ONLINE SERVICES WHILE OVERSEAS

Back in November 2007, I wrote about CELL PHONES ON THE HIGH SEAS, this article talked of the universality of using cellular telephones around the world and, specifically, while on board a ship and warned of the roaming charges to be expected when doing so.

In addition to using cell phones to reach out and touch someone, the global communications trend is rapidly moving toward social networking websites such as Facebook, PLAXO, MySpace and the like. Some people we know appear to spend all day on one of these. In no way do we condemn any of these sites. Actually, we both belong to two of them and enjoy them for re-connecting with and keeping up with friends, family etc. Most of us who use these sites are connected to the internet via high-speed broadband services. As such, we do not consider or even think about the volume of data that is interchanged between our computer and the internet.

When we travel, we need internet service as well as telephone service and think nothing of using them. We recently purchased a wireless modem that would enable us to use our netbooks on GPRS based internet services inside and outside of the United States. It does work well in both but when we got home from a recent trip to France, we found out that the overseas cost was astronomical. GPRS based internet Service in the U. S. costs less than $60 for the first five gigabytes of data interchanged. We expected similar costs while travelling. Not so in France where the cost was $15 per megabyte. This may not sound like a lot but one megabyte of transfered data isn’t a lot. 169.4081 megabytes cost us, (you doing the math on this?) $2,541.68. We never thought the roaming charges would be so exorbitant. Never again! You certainly do not want to engage in social networking at these costs.

Here are a few much less costly workarounds:

Shipboard internet services – Most cruise ships have an Internet Café. If you want to use your laptop or netbook, some cruise ships have Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the ship and some of the newer ships provide hardwire and or Wi-Fi service right in your stateroom. The costs for using these are on a sliding scale. The more time you use, the lower the per minute cost. Check before you sign up

Shore side internet cafes and Starbucks – You will find internet cafes located at or near many ports around the world as well as in metropolitan centers. Many of these also can accommodate your laptop or netbook.

Airports – Many airports now provide free or nominally priced Wi-Fi service within their confines. Many of the frequent traveler clubs located within airports offer free Wi-Fi service within the clubs.

Municipality provided services – A new and growing trend in many cities is the provision of Wi-Fi internet services by cities and towns. We have yet to use any of these services and cannot further comment on them.

Universal caution – Be careful what you transmit on unsecured networks or those where you do not know of the security provided. Your data can be intercepted and result in theft of funds or data. This is especially true of open Wi-Fi networks including your own at home.

We hope this has been of help to you!

CELL PHONES ON THE HIGH SEAS

It is almost impossible to go anywhere without being able to reach out and touch someone. Cellular telephone communication is just one of today's modern communication methodologies. It is not at all unusual to see people driving and talking on their cell phone. The most unusual cell conversations we've seen were a youngster on a skateboard talking on his cellphone and a young lady riding on horse back and talking on the phone. Whether we have to stay in communication as much as we do is a subject for another discussion but here we're just going to look at the cost of maintaining communication while on a cruise ship.

Many of today's modern cruise ships are equipped to enable those who need to STAY IN COMMUNICATION to do so. On a recent Caribbean cruise we used our cell phones a lot. After all, we did have to keep our business going and we did have to stay in contact with family and friends and we did have to send and receive our e-mails on our Blackberry. All this at a cost. When our cell phone bill arrived, we found out just how expensive today's communication can be. The use of shipboard cellular service over that two week period was more than the monthly cost of our cellular service.

Believe me, I'm not saying don't use your cell on a ship. There are times when, for business or personal reasons, you must communicate. If ya gotta do it, you gotta do it. But, if it can wait, let it wait! Avoid the un-necessary expense and shock when the bill comes in after that wonderful cruise.

Consider the pros and cons before reaching out:

Pros - Maintain Communication with; business associates and customers, family and friends parents and children and emergency situations.

Cons - Expense, ability to escape the world's hustle and bustle, personal privacy, don't even think about texting.

Alternative, save your conversation till you're in port where the roaming charges are much lower. You might even find that your cellular provider has service there.