Email to Mobile or laptop abroad?

[Marjorie Proops]

Can any of you international road warriors help me out.

I've used email type phones before and never found them that useful especially for longish emails. I also usually take a laptop with me when travelling (for business and camera work).

But for some reason I have never yet connected a mobile to a laptop and downloaded the emails onto the laptop (even in the UK). Is it simple? Do I need separate data provision from my phone supplier? (I use a BT Business combined phone/mobile/internet package - very good so far)

Or do I just enter my normal smtp type settings into my laptop and use the mobile on International roaming normal calls

By the time I get into the 21st Century it will be the 22nd!

Steve

 

[Jezza]

A mate of mine used his mobile to connect his laptop to the Internet to pick up email. As you pay not for the time on line but for the amount of data downloaded it was very expensive.

To log on, pick up some emails with attachments and reply with attachments cost £50 for a day working at home. Its bound to cost more doing the same abroad.

I tend to leave the laptop at home and use my hotel or local cyber cafes internet connection to pick up web based email.

 

[pedmo]

I use a mobile and laptop as my only internet connection. Its 3G and fast enough for everthing except downloading videos or software updates etc.

T-Mobile have a deal that costs around £7.50/ month on top of the normal phone contract cost (web n walk) No data transfer limits I am aware of apart from a fair use policy. I use Yahoo internet based email and emails are easy.

Never used it abroad but I think it would still work.

 

[Padge]

Careful with the Roaming and Data charges.
I've roamed in the UK using O2 (and I'm on O2 Ireland) and they billed me €78+VAT for viewing 3 pages on this site!!!

Expect a quid a meg and some places in Europe may be €5/mb when roaming so it's very easy to rack up a sh1t load on your bill.

To get around it I got a US contract from Verizon with a Blackberry where they gave unlimited global email and data (on the blackberry) for $50/month

Have left that company now so don't have specific detiails.

Just use hotel wireless...Some chains are free, some charge but never more that about €10 a night.

 

[DavidJames]

I travel around europe most weeks with work and use a combination of my phone and wireless for my laptop. My phone has MS Exchange Activesync so I can use it for push email (like Blackberry) to recieve and send emails whilst on the move - it is very useful as i never get behind on email whilst travelling. My phone has a qwerty keypad and i find it very easy to type short or medium length emails on. If I have more complicated or lengthy emails to write, I just wait until I get to the hotel in the evening and use their wireless. The good thing about using your phone is that you can set it to only dowload a small piece of the message initially, this allows you to get the gist on the mail and respond if need be, or then dowload the rest. This allows you to limit the data you are downloading as it is expensive. Using your mobile as a modem or even using a plug in GSM or 3G modem can be very expensive abroad as you can easily download a lot of data without realising. The only downside to using you phone like this is that the battery will drain very quickly!!

 

[exeter_lad]

Infrared?

I have a Nokia and dowloaded the PC Sync software to my Laptop. Turn on Infrared connectivity on phone, place it by the laptop and then use the phone via the laptop. Upload/download files, create and send messages, synchronise contacts, etc.