Broadband wireless from Verizon Wireless
What if you prefer to stay in parks which do not offer Wi-Fi?  I have been using Verizon Broadband wireless.  Service areas are generally in urban areas where Verizon digital.  You need to buy an "aircard" which inserts in the pc slot in a notebook computer.  The speed is not as fast as DSL, but it is much faster than dialup.  The service has been extremely reliable.  You can remain connected as long as you please for one monthly fee of about $80.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/mobileoptions/broadband/index.jsp

The wired RV park
Many people have no idea that the newest thing is for RV parks to offer phone jacks, and for RV manufacturers to pre-wire the rig for a telephone. If you were making a reservation for a hotel room, you wouldn’t even ask if the room has a telephone! It’s just understood. Campgrounds with phone jacks are few and far between, but they are out there, and I’ll be telling you how to find them, in the book. Telephone jacks at selected campsites is a good idea, even if you don’t own a computer. When I’m on the road for 6 or 8 weeks, once or twice a week I try to phone Mom or one of my sisters. I’ll be standing at the pay phone, swatting mosquitoes, for an hour or so. Very often there is only one pay phone in the campground, and if others are waiting to use the same phone, they will look at their watch every 20 seconds or so; then shift their weight from the right leg to the left, just to remind me they are waiting.
Now, wouldn’t it be nice to make all your calls from inside your air-conditioned rig, while sipping on a beverage, and without people eavesdropping on your conversation?   And so a few progressive campground owners have decided to add overnight phone jacks at just a few of their sites.

Hint: Select a campground near a major city, where your ISP is more likely to have a local access number.

Winfield Sterling compiled this list of RV parks nationwide which offer campsites with overnight phone jacks at the sites.
Click here

RVers Online, list of “modem-friendly” RV parks.
http://www.rversonline.org/RVMF.html

Fulltiming America, order a book or CD-ROM listing over 2500 modem-ready parks, plus over 350 "instant on" phone campsites
http://www.fulltiming-america.com/phone.html

Phone jacks elsewhere in the campground
Many RV parks will provide a phone jack and desk in the office, game room, or laundry room for your laptop computer.Not quite as private as in your own rig, but there is no charge for this, and the number of campgrounds providing this service will far outnumber those with jacks at the sites.
Now, don’t expect to find phone hookups, or even a phone jack in the office, of state or national campgrounds. That may never happen. In fact, many people prefer state parks, simply because they offer fewer creature comforts. And phone jacks at the sites would ruin that feeling for a lot of people. (Phone jacks mean telephones will ring, and to some folks, that may seem too much like the home or office they left behind!)

But what if you can’t find a campground with phone jacks, or what if you simply have this rule, where you will not stay in a commercial campground? Well, there are many other places where you can plug in to a phone jack, IF you have a portable laptop computer. We’ll continue on with this discussion in a few paragraphs, but first, let’s talk about wireless solutions.

Wireless modems
A wireless modem is a card which plugs into the PCMCIA slot of a laptop computer; at the other end of the card is an antenna. You then sign up for wireless Internet access, which relies on wireless IP technology (cellular digital packet data or CDPD.) The bad news: there are very important limitations. First, the wireless modem is only capable of 19.2 kbs speed, and second, the service is only available in populated regions of the USA. The northeastern corridor from coastal Virginia to the coast of Maine is well covered, as are the coastal regions of the Florida peninsula. The populated regions of California are covered, as are major populated areas in most states. If you travel in Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming,  Nebraska or Kansas, there is no coverage in those states at this time.
I’m aware of only a very few RVers who have experimented with this system. Some say it’s the greatest invention the world has ever known, but far more say there are some real limitations. The service areas are MUCH narrower than cellular service, which means the system will only work in selected URBAN areas. So if you would like to use it in the campground at night, then you may need to find a campground within 20 miles or so of a major city center. I’m also told that the system works much better for short e-mail messages than it does for Web surfing. (Read on for cellular phone modems, which seems to be a far better option.)

Cellular phone modems
Just a few years ago, if you had a cellular phone and you were traveling outside of your local area, you’d incur “roaming charges” of perhaps $2 per day plus $1 per minute. Pretty expensive for web surfing! But today there are some pretty attractive cellular deals available. Including some one-rate plans, with no roaming charges, no long-distance charges, just a flat charge per month.
Every call you make, anywhere in the USA, is a local call. And remember that would be your total telephone expense. You’d never need to use a pay telephone again.

