View Full Version : Travelling and internet access
AOL now want £34.99 a month to use dial-up when away from the home broadband connection, so apart from GRIC, Icafes and Laptoplink, does anyone have any other fully mobile access services at a reasonable price?
RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike
15th Jan 2004, 05:37
Mr. moderator, Sir :cool:
Could we have a sticky for FAQs :ok:
I and others have had success with www.maglobe.com (http://www.maglobe.com/)
Question reminds me of when I worked in Vietnam (Hanoi) many moons ago.
One of the first times I tried to use (dial up) internet access on the "company" Compaq laptop.
No joy via the hotel room phone connection.
I inquired at the lobby how I could get access and 10 mins later this guy appeared who apparently studied Computer Science.
He took me and my laptop to his house where he rigged it up via a host of open circuit boards and a spaggetti junction of wires hanging out of the window. He had a connection in no time!
And top of it it was free! (well, a bottle of Mehkong is just about free)
One very proud vietnamese student!
BOAC, I could give you his house location if that helps?
But that was a long time ago.
IFTB
Definitely the way forward, IFTB!
As soon as RE sets up the LGW 737 route to Hanoi I'll take that address...................
RTFM - the problem for all moderators is that the line between information and advertising is a thin one! The first gratefully received, the second should be paid for to help with forum running costs.
Thanks for the link.
Timothy
15th Jan 2004, 16:45
It's a slight shift of direction, but I travel with a bluetooth card (3com 3CRWB6096B) and a three-band GSM GPRS phone (Nokia 6310i) with a contract account with Vodafone and the result blows me away!
I have used it in many countries (admittedly all 1st World) and the results are excellent. It costs £4.30 a Mb, with no fixed charges, and runs at 56Kbps, the same as a domestic modem. It works on trains and boats.
It has cost about £100 in the first year.
Oh, and BOAC I have nothing to do with any of the three companies, so this isn't advertising, it's just a ringing customer endorsement :O
Will
PPRuNe Towers
15th Jan 2004, 22:34
Boac's point is well taken regarding supporting the forums but in this case I have to say that RTFM's suggestion is spot on.
Call it a service to our demographic or enlightened self interest - I'm a permanent road warrior with no base for my aircraft - sticky it is:ok: :ok:
Rob
Parisien Hotel wifi 129 euros a month so I can run this midden:uhoh: :uhoh: :{ PPRuNe only pays for my home broadband access. altogether now - ahhhhh, bless:ouch: :ouch:
Memetic
15th Jan 2004, 22:52
http://www.gric.com/ has a good worldwide network.
Alternatively if you have wireless I can recommend:
http://www.netstumbler.com/download.php?op=viewdownload&cid=1
Which is a great help in finding "public" WiFi access.
:}
Daysleeper
18th Jan 2004, 15:54
AOL for mac is missing quite a few european countries, like Belgium. So I run virtual PC and AOL for PC as well. Its a bit convoluted. Otherwise, a lot of hotels are doing reasonable WIFI deals. Seen rates from £6 an Hour in Oslo to £12 for 24 hours in Vitoria.
Maglobe seems quite expensive at $8 an hour.
But keep the suggestions coming.
Thanks Mod for the sticky and a good idea RTFM.
Anyone got any good reports of using wifi around the place and do these much trumpeted 'free' accesses and 'war-chalking' actually work?
Memetic
19th Jan 2004, 20:41
I stayed in Orlando over Xmas. The Courtyard by Marriot on WDW (Now a Holiday Inn) had Wayport (broadband) in the room - and it was free! Apparently this is a Marriot programme - although when you log in it says you will be billed.
They had Wifi in the lobby - also free.
I ended up spending a few extra days there (Long story!) so moved to the Sheraton Safari same wayport access but at $9 something per day - look out a day starts at first connection and ends at the next standard check out time so if you check in early be careful when you log on for the first time.
Orlando airport has WiFi if you sit near the hotel, you get automatically logged on to a Wireless Lan called, if I remember right, "Hotel Guest"
fobotcso
24th Jan 2004, 06:23
CompuServe does it for me.
I've taken the plunge and now have a cf wifi card for the IPAQ so when I get the other bit (GPS jacket) I'll be 'playing in the dark', wandering the streets of Europe in a shabby mac (nothing new there, then :O ) looking for 'hotspots' (ditto :O )
Daysleeper
25th Jan 2004, 03:11
while on the subject of wi-fi access. VIE has free wi-fi just now in the upstairs restaurant. as part of a trial.
Odd thing at LTN, wi-fi in the burger king smoking seating. (from where I am typing this) walk about 10 yards in any direction and the signal drops to zero. As I dont smoke its Bloody Annoying. (oh and there are no power points without nicking the cleaners extension lead.) Still its free, so thats something.
BEagle
31st Jan 2004, 17:44
Wi-fi has got to be the best bit of technology there's been in recent years. If only companies like Vodafone invested more in useful applications like Wi-fi than kid's games, cr@p mobile phone cameras, pointless 'streaming video' on tiny mobile phone screens....
There seems to be more interest in pandering to yoof-txtmsg kiddy-culture than in the development of useful communications facilities by the mobile service providers....
The only "pandering" done is to the shareholders.
homesick rae
4th Feb 2004, 23:59
How about accessing OE Company Account Emails when travelling?
Cheers
HR
BEagle
13th Feb 2004, 15:43
Although I've been using the Vodafone hotspots in Lufthansa lounges for a while now, I have only been able to access the Internet and receive incoming e-mails, but not to send any outgoing e-mails using my normal ISP, Virgin.net. But the same e-mail account works fine at Birmingham airport using a UK Explorer hotspot. The incoming and outgoing servers are both mail.virgin.net. As usual, Vodafone's customer service has been totally hopeless. Am I using the wrong outgoing server settings? Or is the issue with Virgin.net? Every time I try to send e-mail from a Vodafone W-LAN hotspot, I get 'Error - relaying to (the address I'm trying to send to) is not allowed'.....
