Computer Tips for Travelers

An article that Chris wrote for the Family Motor Coach magazine – reproduced here (with permission), complete with links to all the free software mentioned.

Print This · Email This I haven’t walked into a bank in over 10 years. I do everything either online or thru the mail. Checks get deposited thru the mail, bills get paid online, and I monitor all account activity online. I was doing this long before we went RVing, but it’s essential for the [...]

By Chris Guld FMC magazine, March 2008 (this article was first published in the Family Motor Coach magazine – it is reproduced here with permission) So you want to hit the road but can’t imagine being without your DSL or cable for high-speed Internet access. If only you could have all your Internet-based computer resources [...]

If you use client-based email like Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Eudora, or Entourage, you may experience trouble sending email from Wi-Fi hotspots. If you missed my introduction to client-based email vs. web-based email, please read Email Choices on the Road first. In today’s article I will go into detail on how to properly configure [...]

In last week’s post, I told you the good news. Wi-Fi is available lots of places, it’s inexpensive, it’s an easy way to connect to the Internet, and it’s fast. Now for the bad news: It doesn’t always work. Wi-Fi is 2-way radio, creating a computer network. There are so many things that can go [...]

Greetings from sunny and cold Arizona! I’m Chris Guld, and I blog about computer use while traveling. My husband, Jim, and I live full time in our 30 foot class C motorhome and we travel around the country giving computer seminars at rallies and RV parks. We’ve both been computer geeks for quite some time. [...]

This is a topic that has received a LOT of coverage. If you look on the ‘Articles’ page of our website, you’ll see a listing of 23 articles about Wi-Fi and at least 7 of them discuss what you can do to make it work better. There are lots of factors in Wi-Fi, and you [...]

The equipment you use to connect to a WiFi hotspot is VERY important. Believe it or not, your equipment – computer / adapter / operating system / drivers – is just as important as the hotspot’s equipment in making the Internet connection work. It’s a two-way radio. The hotspot’s Access Points, antennas, and amplifiers are [...]

During the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association) Convention in Redmond 8/16 – 8/19/2004, Coach Connect installed and maintained a free Wi-Fi hotspot (wireless network.) It was located in the information center and we staffed the Computer Help Desk. We estimate that at least 500 people made use of the Wi-Fi hotspot and about 20% of [...]

Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity which is simply a marketing term to distinguish it from cellular wireless Internet. Wi-Fi technically refers to a standard called 802.11. Wireless Internet allows you to connect to the Internet, you guessed it … without any wires! The idea is that you take one broadband Internet connection such as DSL [...]