luckily I could still hotspot but that was an experience I haven’t had at an airport in years.