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Internet on the move

Posted on 26 Sep 2002 at 17:27

I've received quite a few emails from readers asking about the best way to make Internet connections while travelling abroad. I've mentioned this briefly in recent columns, but it seems that readers want to know more. There have been many changes in these technologies recently, so I'll cover some of the newer tricks now available.

For the traveller with a laptop, there's only one constant - every hotel has a phone, and into 99 per cent of the sockets you can plug in a US RJ-45 connector. This may require some ingenuity at times, as not all phones have 'data ports' on them, some phones are wired directly to the wall, and most have sockets hidden behind overweight beds, but you'll be able to reach a socket somehow.
One thing to watch out for is the hotel room with the power socket on the other side of the room from the phone socket. I've found myself in this situation, and had two cables stretched tight across the room, with my laptop sitting on a strategically placed chair in the centre of the room. This would have been less of a problem if I hadn't flattened the battery first, of course.
Even just making a dial-up Internet connection can be fraught with difficulties. I travel with a record of my UK ISP's number and connection details (an 020 number, because 0800, 0845 and other special-rate numbers can be hard to reach from overseas), plus at least two numbers in the country I'm travelling. As I'm often in the US, I have one number in a city that I know works, plus as many of the local area numbers for the ISPs I'm using as possible. This way, I'm able to make several stumbling attempts to connect using a local number at local rates, to reduce the cost. If all else fails, I can make an emergency international call to send one email, or look up the right local numbers when I find myself in an unexpected city.
For a long time, I used and recommended CompuServe and AOL for international access - they still have a vast number of PoPs (points of presence) and a reasonably consistent access protocol. However, CompuServe (now owned by AOL) has always offered poor Internet performance, and AOL is starting to suffer from what appears to be network congestion - poor performance, engaged numbers and so on.
Another alternative is to sign up for a US ISP; the disadvantage is that you'll have access in the US only, but if you mainly travel to the US this may be sufficient. I've used a number of different ISPs, fully paid-for services as well as so-called 'free' ISPs, but I've now given up on this for two reasons. One reason is that it's expensive to keep an additional paid-for ISP account open. The other, and probably more important reason, is that not one of these ISPs has managed to stay alive for more than six months after I've subscribed with them, so I really can't recommend this approach.
I keep coming back to one system, and I note that most of the Real World contributors have done the same - this system is GRIC (www.gric.com). It's a global network of ISPs that allow you to connect via their PoPs. Exactly how this works from a financial point of view depends on the GRIC member ISP you use. The basic deal is that you sign up with a local ISP at home (or hope that your current ISP is already a member) and then you can connect using the same login details - more or less - to any other member ISP, anywhere in the world. Via GRIC, I've always found local ISPs to connect through in Europe and the US.
If you use Microsoft operating systems, GRIC is simple to use - just download its dialler software, which takes care of setting the correct connection details and updating the list of current PoPs for you. For those who sometimes choose not to use Microsoft, there is some twisting and turning and magic incantations required, but the process of setting up a connection isn't hard.