AT&T Digital One-Rate
http://www.attws.com/

Sprint PCS Free & Clear Plan
http://www.sprintpcs.com/

Verizon Wireless Single Rate Plan
http://www.verizonwireless.com/

Cingular (formerly Bellsouth) Wireless
http://www.cingular.com/

VoiceStream Wireless
http://www.voicestream.com/

Begin your road trip with Delorme  mapping software for your computer.


Street Atlas USA 2007 Plus
  

• Import and geo-locate your own data
• Adds 150 million phone & address listings linked to the maps
• Everything in the regular version plus extensive data import capability, 150 million U.S. and Canadian phone listings, and higher-end print and draw tools
• Innovative GPS features including voice commands, spoken directions, automatic back-on-track re-routing & mobile map colors
• Updated maps and four million places of interest produced by experienced mapmakers at DeLorme

Parts & accessories for RVs and tow vehicles from J.C. Whitney

Compare the rates of various wireless providers with Lower My Bills.com
http://www.lowermybills.com/


And yes, it is possible to get online with a cellular phone.  I now have a cell phone, plus a "connectivity kit" which connects the phone to the serial port of either a laptop or desktop computer. And I'm pleased to say it works! Once configured, your computer dials the cellphone to connect with your existing ISP; once connected you get email and surf the web just as you would with a land line. Speed is much slower than a land line - about 14,400.

You will need to find a cellular provider with "digital" capabilities, and you'll need to be located in a "digital" region in order to get online (your cellphone will indicate when you are.) You will most likely find "digital" regions in populated areas near major cities. Mind you, the same cellphone can make and send calls nearly everywhere, as it will switch from digital to analog mode as needed, but the computer interface will only work when you are in a digital region. Sprint calls their digital area "PCS," Verizon calls theirs "CDMA."

I bought the Audiovox CDM9000 phone and an Audiovox DIC-4000VW serial port interface cable; I use it with the Verizon CDMA service. And yes, it works, very reliably, in areas where digital service is available!

I recently completed an RV trip from south Florida to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and was able to get online in nearly all populated areas.  

Verizon Wireless
http://www.verizonwireless.com/

My cousin has a Samsung SCH3500 and a serial port  interface cable and uses it with Sprint PCS. And yes, I've seen it work!
Sprint PCS
http://www.sprintpcs.com/


iGo.com - mobile technology outfitter. Here you will find advice and products. Click on “Advice and tips.” Or click on other categories to buy products like batteries for laptops and cellphones, wireless modems, GPS devices.
http://www.igo.com/

Motorola Wireless Phones - Take a look at the model i1000. It comes with a built-in modem so you can attach it to your laptop, plus a headphone jack for safer hands-free operation in a motor vehicle, plus a built-in mini screen for surfing text-only websites.
Click here

Nokia Wireless Phones
http://www.nokia.com/main.html

Ericsson Wireless Phones
http://www.ericsson.com/US-CA/

Audiovox Wireless Phones
Click here

Speeding up the wireless phone connection
Using a cellphone to connect with the Internet is very slow, but there is at least one company which promises to speed that connection up, by using cellphone for the upload, and DirecPC for the download. Read about it here:
http://www.coretextechnologies.com/

Acoustic coupler
An acoustic coupler should be considered ONLY as a last-resort!  I used one and found it extremely frustrating. This $150 device resembles a telephone handset at one end, and plugs into your modem at the other end. Imagine if your computer is a desktop, and you could park your RV near a pay phone. I always find a place where there are at least 2 pay phones, because I don’t want to tie up the only phone. I guarantee just as soon as you’ve made your connection someone will come along with an emergency need for the pay telephone!
Next problem is most pay phones won’t accept the tones generated by your modem. Your modem is attempting to dial into your Internet Service Provider (ISP) but the pay telephone won’t respond. Also note that most pay phones will permit the handset to be off the hook for only a few seconds before that annoying voice, “Your phone is off the hook!
It works a bit easier with two people, but I travel solo. So I follow this procedure: Have lots of quarters and dimes ready. Take the pay phone handset off the hook, but use a piece of tape to hold the switchhook down. Mate the handset to the acoustic coupler. Now run inside the RV, tell the computer to dial the number; and just as it begins to dial that number, run back outside, take the tape off the switchhook, drop the coins in the phone, and dial the number on the pay phone. About one in 10 tries, your call will go through. And some more bad news. Some brands of pay telephones will not work at all with acoustical couplers, so if they don’t work with the AT&T phone booth, try the GTE phone down the street! And don’t expect the connection to be as clear, or as fast, as your line at home. Again, it may be marginally acceptable for e-mail, but is very frustrating if you hope to cruise the Web. For more about acoustic couplers & where to buy them, check out this site: 
http://www.konexx.com

