On the road communications


Old Forum Post

Senior Member
[Wayne] The wife and I are in our mid 50&#039s and are planning to semi-retire and hit the road. This nomadic life is a little foreign to us so I need some info before we start.
First, what is considered the best phone provider to subscribe with while traveling the country? I looked at Verison and they seem to have the greatest coverage for national phone service. What&#039s your thoughts?
Second, we plan to purchase a laptop computer to take along for e-mail and recording our trip. What is the best provider to connect with (except AOL)?

wrayneman@worldnet.att.net
 

Old Forum Post

Senior Member
On the road communications

[John] We had AT&T one rate plan for a couple of years and it worked in Tx, Fl, Pa and almost everywhere in between for one (not low) rate. Occasionaly we would run into a spot where there was no signal or where AT&T apparently didn&#039t have an agreement with a local provider but all in all a good provider of phone service. We got about 600 minutes for close to a hundred bucks.
 

Old Forum Post

Senior Member
On the road communications

[travelers1999] We have a sprint pcs cell phone. We bought it back home as an add-on to one of the kids plans. That way, we have a local number for our kids to call us on. We signed up for the program where there is no additional cost for long distance so when we are in an area that is not covered by one of the sprint cells, the kids can call us on the park pay phone using the cell phone and we use our portion of the minutes that way. You just really need to check the coverage for the areas you wish to travel in. On the internet front - good luck. Most campgrounds are not in the metro areas as far as calling plans go, so the AOL&#039s and Earthlink&#039s are usually long distance and it will cost a fortune to use the 800 number access. While traveling, we mostly relied on libraries or got to know others in the parks that had internet access and used theirs. We always relied on our yahoo mailbox, not the one provided by the ISP. Another suggestion is to know the log-on information for the various ISP&#039s your kids use. We sometimes get lucky and can log on as one of the kids.
 

Old Forum Post

Senior Member
On the road communications

[Loren Eyrich] Wayne,

I&#039ve found this website to be very helpful in finding the best cellphone service and prices:
http://www.lowermybills.com

As long as you will have a cellphone and a laptop, consider buying a cellphone with a "connectivity kit" which links the cellphone to the serial port of your computer for wireless internet. You would need a "digital" cellphone and a wireless service that has digital service in urban areas - Sprint PCS or Verizon CDMA. I&#039ve seen them both work, and it does work.

Here are some additional tips:
http://www.campingontheinternet.com/Chapter12.htm

Loren Eyrich
twolaneroads@bellsouth.net
 
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