Mobile Internet Access

[Shep]

Hi all, hope somebody can give me a bit of advice?

I live on a boat for about 85% of my time (no phone connection)

At the moment all my internet access is through my PC at work

I've just purchased a laptop with a gprs/3g data card this enables me to access the internet.

Question 1

How do I access my Email's that i receive at work, is it possible to remotely access my ISP, deal with my emails over the weekend, then when i get back to work on monday, somehow find the work done? (Not sure if I explained that one well)

Question 2

If i visit ukgser from my laptop, do I have to re-register as a new user?

I hope these questions arn't to stupid I'm a bit new to this IT lark

Regards Shep

 

[Steve]

Question 2

If i visit ukgser from my laptop, do I have to re-register as a new user?

No. You'll just have to login with your existing Id the first time you visit from your laptop. After that the cookie will be stored on your PC (if you allow cookies).

Sorry, can't help with the first question.

 

[Tobers]

Hi Shep,

When using your PC at work to get internet & email, that PC will be connected to a network, most likely using a cable.

Your 3G/GPRS card will provide the same facilities as the cable on your work PC, but the data transmission rate will be slower.

So, presuming you have got your laptop set up OK to access the internet using the card, here are the answers to your questions:

1) You need to check with your system administrator at work what is required to access your work email. Usually this will be either:

a) a web browser on your laptop enabling you to access your email using something called "webmail" - a bit like accessing any other web based email like Yahoo Mail or Hotmail. Your admin guy will need to give you the details of the site to point your browser at, any login details etc.

b) an email client (e.g. Outlook Express) on your laptop which connects to your work email server, most commonly using IMAP or POP3 protocols. Your admin guy will need to give you the access details for this setup which you enter into the section on Outlook Express where you create a new account.

If you get a) or b) set up, then emails that you read from your laptop will be marked as "read" on your work email server. When you go in on Monday and fire up your office PC and look at your email, you'll be able to see which ones have been read.

2) No. Just sign in with your normal username and password. This site will put a cookie on your laptop which will retain the login details if you click the "remember me" (or whatever it is called) option.

Away you go - rack up those 3G charges

Andy

 

[Shep]

Hi Tobers

Thanks for that, but unfortunately there's only me here and the only network experience I have is fixing my fishing nets!

I have no Email server just a PC, connected by phone line and only on a dial up basis.

Talk about cookies just makes me hungry!

I guess i'll just have to stump up the cash and go to my local PC shop, trouble is it always looks so simple when they explain what the've done, but i need to lay down in a quiet, dark room for a while just to recover from the bill!

Still any other suggestions would still be appreciated

Regards Shep

 

[Tobers]

OK - so back to basics.

When using your PC dialled up on the phone, what are you dialling up to?

You should be able to get the PC to "dial" using the 3G card and do exactly the same stuff as you currently do over dial-up.

When you are dialled in, what do you do? Do you retrieve email and browse the web, or just browse the web? If you do get email, what application/programme do you use to get it?

We'll go from there.

Andy

 

[Shep]

Hi Tobers

Thanks for not giving up!

I use Outlook Express 6 to retrieve my emails from my ISP (Businessserve)

I understand I can recover my emails from businessserve with my laptop & 3G connection, I guess I would have to contact my ISP and they would help me configure the connection?

I think then I would catch up with my emails over the weekend OK
but on monday, back on the PC again I would have no record of any work done at the weekend, (i assume i can just burn a CD containing the mail and any attachments then load them to my PC on monday morning. but sods law will come into play and i'm bound to forget the disc at some critical point!)

I was just wondering if there was an online email service that would just act like my Outlook Express but could be accessed both by my PC and the Laptop

The PC runs Win 98
The Laptop runs windows XP home

Regards Shep

 

[Steve]

I was just wondering if there was an online email service that would just act like my Outlook Express but could be accessed both by my PC and the Laptop

Your ISP probably has a webmail feature.

If not, try this one:

www.mail-online.co.uk

Edit: Ooops - doesn't seem to be working. I'll get back to you.

 

[Tobers]

Hi Shep,

OK - you should have got some software with your 3G card to load on your laptop - something like a "connection manager" or similar. This will enable the 3G network connection (or GPRS is you are not in a 3G area). Once that is done, you effectively have "normal" internet & email access as you would do with dial-up.

So, I assume you have Outlook Express on your laptop all configured so it works with dial-up? It should therefore work fine with 3G and you may not have to do anything.

Outlook Express looks to see if you have a network connection (any type - dial-up, 3G, broadband etc) when it starts. If there isn't one, it will dial/connect in the default manner set up for the account you are trying to get email for.

So, use the "connection manager" software to make the connection. Once that is done, fire up Outlook Express and it should go forth and collect your emails correctly.

Now: you can set up your email account on Outlook Express to "leave mail on server" or similar. This means that your emails are not permanently moved to your laptop, but left on your ISPs email server. When you then go to another PC (like your work one) and do the normal thing to retrieve your emails, they will all be there but the ones you have marked as "read" will be shown as such so you can track what you've done.

No need to burn CDs & stuff.

Loads & loads of people (myself included) do it this way so what you want is quite established and normal.

Checklist:

- Outlook Express on PC & Laptop?
- Outlook Express configured on laptop OK?
- Check the "leave mail on server" option on the account you have set up on Outlook Express on your laptop - rough guess from memory - tools->options->accounts->select the account & click properties and you'll find it in there somewhere.
- Connection software for 3G card installed on laptop
- Run connection software on laptop & it connects properly
- Start outlook express - it should link through to your mail account on your ISP, get your email down. You can read & respond to your email fine.
- Later, on your other work PC, start outlook express and it will download your emails including the ones you read/responded to at the weekend which will be marked as "read".

Andy

 

[Snooky]

What ever you do don't go to a shop and ask them to sort it, if really stuck give me a shout and I'll come and sort it for you, I'm supposedly in IT so can set it up for you.

 

[richie]

Make sure you "park" up always near a group of houses.

then if you are lucky you can connect wirelessly to their network.

All joking asides since I've had a wifi portable and a airport mac. 1 in 2 houses I visit has wireless or the neighbour does. The mac connects each time with a simple yes or no. Never had a password problem...

Cunning

 

[Shep]

Nearly there

just got a problem with norton internet security now, i have to disable this to be able to log on to the internet, they should of stuck to making bikes!

Snookie, thanks for the offer its nice to know I've got some local backup if needed!

Thanks again
Shep

ps how come when I enter a thread i get a black spot on my little envelope?

 

[Tobers]

All threads you post on are identified with a little black spot on the envelope. It's not a black mark against your name or anything