I need a place to work out of with Wifi....help!

Wifly is the main pay network in Taipei. You can buy a 30 day unlimited hours card for NT$500 from Starbucks and a few other places. Hotspots in Starbucks, MRT, 7-11, most cafes etc. There website (Chinese only) is www.wifly.com.tw

I don’t know of any libraries that have free wifi but I haven’t looked. There is a pretty big freelance nerd culture (I’m a freelance designer/developer) here in Taipei and many cafes about with free wifi. Off the top of my head, Mo!Relax, MuchoMucho, 4am Cafe, Path Cafe, Zabu, Salt Peanuts, Kafka By The Sea, Norwegian Wood. I’m sure there are plenty more, particularly around Zhongshan that I don’t know about. There are some threads here on wifi cafes which should be easy enough to find if you search.

All those places are laptop friendly (buy a drink and you can stay a few hours), have free wifi and a decent number of power outlets, though some places do charge for use of electricity (~$20).

WiFly is probably a good start and coverage is everywhere.

If you’re looking for the free options, a lot of the small independent cafes around Shi Da and Tai Da all have free Wi-Fi. I used to go to the ones by Tai Da as that area is a little nicer. If you’re driving on a scooter head south on Xin Sheng S. Road, go past Xin Hai Road. You’ll see the Adidas store on your right (across from the large Taiwan University playing fields). Just turn right and head into there, there are quite a few nice cafes that line those alleys.

If you’re walking, then you can get off at the Gong Guang MRT and just head north towards the playing fields. Not sure if that area is really convenient for you to travel to though. You can find a lot of places around town that are free from my experience.

Edit: just saw stevegan’s post. I can recommend Norwegian Wood as that was the exact place I was thinking of!

Thanks guys. The advice is stellar. Wifly sounds like a good backup option.

I’ve tried War-Walking around the uni’s with my cell phone looking for wifi spots, but libraries didn’t seem to work to well. They were either too small, or wouldn’t let me in, or no wifi.

Stevegan, can you recommend a larger cafe. I don’t want to be the only guy in there for 6 hours.

Also Steve, are there any nerd meet ups. I’m an Open Source / Linux / Drupal guy. I don’t usually care for meet ups all that much cough nerds cough, but things like BarCamps can be educational. I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say about this.

You wouldn’t be the only one. I spend most of my days in cafes and nobody seems to mind as long as I keep buying drinks/food and not taking a large table. Kafka (next to the Taipower Building, towards Gongguan) is large and during the day doesn’t usually have many people there. Mucho Mucho (near corner of Civic and Fuxing) is pretty big too. Mo!Relax is small but almost everyone has a laptop so you won’t stand out much. I think you’ll like the music there too.

I’m also keen to find something like that. I know there are meetups but I don’t know of any in English. How’s your Chinese? :slight_smile:

Hi guys, we have the Taipei Tech Club (all in English) where we get together around every 6 weeks. It’s a sticky at the top of the Technology section: Taipei Tech Club Meet Up

The last one was right after CES so we’re due to hold another soon, probably the end of this month. Send a PM with your email and I’ll add you to the email list. Or you can just keep an eye on the Tech forum and we’ll post it there. It’s a social thing though where people just get together to chat about tech in Taiwan and random things as well. There’s also the Mobile Monday Meetings if you’re specifically interested in the mobile phone scene.

You wouldn’t be the only one. I spend most of my days in cafes and nobody seems to mind as long as I keep buying drinks/food and not taking a large table. Kafka (next to the Taipower Building, towards Gongguan) is large and during the day doesn’t usually have many people there. Mucho Mucho (near corner of Civic and Fuxing) is pretty big too. Mo!Relax is small but almost everyone has a laptop so you won’t stand out much. I think you’ll like the music there too.[/quote]
Thanks for the advice, I’m going to visit one of them tomorrow.

I’m also keen to find something like that. I know there are meetups but I don’t know of any in English. How’s your Chinese? :slight_smile:[/quote]
My Chinese is non-existant, but that’s why i’m here. It’s the one problem I’m having with Taiwan right now. Everything I want to do, I can’t read/understand :smiley:

Thanks again for the advice.

Anyone have experience with the Eslite bookstores, specifically the 24 hour ones. Do they have wifi, coffee, snacks?

when i was in Taiwan back in dec 2008, while waiting for my wife to get off work, sometimes I’d go to the library where there’s free wifi and it’s near Duen Hua rd and Ming Sheng East rd… can’t remember the library name, but if you ask around someone might know - esp a local student.

The public library in Tianmu has that. I’d guess that most other libraries here have the same.

If were to pick a public library to work in (for reasons other than the books), I’d probably go with either the one in Xin Beitou (beautiful design, wonderful setting) or the main branch on the east side of Da’an park (relatively convenient, good views from upstairs).

The public library in Tianmu has that. I’d guess that most other libraries here have the same.

