Wired and Rolling: Surfing the ‘Net from the Open Road
From the
beginning of our life on the road, access to e-mail and the Internet has
been high on the list of priorities. A permanent address in cyberspace
makes running a mobile business possible.
Finding ways
to log on from the road has presented an endless stream of challenges,
and most of the same ones that faced us back in 1994 are still with us
today. Although satellite communications systems are tantalizingly close
to completion, and some wireless data transmission services exist within
limited areas, we still have to rely on cellular connections when we're
on the road. A cellular connection is virtually useless for surfing the
Web, since the fastest reliable speed hovers at a baud rate of around
4800. You feel wildly lucky if you can maintain a connection at 9600,
and more often than not, you watch the minutes tick by as your e- mail
crawls onto your hard drive at 2400. And you'd better be using a 3-watt
telephone with a high-gain antenna, too, and parked in a spot with a strong
signal. The little hand-held jobs can't go the distance, no matter what
the glossy advertisements may lead you to believe.
Back in 1994,
when we began our quest for mobile connection, cellular service was unavailable
over large expanses of North America. The situation has improved over
the last four years, but even so, problems still arise in areas where
fraud has forced some companies to restrict access, and in places where
the service companies can't agree on roam charges and reciprocal services.
Just last year, for example, we had no service at all in New Mexico because
local providers were feuding with AT&T.
Early on,
we obtained an acoustic coupler, a streamlined descendant of the old dinosaurs
used back in the seventies. This one has Velcro straps to attach it to
the receiver of a pay phone, and when I got it, I thought I'd be able
to forget cellular altogether. I was wrong. The acoustic coupler worked
only occasionally, and at speeds so agonizingly slow I had to wait until
midnight so I could hog a public phone without starting a riot. It usually
takes a dozen or so tries before it can establish a connection, and even
when it does, the slightest interruption will break it off.
All of this
has meant renting motel rooms fairly regularly, just for the phone. Even
here, however, things are not always smooth. Some establishments block
data calls. Some have systems that aren't compatible with modems. Some
have hard-wired systems with no telephone jacks. I've actually had to
use the acoustic coupler with a hotel telephone.
"Aren't
things getting better, though?" you may ask. "Aren't new products
appearing every day?" Well, yes and no. Cellular service has improved,
as I mentioned before, and hotels that cater to business travelers have
responded to their need for data transfer. But the scenarios that these
magazines deal in take place in major metropolitan areas. 'Mobile' usually
means 'staying in a high-rise hotel.' Ads that show buff guys in kayacks
logging on from a river in Costa Rica are fun to look at, but they are
more than a little misleading.
So what's
the good news? Slowly but inexorably, things are improving. As more and
more people realize the unbelievable flexibility that electronic communication
offers, the demand increases for truly mobile equipment and service. In
the meantime, don't let the molehills stop you. You can be wired and rolling
today, if you put your mind to it!
Click
here to read the last installment: "Notes From the End of the Rainbow"
