Internet Service for Full Timer

I have been doing some research on this since I plan to fulltime in about three years.
Will post my results here when it is complete enough to be of benefit.

 

 

October 14, 1998(Nationwide ISP's)

Based on preliminary research it appears that most of the nationwide ISP's utilize the same bank of nationwide local access number's that serve major metropolitan area's but totally ignore much of the US heartland that we like to traverse,(and camp in). The one exception to this that I ran across tonight is Orbitworld located in Texas which claims to offer unlimited use and 1000 local access number's for $12.88/month on a 2 year prepaid contract and toll free access for 12 cents per minute when you don't have local access.

September 11, 1999 (I Give Up)

After nearly a year of attempting to locate a reliable ISP for full time use, I finally decided to sign up with a local ISP for the next three years. I did this after trying three of the "nationwide" provider's only to suffer lousy service and extremely poor performance. At least I can talk to a human being and he is small enough to be hungry for business. Since I do not really require nationwide access yet, I will address this issue again in about two years when the big day gets closer.

October 5, 1999 (Pocket Mail)

Pocket mail is a relatively new scheme that allows you to get your e-mail virtually anywhere you can get to a functional phone in the USA.

ADVANTAGES:

DISADVANTAGES:

Everyone has different needs and this service may be what you have been looking for, if so, here is a link to their website.

POCKETMAIL

November 15, 1999 (Free ISP's)

I have been evaluating some of the free Internet Service provider's and was able to use the Netzero and Altivista service with some minor inconvenience but in the process I also found a web site that supposedly tracks and rates all of these services. If you are willing to tolerate an ad banner some where on your browser window one of these services may be just what you have been looking for, and the price is right. Unfortunately, the ISP evaluation link is no longer available

November 29, 2001 (My latest solution)

I finally arrived at an intermediate solution:

1. I have been using Earthlink for the last two years primarily because they seem to have the most Points of Presence (POP) in the continental US and I have usually been able to get access when I need it.

2. For the times when we cannot get Internet access, I have picked up one of the new Kyocera 6035 Tri-Mode Cell phones that is also a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) equipped with the Palm Operating system. We subscribed to the Verizon nationwide plan that currently gives us 2000 weekend minutes monthly also.
The really neat thing about this package is that it allows me to use the PDA to receive and send my e-mail without a computer using Eudora which is pre-installed on the phone. Verizon has established their own ISP and it is free to subscribers which allows me to send & receive e-mail without even using Earthlink. It is also faster since you are using the Verizon network and don't have the lag associated with accessing an outside network. The only downside is the fact that Eudora strips all attachments and limits the text size of e-mail content, same as Pocket Mail.
I have been carrying a PDA for the last couple of years anyway and it has more or less become the left half of my brain for all of the little addresses and such that I can never remember. I simply downloaded all of my stuff from the old PDA and uploaded it to the Kyocera 6035 and still only carry one gadget.