Internet and E-mail

[Narrowboater]

Have you caravanners sussed out the best (and cheapest) way to access the internet and get your e mails when out and about? I've been looking at WiFi (coverage seems a bit hit and miss) and satellite (seems expensive). Is 3G and option?

My usage will be about one or two hours per week.

What suggestions do you have?

 

[JohnI.Stephen]

Well; judging by the silence that normally follows postings to do with Internet access I conclude that us carvanners (in general) are a pretty staid bunch and whilst we will get excited over having access to our daily dose of TV, we tend to appear disapproving at the notion of Internet access whilst on site. Don't worry it WILL change. Meanwhile, I am in your shoes and wonder how I will be able to get online when in the Lake District later this month.

G3, certainly; either on your mobile phone or as an adapter for your laptop, linking directly into (say) vodafone; it's expensive but it works. However, good old GPRS is still around and, apart from slower data transfer speeds is still capable of giving access to the Internet.

Personally, and if I don't manage to get my hands on a PC with Internet connection at our caravan site (the horror of such a thought); I shall use my small Nokia mobile phone which can easily connect to my Yahoo email account and from which I can read my emails; composing outward emails is another issue though !!!

I note that many caravan sites in Europe are now offering Wi-Fi access points; and with the city of Norwich going totally WiFi and Milton Keynes on a WiMax roll-out, it will have to appear on caravan sites within (say) the next 12 months. Here's hoping !!

John

 

[JTQ]

Sure it's not the "best" but I have for 7 years been collecting and sending my emails, for effectively no cost. [No additional cost more truthfully]

I use my mobile coupled to my laptop via infrared.

However instead of using normal mobile "data" techniques WAP, GPRS etc I simply dial up my free Waitrose Dial-up account that uses a 0845 number.

Its appallingly slow by modern standards [9kB/s] but for normal text type emails without too large photo images, it works. Forget it for web browsing.

I have an O2 Leisure account [monthly] that gives me 600 minutes of off peak "free" calls per month and as I contracted in the good old Cellnet days I am able to uses these from 19:00 to 08:00 hrs.

So at night I just send those I prepared during the day and collect what is coming in. 15 minutes online is generally all I need, so even when away for a month I have plenty of credit.

I had to have my SIMM "data enabled", but this was just a phone call to my provider and was a free service.

I spent some time researching this in 1999 and found then that only Cellnet included 0845 numbers in the Free Calls.

I could only do this via a monthly contract; I am still not aware of any Pay as you Go service offering it and with the necessary high usage time that is likely to be more expensive anyway.

Don't even think of using it out of the UK, the cost would be massive!

 

[Allyson]

I use something called a Bluetooth Dongle, the phone I use is a pay as you go Virgin 6230i also with Bluetooth. Not sure how much it costs to use though because I have never looked in to it,I am not on there for hours at a time just to do my banking on line or to check something out.

Hope this helps.

 

[grahamr_5041507]

Its not going to belong before there is a good affordable solution this.

From my own perspective i officially work from home, as long as i can get on the internet that could be anywhere! I can't wait to go for a weeks 'working' holiday in the van somewhere!!!

In my experience homeworking is definately on the up, and I'm sure thats going to mean a boost for tourer sites not to mention statics!

 

[Surfer]

Try airtimemanager which offers a Vodaphone card for

 

[dragon32a]

dont do 3g mate. I tried and believe me its expensive and not that fast. Also tried it on my phone(3G also and it cost me 3 quid for about a minuites access and about 5 meg of download.

Don

 

[richard_5127330]

Look at web n walk by T-mobile