Palm-sized computers (PDA)
There are so many choices of PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) that I can’t even begin to describe them all. Most of them fit in the palm of your hand, while others are nearly as big as a notebook computer. Generally, they will have a connection to your laptop or desktop computer, so that you can share files back and forth. Some also provide limited email or web browsing. It may have a modem, which means you can carry the palm computer to a convenient phone jack. Some may incorporate a wireless modem (see earlier discussion.)
Most of these solutions work better for email than they do for web surfing. You may even find a pager capable of sending and receiving email.

iGo.com - mobile technology outfitter. Advice on PDA devices.
http://www.igo.com/

Skytel - see a demonstration of how you get email on your pager.
http://www.email.skytel.com/demo/tour_frames.htm

Pocketmail
Pocketmail combines a PDA with an accoustic coupler, and may be a good choice if you need to send and receive e-mail often, but you rarely or never need to surf the web. First you buy a Pocketmail-compatable PDA from a selection of brands (about $140) then sign up for the $10/ month Pocketmail e-mail service. You will be assigned a Pocketmail e-mail address. Your Pocketmail PDA will have a built-in accoustic coupler. Mate the coupler with the handset of any telephone, pay phone, or cell phone, and dial the toll-free Poketmail number. The access number is toll-free anywhere in the USA; from all other countries you still have access but you would need to pay for a long-distance call. If someone sends you an email with an attachment, such as a photo, your PDA will not display it, but you can save it at the Pocketmail computer and access it the next time you have access to the Web from a real computer.
http://www.pocketmail.com

Broadband, or high-speed internet access
In the book we'll discuss three ways to speed up your download time.
Cable modems
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
Satellite dish

Satellite dish
Many RVers own a small satellite dish system. Just imagine, you could be a thousand miles from the nearest TV station, and still receive a couple of hundred channels, with digital picture quality and stereo sound. Wouldn’t this be great?
And, in late 1999, the government cleared the way for DirecTV and Dish Network to broadcast local channels in major cities across the USA. So if you sign up in (for exmple) Miami, where the affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX are all broadcast on DirecTV, you should be able to receive these 4 local stations on your satellite dish no matter where you are parked. On the other hand, if your billing address is outside of any local viewing area, you may be eligible to pick up the network feeds off the satellite.

The satellite TV discussion may seem a bit off-topic, but I mention all of this only as an introduction to the possible use of a satellite dish to receive information from the Internet. The good news is, because there is no phone line to slow it down, information can come from the satellite in space, to your dish and into your computer at a rate up to 15 times faster than over a phone line! The bad news is, it can only come there, if you tell it to. And to do that still requires a phone connection. When you surf the Net, your computer needs two-way communication. Your computer says, “I want to see the website at www.rvclub.com”, and then that information is sent to your computer. Your satellite dish can receive the signal, but it has no way of sending a signal. So you still need a phone jack in the campground, or a cellular phone modem. It’s still a very good idea, because the message from your telephone to the satellite is very small, “Please send me the following file.” while the message coming back is much larger - it could be a very complex webpage with lots of graphics, and it would download to your computer in microseconds. The bad news is you still need a phone line, or cellular connection.

Oh yes, there are two-way satellite phones. The instrument costs about $3,000., plus there is a service fee of about $1,000. per month to use it. If you are Mobil Oil Company and you have 20 workers on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, 75 miles off the coast of Louisiana, then $12,000 per year may sound like petty cash. But I suspect that most RVers would prefer to pay a few bucks extra for a campsite with phone jacks now and again!

DirecPC and DirecTV on one dish
The DirecDuo dish has an elliptical shape, so that it can grab a signal from two different satellites. You also need a special DirecPC modem for your computer, and there is a monthly fee from DirecPC, plus you still need an ISP to provide your telephone link to DirecPC. The monthly fee to DirecPC plus the monthly fee to your ISP should be about $50, about the same as you would pay if you had a high-speed internet DSL line at your home. But just think - you could take it with you and have high-speed Internet access anywhere you could plug into a phone line! 
OK, so it’s not really a wireless solution. But at this time there are only 3 ways to get high-speed internet access at home, a DSL line, or a modem provided by your cable TV service, satellite. And of the three, DirecPC is the only one suitable for RVers who move from campground to campground. I used DirecPC for about 12 months, and I was quite happy with it. Websites with lots of pictures download in a flash - most of the time. It's not always 15 times faster than a standard phone line and modem. There have been a few times when the download time is no faster than with a phone line; one night when there was a really heavy fog, and other times probably just due to heavy usage by other users who are accessing the same satellite. But 95% of the time, it's fantastic.
DirecPC
http://www.direcpc.com/
DirecTV
http://www.directv.com


Top Ten sites to test the bandwidth of your Internet connection. At the end of the test you=ll see just how fast your computer and modem are, compared with other solutions.
Click here

Two-way satellite.

