Who do you like for Dial-Up anywhere?

[RonDawg]

Mark,

When I've tried downloading my e-mail into Outlook, and I am hooked into my hotel's own broadband system, it won't even let me get past the authentication stage. It doesn't matter if I use an ethernet cable or if I do it via a wireless bridge.

If I immediately connect the modem to the hotel's phone system and do it "the old fashioned way" then I can download fine, so I know it's not a quirk with Outlook.

 

[CuriousMe]

<snip>
Actually it is the SMTP portion that you can’t access from another ISP.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol v3) = Email server where you get your new email from. Generally POP is authentication based. For SBC and Earthlink it is. You use a username and password. You can generally access your POP email from any ISP as long as you have the correct username / password combination. For Earthlink and SBC you can access their POP servers from any ISP that will allow it. You generally cannot access ISP's SMTP servers from outside their network.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) = Email server that sends email for you. In the past you could use any SMTP server to send your email. They were all open and didn’t require a username / password. Spammers loved this … so people started locking down both their SMTP servers (if they were companies) and their networks (if they were ISP’s). The end result has been a big mess for users with laptops that need to send email from anywhere on the planet.

Now, the specific problem with Earthlink is that in order to “reduce” spam they won’t allow you to use port 25 (which is used for SMTP) to any server except their servers. This is fine if you use an Earthlink email address, and an Earthlink dial-up always. I have recent reports that Comcast may be doing this as well. I prefer to have my email require a password for SMTP and NOT have my email address associated with my ISP. That way I can change my ISP but keep my email address… I can pay a third party to have mweitz@mycompany.com and use whomever (SBC, Covad, etc) to supply the bandwidth. Try to keep away from having an @yourISPname.com email address. Locks you into the ISP to a certain degree IMO.

If you have specific questions on how to do any of this, feel free to PM me.

Mark

The above is all very true....however, it doesn't sound like Don wants to do anything besides check his e-mail with his ISP (not counting web access, etc). So, I don't know that the above would effect him so much.

Truthfully, if you're not going the techno-geek route and just want to access your e-mail (from your address at earthlink) and web access....I think Earthlink is a good way to go. Their support tends to be some of the best in the intustry and they have access numbers everywhere.

Truthfully, AOL is the one I can't stand.....they lock everything down....it might have changed, I haven't seen it very recently...but their service was never internet access....it was access to the web via their portal.....but that's just my .02

Peace,
Cathie

 

[H2Andy]

i don't know if this is what you have in mind, Don, but i use Sprint PCS with my
Samsung i500 (it's a phone/PDA), and i can access the internet anywhere. it's
reasonably fast, and if you use the PDA-only sites, it's amazingly fast. i can check
e-mail, news, etc. while on the road, all wireless.

 

[herman]

Juno/Netzero, $9.95 so it's the cheapest of the bunch and so far it's worked every where I have gone. Good luck canceling AOL, from what I hear, it's kind of like herpies, easy to get and darn near impossible to get rid of.