[VAC] Re: A/S and the Internet

[soule <soule@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just finished a 19 day, 6,500 mile road trip without the A/S, staying
in motels along the route.  I am planning to make an extended trip with
the A/S this winter and I wanted to use this trip to test my access to
the Internet with my laptop.  At home I have a local ISP, but they do
not offer any access when I am away, so I opened an AOL account.  AOL
has an 800 number that you can use anywhere, at an additional cost of
$0.10 per minute.  They also have an extensive list of local numbers
that can be accessed at no additional charge, but the list of numbers is
accessed on-line.   Before I left, I connected to AOL and got a list of
numbers in the cities where I knew I would be stopping.  Each number can
be assigned a name and filed in an internal list.  When I stopped at a
location that I had not checked out in advance, I used the 800 number to
connect to AOL.  I then checked to see if they had a local number and
used it if available, otherwise, I stuck with the 800 number and sucked
up the extra $0.10 per minute.  I found, as others have said, that
www.mail2web.com will give you easy access to email sent to your home
address.  In my case I was also able to connect to the network at the
company where I work and retrieve that mail as well.   I was able to get
Internet access every day of the trip, but I had a room with a phone.
I have not yet been out there where phone lines are scarce.  I have
heard from others that the AOL 800 number will open a few doors and
phone lines.  I have also heard that some truck stops such as Flying J
provide phone lines for Internet access, but I have not checked this out
for myself.

Lincoln Soule
1977 Tradewind