 |
|
 |
|
Cellular phone coverage is available in all Long Term Visitor Areas featured on this web site but as of the winter of 2000 most were analog service rather than digital. Slab City and Imperial Dam had the worst reception due to the mountains around.
You should check reliability of your cellular phone features with you service provider before counting on all of them to work. For example, cellular phones that have email receiving capabilities or that provide an answering service do not work unless you are in a digital service area.
STANDARD INTERNET AND EMAIL SERVICE
Any of the large communities offer free internet and email service at the public library. No library fee is requested although there is usually a small charge for use of their printer. If you plan to do internet banking or other business at a secure web site, finding a computer that has 128 bit encryption may be a bit of a challenge. This is a high tech security program that needs to be installed on the browser (free of charge to non-commercial users) before you will be allowed to proceed.
There are a number of companies that offer internet and email services:
WIRELESS INTERNET SERVICES
Wireless internet services are becoming more and more practical every day. Choosing a wireless access provider will depend on the type of device you want to use, such as a Palm handheld, a web-enabled phone, or a laptop.
If you are on the road and simply need to check your stocks or get news and weather, the small screened Palm VII is likely all that is required. More sites offering content specifically formatted for these small screens are being added every day and the cost is currently about $40 per month for a 19.6-kbps service .
If you only want to check your email while you're on the road, a web-enabled phone will do the trick and is still the most secure for this purpose when compared to Wi-Fi (wireless network). As with the Palm, the screen is small but adequate for reading email but the service is quite slow. The top providers, Sprint, Verizon, Telus and AT&T Wireless offer a variety of plans and rates, too numerous to mention here.
Alternatively, it has become quite easy to find and access hotspots established for wireless service for laptops. Every wireless access point, which is really a box with an antenna and a wired internet connection that sends out radio signals within a limited range, creates a region of connectivity around it. For example, some coffee shops install access points so that you can get online from an outside table, and airports use them to provide business travelers with Ethernet jacks. These access points, as well as those in private homes or large office buildings, create regions of internet access that roving laptops can access. More and more of these areas of connectivity, or hotspots, are being made available to the public every day, some free, others at a (usually quite reasonable) service fee.
Many laptop computers now come equipped with wireless network (Wi-Fi) capabilities, or adapters can be purchased for your old laptop, that will allow you to access these hotspots. Although it is possible to accidentally stumble onto wireless access that isn't legally open to the public, it is advisable to find one that is intended for public use.
There is an increasing security concern surrounding the use of Wi-Fi services. Quoting CNET.com, "It is common for people to unintentionally use others' Wi-Fi networks without explicit authorization. As operating systems such as Windows XP SP2 and Mac OS X automatically connect to an available wireless network, depending on the network configuration. A user who happens to start up a laptop in the vicinity of an access point may find the computer has joined the network without any visible indication. Moreover, a user intending to join one network may instead end up on another one if the latter's signal is stronger. In combination with automatic discovery of other network resources (see DHCP and Zeroconf) this could possibly lead wireless users to send sensitive data to the wrong destination, as described by Chris Meadows in the February 2004 RISKS Digest."
Check out our links page for listings.
A good source of information regarding
cellular and wireless connectivity is a document written by Mel
Chaney found on the RVrs Online web site as well as John's
DOS Web pages. (Please remember to use your
browser's BACK button to return to this page.)
