I have read doom-and-gloom about travellers burning-out their laptop modem when connecting directly to some hotel lines from their rooms. Not knowing what to believe, I'll play it safe and am looking to buy something that will protect ye olde laptop from rouge attempts of these bad lines frying it.

Any suggestions on what piece of hardware to get?

I heard that Targus (USA / Canada) sells a "Smart Connect Digital Phone Interface" (cost $145.99 USD - ouch!!!)

Anything else out there worth looking at? I'd prefer to buy directly from Future Shop(pe!) in Canada or at Dixon's in the UK, as opposed to buying over the Internet.

Captain

You can save a lot of money if you're careful what you plug into. Most hotels now have either phones with Data sockets or Data sockets on the wall.

I'm always cautious about using a phone's cable if the phone has complex functionality - extra lights, buttons etc but you can always ask reception - they should be able to help.

Some further hints - if the connector only has two connections then I'm sure you'll be OK. If it has four then it may be a proprietary connector (and fry your modem).

FWIW, I've never had any problems in over 10 years now travelling with luggables and laptops. Also, these days if you end up frying the modem, you can always by a new PC card one for $75 or cheaper.

Hope this helps

SLF is right about the number of wires. If there are only two, the worst that can happen is that they are connected wrongly. Recent French hotelier was happy that I disassemble his 'phone lead to check the wiring and so improvise a connector bought from Monsieur Briccolage. Trusting soul! Worked a treat, though.

In UK, John Lewis stores sell a Euro adapter set for about £10. It covers all you are likely to need. And then there's always the mobile 'phone option that I've use a numer of times and is OK as long as the miserable speed is enough for your purpose. not good enough for browsing, but OK for e-mail without attachments.

Using http://www.web2mail.com helps to avoid the lengthy and costly downloads.

Try:

http://www.targus.com/CategorySearch.asp?SearchedTerms=protect+power

29.95 us dollars retail. Less at Staples or mail order.

Oh, I forgot.

If you have a wireless card in your laptop, always boot first and search for a wifi bubble....you may have free acess and not know it!

I forgot this advice.

When on the road, always boot up with the wireless card in and do a rescan.

Wifi bubbles are everywhere; you may have free access at 11MB xfr rates and not know it; most hotel lobbies are doing it, All US Starbucks will have it by the end of the year, and airports often have it...

Thanks for the advice given so-far, everyone.

fobotcso / SLF - I agree 100% on the "two-lines (on the plug) = OK, four lines = potential trouble" theory.

I trolled the tech-stores today asking for connectivity protection. The most help I got was a Belkin 120 - 300 volt surge protector with integrated phone-line (the mini one...cost ~ $20.00 Canadian dollars / 8 quid) from a techie that used it world-wide. The typical response to what I wanted was a deer-in-the-headlights look, so after careful thought and your advice, we'll pass on the high-priced protection and just watch where the units get plugged into.

I'm looking into a wireless LAN card to add (hopefully) soon, and am sure looking forward to discovering those available access points out there!

Thanks again everyone.

Check the info in the parallel thread in the Mil Forum. Go here:

Using laptop on detachment (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72773)