wifi for communicating

I don't know what sinister plot Apple might have hatched for iPad users, but for PC (Netbook, et al) users, Wifi email in Germany is costless. Get an account from Hotmail, Gmail or any of the other 3rd party hosts.

Hotels may charge to get in-room wi-fi, but it is generally free in the lobby. And of course there are lots of hot spots, Starbucks and even McDonalds, to name some familiar ones, have free wi-fi.

Absolutely free to use wifi. I would suggest making sure you know how to access your email using webmail, though. For some, as yet unexplained, reason my email only sends through some wifi providers not all. I have to use a web browser to access it, instead of sending and receiving through Outlook/Entourage/etc. It never hurts to know, even if you don't need to use it that way.

You connect to WiFi in Europe the same way you do in the US. But there are a few potential wrinkles:

1. Sometimes there's a fee, but you will know this up front, so there's no hidden charges. The fee will be by the minute, hour, or day, and will be spelled out (they usually want your credit card, or if it's a hotel, permission to charge the card on file). Once you're logged in, there's no additional charge to use your e-mail (so if the login was free, the e-mail is free).
2. In some hotels, you don't stay logged in, but must log back in even if you go off for a short time (annoying, but supposed to be more secure). Others will work the way you're familiar with from home - once you've logged in, the iPad remembers it and logs back in whenever you're in range of that WiFi signal.
3. Sometimes after you connect to the WiFi, you have to go to a webpage to do the login (put in a password, accept terms and conditions, etc). I often find on my Windows netbook that Internet Explorer is required for this, and Firefox (my preferred browser) won't work. I don't recall having problems with Safari on my iPod Touch, so your iPad should be fine, but I thought I'd mention it, just in case.

Several times last year I couldn't figure out how to connect to a hotel's wifi, so I asked the desk clerk to show me/do it for me. They all cheerfully did it for me. They're used to being asked!

Yes u can. When I travel, I don't use cell service. I use wifi. I download and app on my phone called magic jack that allows me to make calls for free using wifi and not worrying about using my cell service at a very expensive rate.

If you have wifi you can certainly do more than email. You can facetime or skype, you can surf your heart out, upload pictures of your destinations, etc.

This might be a dumb question -- but I really just want to be able to access wi-fi for emails, websites and the like. No need for cell service as I won't need to make/receive calls on my usual number. I can always use internet phone if I need to make a call.

That said, does putting my I-phone 5 on "airplane mode" disable the cell service, or does it also disable wi-fi? I'm trying to figure out how to get wi-fi but not rack up roaming charges.

Thanks,
todd

Todd - putting an iPhone on Airplane Mode disables EVERY means of communicating between the phone and anything else. Cellular service (talk, text, data), WiFi, Bluetooth - all gone. That saves battery, and is handy if you're just playing games, listening to music, watching already-downloaded movies, etc.

If you want to use WiFi, you have to turn it back on (you can do this after you turn on Airplane Mode). Again, this only turns on WiFi; you still get no calls, texts, or cellular data (in effect, you have an iPod Touch).