If were to pick a public library to work in (for reasons other than the books), I’d probably go with either the one in Xin Beitou (beautiful design, wonderful setting) or the main branch on the east side of Da’an park (relatively convenient, good views from upstairs).[/quote]

Thank you, I will visit these places this week.

[quote=“stevegan”]I don’t know of any libraries that have free wifi but I haven’t looked. There is a pretty big freelance nerd culture (I’m a freelance designer/developer) here in Taipei and many cafes about with free wifi. Off the top of my head, Mo!Relax, MuchoMucho, 4am Cafe, Path Cafe, Zabu, Salt Peanuts, Kafka By The Sea, Norwegian Wood. I’m sure there are plenty more, particularly around Zhongshan that I don’t know about. There are some threads here on wifi cafes which should be easy enough to find if you search.

All those places are laptop friendly (buy a drink and you can stay a few hours), have free wifi and a decent number of power outlets, though some places do charge for use of electricity (~$20).[/quote]

I was looking for Norwegian Wood and Kafka today. I wrote myself a rough map, but no addresses (idiot). I ended up finding the streets but not the places. No biggy. I ended up at Bastille which has wifi and most importantly a fine selection of Imported Belgium beers and even more importantly Gulden Draak or as I like to call it, Golden Drunk. I’ll try and find N.Wood and Kafka later today. Again guys, thanks for the advice.

Also seeing Wifly around here too, maybe I’ll have to pick up a monthly for fallback.

[quote=“j0rd”]I’m a freelance programmer and I’ve been on the road traveling for just over a year. I run my business on the road with my laptop. I prefer to not work from home, so I’m looking for a place I can spend a couple hours a day in and use the internet. I don’t mind buying coffee or food, but I hate paying for net by the minute. Free Wifi is best, or if I can pay for the month, that’s fine too.

My favourite places to work out of are usually libraries. Does Taipei have any libraries that have free and open wifi (no passwords). Do any universities have libraries with Wifi and no passwords?

Otherwise I don’t mind going to cafes, providing they’re large. Even internet cafes where I can buy bulk hours would be fine.

So people, what are my options.

PS. I’ve read about city wide wifi in Taipei… I had this in Bangkok and it was great and only cost about $400 TWD a month. What does Taipei have and how can I purchase it?[/quote]

If you’re going to be here for two years and you have an ARC, then please see this post:

best regards,
DB

[quote=“Dog’s_Breakfast”]If you’re going to be here for two years and you have an ARC, then please see this post:

[Wireless internet via the cell phone system (even on Linux)

best regards,
DB[/quote]
Yeah, I was going to suggest a 3G dongle as a possibility. But you got there first. :wink:

[quote=“Dog’s_Breakfast”]
If you’re going to be here for two years and you have an ARC, then please see this post:

[Wireless internet via the cell phone system (even on Linux)

best regards,
DB[/quote]

No Arc, only 5 months. 3G sounds good, but I worry about latency. I use SSH a lot and lag mean horrible experience. Never used 3G before though, I’m just assuming it’ll be laggy.

So I went to bastille today and someone stole 500+TWD, my MRT card and my Bank Card from my jacket. I left it near a window while I was working right beside it and someone must have stuck their hand through the window and taken it. My fault, but still sucks.

Also went to Mo!Relax. Place is a little hot (i was in a side room, with no fan), but has great music. Prices for non-caffeinated beverages are a little steep though.

Libraries tomorrow.

Thanks guys,
Jordan

[quote=“j0rd”]
So I went to bastille today and someone stole 500+TWD, my MRT card and my Bank Card from my jacket. I left it near a window while I was working right beside it and someone must have stuck their hand through the window and taken it. My fault, but still sucks.

Also went to Mo!Relax. Place is a little hot (I was in a side room, with no fan), but has great music. Prices for non-caffeinated beverages are a little steep though.

Libraries tomorrow.

Thanks guys,
Jordan[/quote]

Dude I’m sorry to hear that your shit got stolen. I think most of the people on this forum would agree that theft is pretty rare in Taiwan. That neighborhood is one of the nicer ones as well. Perhaps it’s a sign of the bad economy… :aiyo: :s

[quote=“rocky raccoon”]
Dude I’m sorry to hear that your shit got stolen. I think most of the people on this forum would agree that theft is pretty rare in Taiwan. That neighborhood is one of the nicer ones as well. Perhaps it’s a sign of the bad economy… :aiyo: :s[/quote]

I was surprised too. It was my fault though, I closed the window a little bit because I knew it was easy access for thief, but then i just got into my work. I’ve spent the last year in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos (HK & Macau, to a less extent), and while I’ve seen people gotten shit stolen, it’s never happened to me yet. I guess it was my time. Could have been worse.

I did almost get stabbed by a sandwich vendor in over 60 cents in Vietnam though.

[quote=“j0rd”]
I did almost get stabbed by a sandwich vendor in over 60 cents in Vietnam though.[/quote]

Beef, pork, or chicken?

it was 4am and he only had egg

Murakami influence? or maybe the Beatles?