DirecWay and DirecTV
One dish can receive both DirecTV plus two-way broadband internet. And since there is no telephone connection required, you can still use your telephone for talking. (Sounds great - but not for RVers - read warning below.)
http://www.hns.com/direcway/intro.htm

Dish Network & Starband
One dish can receive both Dish Network plus two-way broadband internet. And since there is no telephone connection required, you can still use your telephone for talking. (Sounds great - but not for RVers - read warning below.)
http://www.dishnetwork.com/


Warning to RVers:
Sounds like the perfect solution for RVers, doesn't it? Wireless, two-way broadband internet via satellite, no phone line. But it's only available when professionally installed, on a permanent structure. Not for RVs. The reason - remember that your dish is transmitting upwards toward the satellite, and if a novice were to aim it incorrectly, he could interfere with the wrong satellite, causing all sorts of problems! Therefore the FCC requires that it be professionally installed on a permanent structure.  Until they have developed some safeguards to eliminate that possibilty, it won't be available to RVers.

Other places to hook up your laptop
Meanwhile, if you have a laptop, here are some additional places to get online.

Flying J Truck Stops
When I say truck stop, are you picturing a greasy spoon restaurant? Well, erase that image! The Utah-based chain of Flying J Truck Stops are clean, and their family restaurants serve food the entire family will enjoy. But the best part is that many of their restaurants will loan you a telephone to use while you wait for your dinner. Some of the booths have wired telephones, or they will loan you a cordless phone. You can make free local calls or toll-free calls. And their restaurants even have tables with phone jacks, so you can plug in your laptop computer and surf the Web while you eat. Now, even if you don’t own a computer, wouldn’t it be a whole lot more comfortable to phone friends & family while sitting in a restaurant, rather than while standing in the campground in the rain?
http://www.flyingj.com/
And check out their RV Club discount card, good for 1 cent per gallon discount on gasoline and diesel, and 5% on propane.
http://serv2.flyingj.com/programs/rvclub.cfm


Kinko’s Copy Centers
Kinko’s has copy centers nationwide (USA, Canada and many other countries), and they have always been a good place to make photo copies. But now they also offer a desk and phone jack, at no charge, where you can plug in your laptop computer. Kinko’s also rents computers by the hour for desktop publishing, and some locations will also rent those computers for surfing the Web.
http://www.kinkos.com

Mail Boxes Etc.
Since they also handle mail forwarding, RVers and people on the road may already be aware of this firm. Copies, FAX service, and phone jacks at some locations in USA, Canada, and many other countries.
http://www.mbe.com/

Office supply stores
Each of these big office supply store chains operate business centers (services similar to those offered at Kinko’s) in selected locations - but not in every one of their stores. In those stores where they provide business services, you may find a phone jack.
http://www.officedepot.com/
http://www.officemax.com/
http://www.staples.com/

Let someone else provide the computer
Now, you see what I mean, when I say that folks with a laptop computer will have far more options than with a desktop computer? Another way to get online is to simply leave your desktop computer in your rig, and don’t even try to connect it to a phone line. Use someone else’s computer; at a cyber cafe, for example.

Cyber Cafes
Cyber cafes are particularly popular in university towns, but you’ll find them popping up all over. I was really surprised to find one in a historic drug store in old Saint Augustine, Florida. For the price of a sandwich or a cup of coffee, or sometimes for an hourly charge, you are provided a computer with Internet access.  If you are planning to send e-mail, compose it on your own computer first, then take along the disk. You might be paying for the public-access computer by the hour, or others may be waiting to use it, so if you are receiving mail, download it to your disk and take it back to your computer and read it; then come back to the public access computer with your answers on a disk and transmit your outgoing mail.
Here’s a list of thousands of cyber cafes worldwide, updated daily. Search by state or by city or by country:
http://www.cybercaptive.com

Public library
Just about every public library now has computers linked up with the Web, and most will allow visitors to use them, free or for a small fee.

