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!

The InterNET at Sea is not for Fishing

In this time of being ever busy, some find it difficult to allocate time for rest and relaxation. Rest and Relaxation are the primary reasons for taking a cruise. Now you can have time at sea and even do a little work while you’re there. That of course is only if you really feel that you must.

In addition to being able to use your cell phone on many ships you can also have access to the World Wide Web while aboard. There are several ways in which this can be accomplished. Most of today’s cruise ships have fully equipped internet cafés where passengers can surf the web, send and receive e-mail from their home internet service provider or other services such as AOL, Hotmail, G-Mail to mention but a few. Additionally, if they don’t have their own e-mail facility, passengers can use the cruise line’s e-mail system.

As an alternative to using the cruise ship’s equipment, passengers can also access the internet using their own laptop computer. Use of one’s own equipment obviously increases the security factor. This can be done in one of two ways; many ships have Wi-Fi available in some areas of the ship while others have Wi-Fi available all over the ship including passenger staterooms. In addition to having Wi-Fi capability, some ships have a direct connection Ethernet port right in the passengers’ staterooms. All the passenger need do is connect to the port using an appropriate Ethernet cable. This use of a cable also enhances the security perspective over Wi-Fi.

It is possible to carry on business from your ship while on the high seas. There is, however, a cost and the user must understand what that cost is and evaluate it against the need. The cruise lines usually have plans by which specific amounts of time can be purchased. Per minute charges are typically lower when a larger block of time is purchased (100 minutes at 30 cents per minutes versus 30 Minutes at 65 cents per minute). If the user opts not to purchase a plan they can still use the internet facilities on a minute by minute basis. This is the most expensive per minute cost. Printing is more often than not fairly expensive so the user must determine the need for the printed page.

When considering cellular telephone use while at sea, watch the rates. It can be very expensive. Please see our CELL PHONES ON THE HIGH SEAS blog.

Here’s the greatest thing about computers at sea. We have been able to fully conduct business while enjoying a cruise.