RV LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
January/February 2001
RV Tips - Keeping In Touch On The Road
by Garth Cane
gcane@rvlifemag.com
Many of us are addicted to our e-mail when we are at home or at
the office. But when we go on the road in our RVs, we lose contact
with business associates, grandchildren, and friends. Many RVers
want to be able to check their stock quotes, bank balances, or
shop online. Having an internet connection from the RV in the
campground is not always easy. Some campgrounds have telephone
connections at a few sites, for an extra cost, or a place in the
office where you can plug in your laptop computer to collect your
messages with an 800-number.
Our writers who are on the road have to be able to access the
internet to send stories back to the office. Some go into the
nearest library and book time on the internet, often for the next
day. So it is necessary for them to stay in an area for more than
one day to be able to send out their stories. Sometimes it is even
necessary for them to send their stories and photos back to the
office by overnight courier.
In the past, we have used Bell’s Data-To-Go program if we
were in a digital cellular area. But this doesn’t work at all in
an analogue transmission area. And to make matters more confusing,
some areas do not use the same system for digital transmission.
Ontario uses one system, while Vancouver uses a much higher
frequency to transmit digital information. Data-To-Go connects
your computer through your digital cell phone to a modem in the
telephone companies’ offices to allow you to send and receive
e-mail.
Until
digital cellular coverage is available in all parts of the
country, the only way to communicate while traveling between
cities and in rural areas is with analog mode. This fall I have
been experimenting with the Ositech system of connecting to the
internet while on the road. ‘The King
of Clubs’ CellFlex
card allows you to connect to the Internet whether you are in a
digital or an analogue cellular area. This card is inserted into a
PCMCIA slot in the side of the laptop computer and connected to
your cellular telephone with a short cord. To make a cellular data
connection, the King of Clubs PC Card uses your cell phone’s
internal modem and your computer’s power supply.
Our ISP (Internet Service Provider) provides us with a list of
local phone numbers to use in each area so that we don’t have to
use long distance each time we want to call in. This list of phone
numbers is available over the internet, but I keep our list of
contact numbers for the ISP on a word processing file so that I
don’t have to be connected to the Internet to locate the local
number when I am away from home.
With Ositech, it has been simple to make the e-mail connection
– as the screen comes up to signify that I am calling our
Internet Provider, I click on the modem that I want to use for the
call, either the standard modem that came with the computer for
land-line calls, or the Ositech King of Clubs card for cellular
calls. Then I key in the local number for the Internet Service
Provider (ISP) and hit Connect. In a few seconds I am into the
service providers network and can collect my e-mail messages and
send off any replies or messages to readers, the office, or the
grandchildren. So far the speed has been very good (14,400 kBps)
when receiving and sending e-mails across the country, from either
Canada or the USA. CellFlex products are also compatible with the
popular Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), like iPAQ, Jornada, and
Cassiopiea, as well as others with PCMCIA Card slots.
If you are calling from the USA, you have to remember that
local cellular areas will charge a roaming fee plus any long
distance charges, unless you have subscribed to the North America
One Rate Plan. For those of you who are traveling in the South for
one to three months or more, you can subscribe for only those
months ($69/month). If you are only traveling in Canada, the Real
Time Canada Plan is for you. For $39/month, you have 200 minutes
of connect time with no long distance or roaming charges.
(Excerpted from larger article - complete
article in RV Lifestyle magazine Vol 31, #1)
