Internet access on the road.

Probably cheaper to use Internet cafes and Libraries - depending on where you go, most towns have them now. Check at the Information Centres.

Mick
Very Big $ to do it with a mobile 7 very slow download speeds. Depends where you are going, but most areas have somewhere in town where you can get internet access. In SA all local Libaries have FREE internet. Our 3 month trip last year we were able to get on the net most places in SA NT VIC and Tas.
Hope this is of some Help

didnt read the article coz it isnt in my line of intrest but the latest overlander has a story u might like 2 check out

The Inlaws are doing the grey Nomad thing and have laptop with CDMA Mobile Phone(faster download rate) and are getting about 19kbs about ½ the dial up rate!
Use it only to download Text as you pay mobile rates.
You will also need to filter your email before downloading to get rid of the large stuff Virus's and spam, Mailwasher or something like that.

Brian

G'Day Mick

Your laptop may have an infrared port on the back/front/side somewhere. Your mobile might have one as well. If they both do then the connection is quite simple, just line up the IR ports and the computer should find the mobile and enable it's use as a modem. Then you just dialup you ISP as you normally would using the correct number for the part of Aus. you are in.

If there are no IR ports there is a chance that you will be able to get a cable for your phone that will allow you to connect it through the USB port or the serial port on you computer. If this is the case there will also be software such as drivers and possibly phone management software that will require installation as well. Don't write this of as to hard as the software is quite handy in the event that your phone dumps it's memory or is otherwise disabled as you can just drop all your info straight into another phone of similar make and model.

If none of the above is available then you are stuck with internet cafe and or Libraries. If you are thinking about a new phone then CDMA is the better of the two types for data as is stated above. Mail filtering is a good idea for mobile comms and you may want to set your browser up so that it only refreshes stored pages when they have new/changed content to save you some online time. If you use the full outlook client you can set it up so that you only get the headers of each message when you are dialed up and you can then select which ones you want to retrieve and delete the rest.

hope this helps.

cheers
Foss

Hi Mick, I have just been through all this with the internet and the laptop. Had great heeps of trouble. If you are with Optus then Optus told me you cant use CDMA cause they dont have data access through them, but Telstra do. I tried the infra red and it is easy ONCE YOU HAVE SET IT UP,,,,GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR.
Gee I had problems. I then brought the cable to see if that was easier ($105) and yes it came with the softwear, but do you think I can get it to work........ha ha ha.
I was reading Foss's reply and he was saying how easy it is. but if you are like me and computer dumb with all that kind of stuff, well you are going to have some fun.
Good luck Mick, but me myself I would rather use my own laptop if you are going to be doing banking etc, rather than putting a pin number and access number into someone elses computer that everyone has access too! I have heard they can get it, but I dont know enough about these things to know if that is true or not.
Good luck Mick, have fun
Karen

When i went to cape last year i used my Powerbook, Bluetooth Adaptor, Ericcson T68 and GPRS.

Connection speed is quite fast (about the same as dialup) but expensive @ $0.02 / Kilobyte

I only used it to login and check a few emails, and check a few banking elements whilst on the road.

GPRS coverage is also quite good in capital and main country towns.

Steve

We use librarys and internet cafes mostly. Also now and again we will get all civilised and stay in a motel with a phone line so we download our emails onto the laptop then.

From now on in the more populated areas we will be using WiFi from our laptop which is slowly making its way around the country. All McD's should have a WiFi node in the next year or two. WiFi is around $20 per hour at ADSL speeds. You need a WiFI enabled laptop or a WiFi PCMCIA card plus an account with a service provider to use it.

We also have a GPRS enabled mobile phone that can send and recieve emails. With this we can check to see if we have anything that requires attention and even send short replies - all text only. Not cheap though but if you check every couple of days, it is not too bad.

The mobile to laptop way is far too expensive for us, even though we have phones and a laptop that support it.

internet cafes are everywhere. best ones are in pubs, where you can have an ale to wash down the bytes.

just make sure you have web based email.