Kiosks in shopping malls

Truck stop computer kiosks
Ever wonder how a truck driver keeps in touch withthe dispatcher office? Well, in the olden days, he would phone the dispatcher several times a day, to see if the dispatcher had any news. Today, they keep in touch by email with computer kiosks in truck stops nationwide. The driver can check his email - messages from home, from friends, instructions from the dispatcher - at the kiosk. Each of these truckstop chains have internet kiosks - the only thing that's not real clear on their website- are they for truck drivers only, or in a public area?
Petro Truckstops
http://www.petrotruckstops.com/about_petro.asp
Flying J Truckstops and RoadLink kiosks
http://www.flyingj.com/s_roadlink.html
TA Travel Centers and RoadKing Club kiosks
Click here


Your Uncle Fred’s house
It may be really obvious, or it just may be something you never would think about. If you are visiting friends or relatives, and you need to read your e-mail, you just may find that your Uncle Fred has a computer and access to the Internet. It may seem extremely rude, to visit a long-lost relative and then sit in isolation while you surf the Web. But I can think of times where this might work out very well. Like maybe your wife and her sister haven’t seen each other for years, but you and your brother-in-law have nothing in common. But now the two men can surf the Web while the women catch up on 10 years of gossip.

One problem with using other computers
There is one problem with cyber cafes and public libraries - they have access to the Internet, but they may not have the software you are familiar with at home. So, if you use AOL at home, and Uncle Fred uses Prodigy, you won't be able to get your mail the same way you do at home. However, in recent years both Prodigy and AOL have added a web-based alternative so you can receive and send mail from any computer.

With AOL you simply go to www.aol.com and enter your username and password in the "AOL Members Sign In" box.

With Prodigy, go to this site:
http://www.prodigy.com/maillink/

Free Web-based e-mail accounts
These are really popular with a lot of people. Remember I told you earlier that many people have their own e-mail address at work, or at school. But not all employers, and not all school administrators, are willing to have you use that e-mail address for personal messages. There are now several free e-mail servers on the Internet.
Some of the more popular are Hotmail.com, and Yahoo.com, and Bigfoot.com.  A free Web-based e-mail account may also be a good idea for some RVers. Establishing an account with one of these is similar to signing up with AOL or Prodigy, except that they don’t need your credit card info, since the service is free. (Paid by advertisers who post banners on the site.) You choose a screen name and a password. As long as no one has reserved the screen name, you can have it. Now, you tell everyone that your new E-mail address is (for example) yourname@hotmail.com.    From this point forward, you can retrieve e-mail sent to that address, from any computer in the world with Internet access! (Note that this also permits you to change ISPs at will, without changing your address each time.)
From any computer with Internet access, you go to Hotmail.com, (or Yahoo.com or Bigfoot.com) enter your e-mail address and password, and retrieve your mail. You can reply to the messages, or compose new e-mail, and set up address books, just as you would through your online service provider  Advertising banners will appear on all your messages, and mail retrieval will be MUCH slower than you are accustomed to. It is slow, as each message needs to be downloaded individually from the Internet, along with all the banner ads. Each e-mail message will take as long to download as a typical webpage. Set up the free account and experiment with it first, by sending yourself a bunch of messages and then reading them! 
And if your ISP is nearly anyone but AOL, then you should be able to have your e-mail automatically forwarded to your Hotmail or Yahoo Mail address. You can find instructions on this at the Hotmail or Yahoo sites.
http://www.hotmail.com
http://mail.yahoo.com/
http://www.bigfoot.com

Do you still need an ISP?
Perhaps you have figured this out: It is therefore possible to receive and send e-mail, and access the Internet, without even owning a computer! Why carry a computer along in the RV at all? Go to public libraries along the way, or pay a cyber cafe or Kinko’s a few bucks only when you need to get mail. Or look for RV resorts which provide a computer terminal and Web browsing software as part of their facilities. The Escapees RV Club offers this service at some of their member parks.  As long as you don’t mind the inconvenience of looking for a library or cyber cafe from time to time, you could eliminate the cost of a computer, and if you have the patience to use a web-based e-mail program like Hotmail, you can avoid the $19.95 in monthly fees for an ISP.    

Free voice mail
U Reach - Manage all your personal information from one place; send/receive emails, create an address book, manage your appointments, save files, create bookmarks and get notified of messages via email, pager or instant messaging (IM). It's free! Plus calling card plans as low as $5/ month plus about 8 cents per minute.
http://www.ureach.com/

One Box offers most of the same.
http://www.onebox.com/

All above links checked 12/09/02.

Report dead links here.

Begin your road trip with Delorme  mapping software for your computer.


Street Atlas USA 2007 Plus
  

• Import and geo-locate your own data
• Adds 150 million phone & address listings linked to the maps
• Everything in the regular version plus extensive data import capability, 150 million U.S. and Canadian phone listings, and higher-end print and draw tools
• Innovative GPS features including voice commands, spoken directions, automatic back-on-track re-routing & mobile map colors
• Updated maps and four million places of interest produced by experienced mapmakers at DeLorme

Parts & accessories for RVs and tow vehicles from J.C. Whitney