Who doesn’t have the happy schoolday memory of a hot summer afternoon on which a sympathetic teacher would lead pupils out on to the playing fields to conduct the lesson outdoors? Those days have acquired a kind of pastoral glow – and few of us have managed to repeat the experience ever since.
Few of us, that is, until wireless internet access released us from the clutches of our ethernet ports and let us set up shop wherever we could find a hotspot. In the early days of wi-fi that was a bit of a challenge, but now the combination of home wireless networks and public access points lets you work anywhere from your bathroom or garden to the local pub or even the 7.05am from King’s Cross.
GNER has now introduced wi-fi in many of its intercity trains and is on course to complete the installation by August. That’s months ahead of schedule, the company proudly boasts, and while some regular travellers may have something pithy to say about the words “trains” and “ahead of schedule” appearing in the same sentence, others will be too busy downloading spreadsheets to care. Web access is free for those in first class and standard-class passengers can buy chunks of time ranging from 30 minutes to 24 hours, the latter being particularly useful if the train arrives somewhat behind schedule.
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The GNER service will probably be most useful to business travellers who want to work on their way to meetings, but the greatest beneficiaries of wireless working are the self-employed; those who can decide when and where they work. “I work from home, which can get a bit isolated at times, so it’s great to be able to sling my laptop in a bag and head off to my club in town,” says Caroline Bawden, a freelancer who works in publishing. “I park myself on a sofa, order coffee, log on and continue working, enjoying the buzz of people around me.
“I once decided on the spur of the moment to go to San Francisco for a long weekend, even though I had some work to finish. I was waiting for a document to be e-mailed from a business associate in Italy, but that wasn’t a problem. I logged on wirelessly in the hotel lobby, downloaded the document and made my changes, then sent it on to another colleague in London. Going wireless has totally changed my working life.”
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Companies, too, are beginning to take advantage of the trend, relocating meetings from soulless presentation suites to wi-fi equipped bars and coffee shops. Starbucks now has wireless access in 400 UK branches, and staff have noticed an increasing number of corporate excursions to its coffee shops. “We get a lot of business people using our stores for meetings,” says a spokesman. “The convenient location combined with its cosy, intimate layout and atmosphere makes it a great location.”
If there is a downside to all of this, it’s that there are now few places on the planet where it’s not possible to work. Lufthansa has installed wi-fi hotspots on its long-haul fleet, letting passengers keep in touch with the office even when they’re 38,000 feet above it. Some may resent being able to work in places where they previously couldn’t, but in most cases hotspots allow busy people to convert dead time into constructive time. For frequent business travellers the chance to put in a day’s work between Heathrow and Bangalore may be priceless, and certainly preferable to watching Cheaper by the Dozen on a poorly adjusted six-inch TV screen.
Moreover, while wi-fi enables you to work in a growing range of locations, it also provides great opportunities for appearing to work while actually browsing the internet, an essential skill in modern corporate life. “If I’m feeling very motivated and productive, it enables me to work in a variety of different places and postures, relieving the strain of sitting in the same chair all day and stimulating fresh thought,” says Mike Brett, a freelance writer. “If I’m finding it difficult to work I invariably end up on the sofa pretending I’m working, when I’m actually just checking e-mails and messing around.”
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And that was also the real joy of lessons on the playing fields. It wasn’t because the change of environment created a new dynamic in which learning could be more easily and pleasurably accomplished, although it may have done, but because it let us and the teacher feel that we were working while we were all just sitting in the sun.