Staying connected at #SXSWi

I have made my feelings very clear in the past around data roaming and the costs that can be run up almost by accident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10475608

Things are slowly getting better with new overseas packages and devices having easier to find 'data roaming' off switches. I still feel there is a long way to go before we can just wander abroad and not think twice about using our mobile devices.

The availability of wifi hotspots is also helping the travelling data user, but unless the mobile comanies keep up they won't be getting any roaming revenue as we all switch to wifi. I'm sure they realise that if they made roaming data more affordable and convenient everyone would win.

According to my Texan landlord, Austin is the second most wifi connected city in America. The wifi is also mostly free.

There will still be those moments when I'll be out of range from a node and options to stay online can be hard to come by. 

In the past I've bought a data bolt-on but it's hard to gague exactly how much I'll use as apps evolve and my use changes.

I dropped a couple of tweets out asking about mobile data options and @VodafoneUK along with their WebRelations team kindly dropped this SIM in the post. They are going to supply me free data throughout SXSWi and monitor my usage in order to study the needs of a blogger at a festival like SXSW.

I have wifi at my accomodation and aparently the festival is pretty well covered so I'm not expecting massive numbers. Still. It will be an interesting study.. not just because I won't feel any data restrictions.

Big thanks guys!