Anyone got any clues?
Specaircrew
25th Feb 2004, 22:58
Outgoing mail has to use the outgoing mailserver of the local ISP that you're connecting to. This is easy if you're using a dial up connection as you've presumably got the details off the ISPs website to enable you to connect in the first place.
It's a little more complicated when wireless roaming and I must admit I've never tried it because my ISP has a webmail site so I don't have to use Outlook when I'm travelling or at work.
I presume Virgin has a webmail site, if not you can use www.Mail2Web.com or similar sites to send mail from your normal email account.
BEagle
28th Feb 2004, 17:12
Thanks, Speccers. It's just puzzling that all works fine from UK Explorer wi-fi W-LAN hotspots, but I'm currently unable to send from Vodafone D2 hotspots unless I use mail2web or a similar web-based mail service.
I keep asking Vodafone what the outgoing mail server should be set to - I can easily create a bespoke W-LAN e-mail account but just need to know the server name!
This forum is amazing! I was looking for a roaming account that wouldn't cost me a fortune or need lots of upfront cash (cos I won't use it that much). Ipass wanted 100 Euros upfront, and charges $2.99 an hour in the USA.
MaGlobe was happy with $15 upfront (I chose $30) and charges $0.59 an hour in the US.
So now I have a MaGlobe ID to add to the lengthening list!
Thanks, RTFM - just what I needed!
Wifi has arrived in UK Starbucks! At least in Glasgow, anyway. They have the T-Mobile' service. Am investigating and will report further. Anyone fer coffee?
More information check here (http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/hotspot)
I can report a couple of 'Flakey' wifi surfs around Europe, but I reckon that GPRS is the best solution.
Timothy - is that price per mb the same wherever you are?
126,7
22nd Apr 2004, 07:36
I tried using IPASS but it kept telling me that there was a problem with either username or password. IPASS is recommended by my locak ISP and I am supposed to get free use of IPASS. Problem is that it didnt work, no matter what I tried.
So I thought about all those free providers out there and found Freedomlist (http://www.freedomlist.com/) All you need to do is register with a provider (free!!) and off you go! I had some trouble setting up an account in France but managed to guess my way through the french language and now have about 5 different ISP shortcuts on my desktop from various countries. It works great, unfortunately only dial-up but this way you only pay the phone bill from the hotel to the local ISP.
:ok:
rmcfarlane
28th Apr 2004, 15:44
Good Ol' McDonalds has launched WiFi in its main (drive-thru) branches in the UK and US. Not sure about everywhere else but it must be on the way.
Just a thought
Well, after two weeks using MaGlobe around the USA, I can report that it was flawless. I used the magnificent total of $7 of my upfront $30, and it worked everywhere.
Some hotels had hefty charges for local calls, so for those I used the "freephone" MaGlobe dial-up, which charges a couple of dollars an hour. It had a local number in every town we visited.
maxell
16th May 2004, 22:16
Specaircrew
your comment
"Outgoing mail has to use the outgoing mailserver of the local ISP that you're connecting to. "
whilst this is correct if you use they isp smtp server to send your mail look at
http://www.postcastserver.com/
this is a free program that turns your computer into its own smtp server and you can send from anywhere with your normal email account
BahrainLad
30th May 2004, 15:56
Hilton are currently offering 120 mins of free wi-fi at any BT Openzone hotspot in the United Kingdom.
Bearing in mind that BT OZ have a 'roaming' agreement with the Cloud, that means there's a wi-fi access point in practically every pub fruit machine/jukebox in the land.
Visit the 'Travel Technology' forum in Flyertalk.com for more information.
Specaircrew
16th Jun 2004, 18:08
I recently briefed and launched a formation of 11 RAF aircraft from an airfield in Arizona while I was sitting by a pool in Santa Barbara courtesy of the Hotel Wi Fi..........which was nice :-)
(Needless to say I used my own subnotebook and ISP because the 'brick' supplied by the RAF isn't allowed to use the internet, doesn't have wi-fi,anti-virus or firewall software and the battery lasts 2 minutes!!!!!);)
BEagle
17th Jun 2004, 22:19
Haven't they sorted out firewalls and anti-virus software yet? Or are the CISpigs still terrified of using the Internet and ban anything and everything from using it?
How refreshing it is in industry to be able to pop in to somewhere with a W-LAN hotspot and access one's Intranet - or download software upgrades for the program at hand via normal e-mail.
The first flying unit at Brize to have Internet e-mail access was the same one which was the first to have a 100% FM-immunity compliant fleet and the first to have GPS fitted to all its a/c.
Yes - not one of Auntie Betty's vintage a/c operators but the Brize Flying Club!
I guess the OM hasn't yet been equipped with an 802.11b system?
Specaircrew
22nd Jun 2004, 20:42
Yes the RAFP think the Internet is an instrument of the devil, they'd much rather you conducted business on your mobile phone at £1.70 a minute or gave the nice foreign looking gentleman at Hotel reception your paperwork to fax at £1 a page! I on the other hand favour instant communication for little or no cost which enables me to spend more time in the bar!;)
meadway
11th Aug 2004, 17:09
Used to AOL but they have changed their SMTP port and so sending smtp from office stopped working!
Looked around and found a good option called net2roam - have a look at their site and see how it compares.
They seem to have access numbers country and city-wide which for me is the important bit.
Haven't had any problems as yet, been using it for 3 months, but there's still plenty of time for it to go pear-shaped!