Hi Gang,

Janet Wilder, a cyber "friend" who fulltimes just resent this to a newgroup with permission to pass it around.... it's so wonderful I wanted you all to read it......

E-mail on the Road

by Janet Wilder
"the Road Princess"

These directions are for laptop owners who do not want to use cell phones or accoustic couplers to get their E-mail while traveling or full-timing.

What is mandatory for on-the-road access is a provider with an 800 or toll-free number. An 800 number is preferable as some of the phones in truck stops will not work with 888 or other toll-free exchanges.

Included here is a list of places where you can hook up your laptop modem to a phone and retrieve E-mail. Since these places are doing us a favor, it is important to keep your time on line to a minimum. If your provider does not offer off-line E-mail reading and composing, go to one that does. If you can only read your mail and reply to it on line, you will need more time than most of the cooperative places can tolerate. Retrieval of E-mail for off-line reading should take no more than three minutes, even with a 14.4 modem.

Here's the list:

1)Truck stops with table phones. Order breakfast (anytime of day) and plug in. The phones are on jacks and can be disconnected until you are done. They only work on 800 numbers. The food is good, too. A copy of *The Truckers' Friend* national truck stop directory (available in most major truck stops) lists truck stops with table phones. The RVERS' Friend does not list them. If there are
only portable phones available, ask the manager. Sometimes they will let you connect where they keep the bases for the portable phones.

2)Staples, Office Max, Office Depot. They have fax service and/or computers where you can design your own business cards that are hooked to modems. Ask the manager for permission to hook up your modem for two minutes. Just go for the E-mail, download it and read it off-line. Send the answers off another time.

3)Hotels. The ones that cater to traveling business folk have lobby pay phones that are desk models and will have modem access ports. They may have jacks that come out so you can plug in and use the 800 number. You can sit here in a nice chair and surf the net or crawl the web.

4) Airports. Airports in many major cities have pay phones with modem ports.

5)Kinko's, Sir Speedy and other copying centers often have phone jacks for use with 800 numbers. Kinko's will charge an hourly fee for net access using their computers. If you have your own laptop and want to just use the phone jack, they usually waive the fee. Kinkos has a booklet that lists their shops, nationwide.

6)Mail Boxes stores, and other places that will send faxes for you have dedicated lines to which the fax machines are connected. They are only used for outgoing messages. Give them the cost of one page of fax and they'll let you hookup. If you are doing other business there, they should accomodate
you for free.

7)Desk-style pay phones. Found one of these in a laundromat in Indiana and haven't found one since. It had a jack plug. I took it out and plugged in the modem. I held the handset of the dead phone to my ear so that passersby would think I was on the phone (which I was).

8)Campground offices. You have to ask the manager and you have to be really, really nice. More and more campgrounds recognize that their guests have this need and will allow you to use the phone for a few minutes. If there is only one line, understand that they are running a business and can't afford for you to tie up their only line. If they have a credit card machine, point out that it is a separate line and ask if you can use that. If the campground allows you to use the jack, always ask when it is a good time for them.

9)Computer stores. Go in and ask nicely. They usually will accommodate you.

10)Public Libraries with computers that have Internet access. Ask the librarian if you can connect through the jack if you cannot retrieve your E-mail through the Internet.

11)College Libraries. See Public Libraries, above.

12)Visit a friend or relative. Ask permission before you hook up. It helps to have one of those little connectors that has a jack receptacle on each end. Unhook the cord going into the phone and put it in one end. Put your modem jack in the other end. This saves having to crawl on the floor to find the
phone jack. The connector is sold for a few dollars at Radio Shack.

13)Factory Outlet Malls. Most of these malls have an administrative office. When approached nicely, they will often allow you to retrieve E-mail with your 800 number.

14)Courtesy phones in waiting rooms. Many repair facilities, doctors' offices, etc. have courtesy phones in the waiting rooms. Ask permission to hook up with an 800 number. Be brief.

15)Cyber Cafes: These cafes are flourishing. Check in the local telephone book to see if there is one near where you are staying. Buy some coffee and a cookie $$.. Surf away.

16)Thousand Trails/Naco membership campgrounds. In the Summer of '98 they blocked access to their toll-free reservations from pay phones (PSP charges), so most of the campgrounds now have a courtesy phone and/or jacks for E-mail.  Some allow local access numbers, others require toll-free. Some request a small donation to use the line.

Etiquette: I don't think I need mention this to my fellow RVers who are always polite and courteous, but I have requested a hookup in some campgrounds that have only one telephone line and have been denied access. Several places reported some RVers have become irate when access to a jack has been denied.  Please consider that campgrounds and other places of business have the right to
deny you a phone jack. Please do not argue with them. We are all trying to convince these places that allowing us access will not cause them a problem.  Courtesy is mandatory.

Some local phone companies charge business customers for local calls. Do not use a local access number in any campground or other business location unless specific permission has been secured. Using an 800 number will assure that the proprietor will not be charged. You may be long gone when the bill comes, but the rest of us will be denied access forever.

Using these methods will not allow you to surf the net for hours on end. We hook up to retrieve and send E-mail and check the bank account. ‘Net surfing and web crawling are saved for those locations permitting use of a local access number and/or unlimited time at the connection.

I am certain that there are other creative folks who have found places to hook up a modem, just as I am certain that there are places I have not yet discovered.
 

Janet Wilder, The "Road Princess"
Full-timing through North America

Hunter