Who do you like for Dial-Up anywhere?

[DandyDon]

I'm still quite a computer newbie, having resisted the force well into the 21st century, but now I like to take my new lap top with me even on trips. I signed up on AOL only because it was fast and free for 2 months, while I waited on my wirless DSL to get started, but I was impressed that it's worked well, even in Brockville ONT.

Is there another, better - that works all over?

thanks! :icosm05:

 

[teknitroxdiver]

Don't go from DSL to dail-up! If you want faster, see if cable internet is available.

 

[DandyDon]

Don't go from DSL to dail-up! If you want faster, see if cable internet is available.

The key word would be "anywhere?" 'Course, some of the hotels I stay in don't have phones, but my wireless is good only in more populated areas of West Texas.

Phones are easier to find that cable internet when traveling, I think?

 

[mweitz]

I think he means when he is traveling.

AOL is pretty decent for dial-up if you are PC challenged. iPass makes a nifty dialer software that allows you to dial-up from a lot of places all over the world, but it is priced by the minute. You can also pick up a lot of wi-fi hot spots with it and use it for high speed at some hotels. http://www.ipass.com for corporate, or http://www.centralhouse.com for smaller companies or individuals. Covad also has a nice dialer software as does one of the other ISP's. If you go with someone aside from AOL, make sure they have access numbers where you travel, see how much it costs and how easy it is to configure. For the Covad dialer you can only use Covad dial-ups. For iPass you can use a bunch of people's dial-up numbers (they lease and resell them). It is ultra convenient, and you use one software to manage your dial up instead of using Windows, but you pay extra for that.

Disclaimer: I have a connection to the following companies mentioned in the post, but don't get any compensation for any business they do:
-iPass
-Covad

Mark

 

[teknitroxdiver]

Ah. I see. Sorry bout that.

AOL, AT&T, or that one that's always on TV, I forget the name.

 

[TTSkipper]

Check out Earthlink, pretty decent coverage around the country and their software will dial an 800# to get the most recent numbers in the area. My company uses this for users who do not have high speed access while on the road. The one that I see on TV all the time is NetZero, not sure how they are now but it used to be free service but tons of advertising and popups, although that was a few years ago since I used it.

TTSkipper

 

[mweitz]

Earthlink blocks smtp except to their servers. If you use another provider you can't send emial via SMTP when using their dialup. Hate them. When you purchase Internet connectivity you should get all 65,000 ish ports dammit!

Never used NetZero. It is 10 to 12 bucks per month.

Mark

 

[socaldiver]

A few years ago I had an Earthlink DSL account here in SoCal. I traveled to Florida for awhile and was able to use Earthlink dialup, I just needed to get one of their local access #s.

My wife has MSN as her ISP right now and she was able to get local access #s in Kentucky when we were there in August. I have AOL and was able to dial up from there as well.

So, it is your call. If you are happy with AOL then you should be able to use it anywhere in the U.S. that they have access #s.

 

[RonDawg]

I use SBC as they are also my DSL provider. What I like about them is that they don't charge you extra for using dialup if you are on broadband (some do).

SBC doesn't allow you to directly access their POP email servers via someone else's ISP (just like with Earthlink) but as they have paired up with Yahoo! you can check your SBC email via the Yahoo! webpage.

I just checked and to my surprise SBC has dialup numbers in all 50 states, including places like Hawaii where I know SBC doesn't do business. In the less populous states they only have dialups in the bigger cities and towns, but in others they have quite a few dialup numbers.

Unfortunately they do not have access numbers for Canada (or anywhere else outside of the 50 US states, including other US territories like Puerto Rico and Guam) so they aren't a good choice if you are an extensive foreign traveler.

AOL has the advantage here in that they have the most dialups of any ISP. But you pay for that convenience, and AOL is notorious for busy signals and sluggish performance during peak periods. And if you take your laptop overseas (assuming of course you can get the modem to work on a foreign phone system), just because you know the local AOL access number doesn't mean you can connect. A friend of mine in the UK has taken home those free AOL CD's (we get the latest versions long before they do), installed them, only to find out the software won't recognize AOL UK's servers

 

[mweitz]

Hey Don, who is your wireless DSL provider? That may nip this in the bud....

<SNIP>

SBC doesn't allow you to directly access their POP email servers via someone else's ISP (just like with Earthlink)

<SNIP>:

Actually it is the SMTP portion that you can’t access from another ISP.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol v3) = Email server where you get your new email from. Generally POP is authentication based. For SBC and Earthlink it is. You use a username and password. You can generally access your POP email from any ISP as long as you have the correct username / password combination. For Earthlink and SBC you can access their POP servers from any ISP that will allow it. You generally cannot access ISP's SMTP servers from outside their network.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) = Email server that sends email for you. In the past you could use any SMTP server to send your email. They were all open and didn’t require a username / password. Spammers loved this … so people started locking down both their SMTP servers (if they were companies) and their networks (if they were ISP’s). The end result has been a big mess for users with laptops that need to send email from anywhere on the planet.

Now, the specific problem with Earthlink is that in order to “reduce” spam they won’t allow you to use port 25 (which is used for SMTP) to any server except their servers. This is fine if you use an Earthlink email address, and an Earthlink dial-up always. I have recent reports that Comcast may be doing this as well. I prefer to have my email require a password for SMTP and NOT have my email address associated with my ISP. That way I can change my ISP but keep my email address… I can pay a third party to have mweitz@mycompany.com and use whomever (SBC, Covad, etc) to supply the bandwidth. Try to keep away from having an @yourISPname.com email address. Locks you into the ISP to a certain degree IMO.

If you have specific questions on how to do any of this, feel free to PM me.

Mark