Pls help - want to travel wirelessly and ckeck emails

There are several options for Internet access on the road.

1. Park phone lines. Almost every RV park, and some campgrounds, have a phone jack in the office, lounge, laundromat, etc. where you can plug in your laptop and dial in to your ISP. I think that is one reason that AOL is so popular with full-timers--the availability of a local phone number everywhere. Earthlink and the other big ISPs are good for that, too. I use a 3 cent/minute calling card when all else fails.

1. Cell phone. We have been using our Verizon cell phone for Internet access for over three years now. In most of the country, we can connect to their "high speed" network that tops out at 144 kbps, which is much faster than dialup. There are a lot of details to review before deciding to do this. The best source of concise information on the topic is the Yahoo Internet By Cell Phone forum:
   formatting link
   Join that forum and download the tutorials in the Files section. There is a fair amount of opinion masquerading as fact in that forum, but the tutorials will tell you what you need to know. There is one for Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T/Cingular. If you decide to go that route, make sure you look at the coverage maps for each carrier so you don't end up with a plan that has no data coverage in your planned travels.

2. WiFi. In any town, you can drive around and find an unsecured WiFi hotspot and get on the Internet. I recommend Network Stumbler
   formatting link
   for finding hotspots. There are also public free hotspots and fee-based locations (Flying J, Starbucks, etc.). The advantage to free WiFi is speed and cost. The disadvantage is that you can't usually access the Internet from the comfort of your RV. The minority of parks that currently offer WiFi at your site often charge a stiff fee for anything short of monthly use, although free WiFi is becoming more common.

1. Public libraries. They all have Internet access nowadays. Usually, you must use their PCs, though, so you can't upload/download mail or anything else to your laptop.

2. Satellite dish. A roof-top mounted automatic dish costs around ,000 plus ,000 for installation, plus /month. A big tripod-mount dish that you set up yourself runs around ,500 plus /month. Download speeds are typically 500-1,000 kbps, essentially DSL speed. Upload speed is very slow-- 20-40 kbps -- but most people don't care about upload speed. You get Internet access at your RV anywhere in the Lower 48 that has a clear shot at the southern sky.

Hope that helps.

Simply put, you've got to connect it to the Internet some way, some how, just as you do at home.

Sounds like you've already got all the equipment you need. As for which service through what company, I think the answer is pretty much dictated by your next question.

Seriously, if I were only going to be gone a week I'd try to get by with using free Wi-Fi, either in the hotel or motel I'd be staying in or somewhere else along the way. You might try checking at

to see what they show as being available wherever you're going. Also check out the website of the hotel or motel chain you're planning to patronize, to see if they offer free Wi-Fi among their amenities. If they don't, I'd consider going with someone else who does.

Can't blame you for that. Again, if wherever you're going to be lodging has Wi-Fi, you won't need to.

By the way, do you really get enough legitimate e-mail that you have to check it every couple of hours?

I think it will be nicer while only one of you is driving...but I digress. Okay, I'll admit it-bad joke. If you're serious about surfing on the roll, however, your only option would be using your Razr as a modem if it has this capability, or picking up a cellular card for your laptop if T-Mobile still offers this service. Check with them to see. Be forewarned, though, that this will be neither fast nor cheap, and may not even be available along your entire route. Frankly, for only a one-week trip, I don't believe I'd bother with it.

Book a room in a hotel or motel that offers free Wi-FI, then kick back and enjoy.

Oh, one more thing while I'm thinking about it. Check with Comcast about how to access your e-mail remotely. You should be able to download incoming messages like you do normally, but I'm betting you'll have to go to a web-based interface to send mail. Make sure you know how before you leave.

Good luck and have a nice time--JLP

Forget signing up for one of the cell services unless you live in New York and are traveling to Chicago or LA (well a few other large cities) and even then unless you can charge it to the company, too expensive for just checking email and maybe a little web surfing like checking weather.com before you hit the beach or ski slopes or whatever. Use the wifi card in your laptop. You can find hotpsots in most hotels anymore and failing that they are fairly widespread in McDonalds (though I think they charge a small fee $2ish??). Likely and before you pay McDonalds make sure your hotel isn't offering it free. Also many resort towns have hotspots in the sort of public gathering areas (shopping district, resturant row etc) for example the main strip in Sedona or the main strip near the beach on Miami beach. The rule of thumb frankly is coffee shops, book stores, donut shops. Places where you might sit for half an hour or so, spend a couple dollars on coffee or something to eat. These types of places are by no means all going ot have hotspots, but are good places to stick your head in the door and ask. Where you are unlikely to find wireless access is remote areas (Grand Canyon north and south rim), but even then if it is a resort / time share type arrangement, ask when you check in where you might find Internet access. The locals will know.

fundamentalism, fundamentally wrong.

We have been using our cell phone for Internet access while traveling around the country full time for over three years. In the Lower 48, we have had a usable data connection in virtually every location. The only big dead spots have been in Texas and Oklahoma.

Currently, we are at a county campground outside Apache Junction, AZ, with a good EVDO signal--around 500-600 kbps.

The only additional cost for using your cell phone for Internet access is the cost of the cable (around $10), at least with Verizon. The two slower networks (14.4 and 144 kbps) just use minutes. Sprint is $10/month and uses no minutes.

Now, if you had said "signing up with T-Mobile" rather than "signing up for one of the cell services", I would have no quibble. Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T all have pretty robust low cost cellular Internet services.

Well I'm glad to see Verizon is finally getting it more widely deployed. When I was about half way between Phoenix and Sedona about a year ago, nada.

You must be on a great plan, the rate they quote where I live is a bit more the $10 closer to $80 and my local area (not in the middle of no where) is still not on the coverage map. But I'm delighted to see it is working well and cheaply for some folks. Since you are in Arizona right now, have you tried it at the South Rim (with the draught ought to be relatively snow free up there this year)? I was able to make conventional cell phone calls from there (no luck at all on the north rim) last year which surprised me.

Still for most people traveling, why go to the expense when it is free in so many places?

fundamentalism, fundamentally wrong.

As I posted earlier, access to two of the Verizon data networks (14.4 and 144 kbps) is billed just like voice calls. Many folks using these networks restrict their Internet use to nights and weekends, when calls are free.

You are absolutely correct, however, that Verizon reps will not tell you about free Internet access. They will try to sell you a data plan.

A map showing the 144 kbps network national coverage:

Coverage on their 14.4 kbps network is more universal, but there are still big holes.

How was you WiFi service on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon?

I, too, use free WiFi when it is available. We recently spent three weeks on the beach in Mexico, where there was no Verizon service. I was able to connect to an unsecured WiFi network 2.2 miles across the bay from the comfort of my RV.

This is just a general article that might be of interest to some people:

10 ways to stay connected on the road

Whether you need to catch up on a little work while you're on vacation or you routinely require mobile connectivity for your job, it's a good idea to know what technologies are available to help you stay in touch. Here's a look at some of your best choices.

These days, it's possible to stay connected from practically anywhere you happen to be. The trick is to determine the best technology for your needs and your situation. IT pro Deb Shinder offers this overview of 10 of your connectivity options, including:

• Wi-Fi enabled laptops or handhelds * Pocket PC and smart phones with high speed Internet connectivity * Mobile satellite Internet * Cellular WAN service for laptops