WiFi boom keeps drivers in touch with the world from out on the road.

With new technology and new venues developing all the time, WiFi, short for wireless fidelity, may quickly become a trucker’s best friend.

This fast, wireless Internet access allows anyone with a desktop or laptop PC with wireless capabilities to log on to a WiFi network, available at airports, hotels, coffee shops, bookstores and now, truckstops and rest areas.

According to the American Trucking Associations, 21 percent of U.S.-based truckers carry a laptop on board, and 14 percent use the Internet while traveling. That percentage is expected to rise, and WiFi providers want to cater to those truckers hungry for high-speed, wireless Internet access on the road.

In the past, truckers wanting Internet access had to carry a laptop to an Internet hub in or around a truckstop. Now, truckers can access the Internet from the comfort of their own cab if they park it near a hotspot – an area where the signal is available. Like a radio station, the signal loses strength as you travel away from the hotspot.

Users can pay a provider by the hour, day, month or year and have access to any of their network’s hotspots scattered across the continent.