email and internet connection on the road

Few options,
1) Wait till your in a town, and see if they have a computer store, they usually allow for a few bucks you to use a connection, or a caravan park, you can sometimes use a line from the office.

2) Internet cafe's are big these days too.

3) You can just wait till you get home, its only 2 mths, the world isnt due to end... (george bush hasnt set a date)

G'day Bill & Di
I'm with Netspace ADSL at home, they supply a free dial up connection in the package. I obtained a list of access phone numbers for major cities and some regional areas. I have used caravan park and hotel phones, with permission of course, paying mostly for the local call and shouted a few beers along the way also. Contact your ISP and see what they offer.
Blue

Copied from the MSN Caravan forum
http://groups.msn.com/Caravanersforum/general.msnw?action=get_message&ID_Message=20928&ShowDelete=0&CDir=-2
From: Geezer_David Sent: 5/07/2004 4:34 AM
Willy the good oil is the Hyundai TX60B is available from Telstra on their 24 month $20.00 plan which gives you the bonus option of the free hour a day or any of the five bonus options. The TX60B is a good phone with great reception.
Telstra does not have the USB cables in their system - for some unknown reason
However, the genuine Hyundai USB cables complete with software are available and in stock for $69.00 and $5.00 overnight air express postage from:
Genuine Mobile Accessories
Phone 1300 662 111
GMA Shop website www.gmashop.com.au

I went on the $20 plan and you get the TX60B phone included in the deal. Worked immediately I plugged it in.

Hi Dian,

Occasionally log in using a 1900 number to get access using a landline to my old ISP or the newer one. Have to be at someone who trusts you or at a motel to do that. I have used the mobile phone and as you say it is expensive - relatively to say using Tourist Information Centres, Tele-centre or libraries, but difficult to get files transferred there sometimes.

Using UHF is a new one on me as suggested elsewhere although in cities there is the wireless hotspot. Not Innaminka though, or the Birdsville Track.

Remember in the outback that the digital phone is as good as a shagpile carpet in your 4by for most of the time. CDMA is likely to be better with a high gain antenna if you are near bigger towns - higher speed of access too.

There seem to be internet kiosks at a lot of places. $1 to connect and 20 c per minute. The alternative if you are out of the way is to use a data capable satphone (limited to a slow 9.6 kps) or get a Telstra 2 way satellite connection and run it off an inverter. You will have to stop the car and aim the satellite dish each time you connect though. A little more expensive ($120 per month) but very quick and very portable.

http://www.bigpond.com/internet-plans/broadband/satellite/

Hi Folks,

One other thing is to ensure that you have web based email available. This means that you can access your email thrugh a web browser such as Internet Explorer or similar as opposed to accessing it through a product such as Outlook etc. An example of web absed email is Hotmail. This feature is also offered with a lot of Interent accounts as well.

The following link will take you to hotmail as an example - http://login.passport.net/uilogin.srf?id=2

Enjoy your trip

Cheers

Hi all,

I'm the Willy mentioned in David's response on 29th July.

Presently in Nth Qld using laptop & the recommended Hyundai phone & USB connection. Works great!!!

No phone costs as I'm using my free hour via Telstra. Have confirmed via Call Preview that I'm not being charged for calls to connect.

Go for it

Willy

Sorry - 20th July
Willy

Following me raising a similar question, here at Bridgetown WA our Telecentre has now fitted an extra phone line, so you can all come through Bridgetown in the beautiful South West and plug your laptop in for a small fee. My ISP (Westnet) has a dial in number for cost of local call Australia wide.

Meanwhile, Telecentres in a selection of small towns all through WA are community run centres with public access computers; some have facilities for plugging in your laptop. I could do a survey of who has what and their opening hours (not all are open all day every day).

Perhaps we could all send in spots where we have found it easy and cheap to plug in a laptop and have a register of these somewhere on ExploreOz? It is certainly a growing need.

Thanks for all the replies.

We will look at the Hyundai TX60B as an option. Is this a digital or CDMA phone?

We do need to check email fairly regularly as we are including a research and development factor into our trip - we are currently preparing to market a new 4WD roof rack and boat loader - and so will be mostly coastal this trip.

Our current ISP is accessible via the internet as well as Outlook and this is what we are familiar with. I guess if we wanted to send / download images then via a mobile it would be expensive - but just mail would be fine.

Can you download at eg a library? Has anyone any horror stories of what not to do/avoid with email etc??

Thanks everyone for all your help - this is a great site and so helpful.

Regards,

Bill n Di

I went to buy 1 of the Hyundai phones - but no data cables in WA yet!! Amazing!

Will try the GMA site to see if they still have them before getting the phone. I can't imagine why they would be sold without a data cable these days.

Dian