Just wondering the best way to keep up with my email while on the trail. Can I bring a small internet capable laptop or just rely on my cell phone? Is wifi or broadband available while on the trail? Any help would be appreciated.
Just wondering the best way to keep up with my email while on the trail. Can I bring a small internet capable laptop or just rely on my cell phone? Is wifi or broadband available while on the trail? Any help would be appreciated.
Simple Suttle
Wifi on the trail itself? I don't think so.
It is possible to use a cell phone out there or you could just wait until you get to a town.
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.
-Edward Abbey
The WiFi on the AT is just as abundant as running water from faucets. If you can not live without it stay at home.
Mike
You won't have to go completely cold turkey.
If you're in a town - go to the library - they have internet access and it's usually free.
Some hostels and most hotels also have internet access.
I was able to check my email at least once a week, no problem.
Order your copy of the Appalachian Trail Passport at www.ATPassport.com
Green Mountain House Hostel
Manchester Center, VT
http://www.greenmountainhouse.net
I'm carrying a Verizon MiFi and iPod touch so I do have wifi on the trail. Had 3G speeds at the Ensign Cowall, Pine Knob and Rocky Run shelters .. also at the Dahlgren campground. Right now at the trail to Bear Spring Cabin I don't have 3G access but plenty to check email.
Use libraries, it worked fine for me. Keep your cell phone turned off if you don't need it on.
I happened to see a review for this, but understand I have never used this or anything like it:http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/0...-puts-ema.html
I plan on bringing a lightweight netbook... I am not too concerned about wifi and checking my email tho, its more to play with my pictures and music! I also will not be freaking if I have to go days without it being charged. So see I can live without it and won't be staying home! lol
From the I-87 (New York Thruway) crossing to Great Barrington, MA you'll have cell phone reception (on Tracfone which uses Verizon as well as several other carriers) on most of the trail. You'll only be in a terrain shadow in a few areas such as the high valley between Mt. Schagticoke and Mt. Algo just south of Kent, CT. So if your phone can do e-mail you'll have e-mail on those stretches. If you do bring a cell phone it's good to have an extra battery and of course only turn the phone on when you're actually using it. If family and friends want to get in touch instruct them to do so by text message as these will wait until you turn the phone back on whereas a regular call you'll just miss if the phone is off.
Internet access at Public Libraries and possibly at hostels/hotels, etc!
I would never bring my laptop hiking! I am bringing my netbook lol It weighs under 2lbs and I have it specifically for hiking. The main reason is I will easily take 500 pictures a day. In the evenings I like to transfer them from camera to netbook. Can you imagine how many pictures I will take in 6 months?!! It will be alot easier to keep them in order if I do it on a regular basis. The netbook is pretty small, it fits nicely into a large ziploc bag.
My trail buddy "Donner Party" was able to get a 3G internet signal using his Droid cell phone at 2 of our camps between N.O.C. and Fontana earlier this year. One location was Cheoah Bald !
For those of us in tech support it's actually the opposite, if we have internet access we can go hiking. On Friday I got an email that all production computers were offline when a power outage tripped a network switch on the UNIX system. While eating lunch at the Dahlgren Campground I emailed the sequence of steps to terminate the locked processes and reset things. Five minutes later I got an email that everything was back up and running. I shut off my MiFi and iPod Touch and continued hiking.
A laptop, seriously?
Co-workers? That's the difference .. I don't have any.. been that way for 31-years.