I have a Samsung F700 phone on the Vodafone network, and a laptop running Windows Vista (although in the past I have also used a variety of phones on the Orange and O2 networks, and laptops running Windows XP - they all worked). However, note that the 3 network does not currently (December 2007) have any roaming partners in France and so is no use for anyone wishing to connect whilst in France. Also, as of the same date, O2 does not fully support Windows Vista (which is why I changed to Vodafone). To make an internet connection, the phone and computer have of course to be linked and this can be done in several ways. I use a USB cable, but depending on the equipment, you can also use infrared or Bluetooth, etc. Your phone must be data-enabled, which basically means GSM - ordinary WAP phones won't do. HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) and GPRS (General Packet Radio System) are specific sub-categories of GSM offering higher connection speeds, but they're not available in all countries. There is now also something called EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution!) which is a sort of souped-up version of GPRS running at roughly 3 times the speed. You don't have to do anything to take advantage of EDGE - if you use GPRS and EDGE is available, you'll get it automatically.

Phones will usually be supplied with a CD-ROM containing modem driver software, though you might have to ask for it separately. Once the software has been loaded on to the computer, you effectively have 2 modems - the computer's own internal one (assuming there's one fitted) and an external one. You simply then select the appropriate one for whether you're dialling from home or away. Some phones have HSCSD and some have GPRS (and some have both). The way in which you access the internet differs depending on which technology you use.

Having used both, I now think GPRS is the easiest and, 3G aside, certainly the fastest. For a start, the dial-up number remains the same whether you're in the UK or abroad because you're connecting directly to your mobile phone operator. With HSCSD, you're connecting to a conventional internet service provider with its own specific access number (usually an 0845 number, which probably won't work from abroad).

The other advantage of GPRS is that like broadband it's an 'always on' service. You are charged for the amount of data transferred, not for the duration of the connection. On the question of cost, GPRS is around £2.50 to £3 per megabyte in the UK and £7 to £10 in Europe (enough for about a hundred emails without attachments). I have been very impressed with GPRS, both in the UK and on the continent. It's fast to connect and rarely loses a connection. In order to avoid large expensive downloads, I have set up message rules on my laptop to block any emails above 15Kb in size. (That means that if you use IncrediMail, or worse send me an attachment, you'll probably get a reply telling you your message has been deleted and to be more considerate in future!)

HSCSD works much more like a conventional dial-up connection, at a speed in this country of 28.8 kbps, and connections are charged at a per minute rate, the exact value depending on your mobile phone tariff. In this country it generally works well, but overseas, it's less successful. For a start, you need to make sure your internet service provider will accept international calls. Some don't, especially if you have an unmetered account.

In addition, non-geographic numbers often don't work from abroad (dialling them as +44 845 or +44 870 of course), and these are the most widely used ranges of numbers for dial-up access. So to be sure of getting a connection, you really need to sign up with an ISP that provides proper international access numbers, ie beginning with +44 (0)1 or +44 (0)2. The free ones don't because they derive no income from such numbers. Two that do are Demon and Pipex, but both charge for their services. There is a website, www.saynoto0870.com, that gives geographic equivalents for a variety of 0845/0870 numbers - might help you choose a suitable internet service provider.

Finally you might also find that connection speeds across international telecom links are a paltry 9.6Kbps. Some countries like France and Spain don't yet support high speed data calls, but you'll still be paying for your connection at around 70p per minute. GPRS on the other hand does operate in most countries at 115.5 kbps - a much more respectable speed. The speed of GPRS doesn't affect the cost of course - as mentioned earlier you're only paying for data transmitted and you can leave the connection up all day if you want to, but everything just works much quicker anyway. And the other advantage is that GPRS uses the same connection number regardless of where you are in the world. You can also use your normal email address. In Outlook Express, click Tools/Accounts. On the next dialog panel, click Properties, then Servers. Change the Outgoing Mail text to smtp.o2.co.uk for O2, smtp.orange.net for Orange, send.vodafone.net for Vodafone (for other mobile operators, check with them). Click the General tab and make sure that 'Include this account when receiving mail' is ticked. Finally click Apply and OK.

Incidentally there is another option that's worth a mention. It's the BlackBerry, a mobile device that seamlessly integrates phone, PDA, and web browsing technologies. Unlike current PDAs, BlackBerries have a QWERTY keyboard, making messaging far more straightforward. Prices vary from free to around £200 depending on which tariff you take out. I have no personal experience of them at all but if anyone else feels like sharing his knowledge, I'll be happy to include it. There are also a few phones (Nokia 9500, or my Samsung F700 for example) that have fold-out QUERTY keypads that make texting and emailing a bit easier.

WiFi hotspots:

WiFi facilities are becoming more common, and it's easier than ever to connect to them. Most new laptops are fitted with some kind of wireless network interface card which will enable them to make wireless connections. The most well known is Intel's Centrino but there are others. Even laptops not so equipped can be fitted with external WiFi adapters for under £25. All you then have to do is find a suitable WiFi hotspot. These days they're everywhere from airport lounges to Starbucks coffee shops. If you set your WiFi protocol to search automatically, the computer will find the nearest for you and flag it up. You might have to reboot the machine, after which you'll be taken to a portal page where you can choose how to pay, assuming the connection isn't a free one. From there, you can browse or email to your heart's content.

Many campsites are increasingly providing a WiFi service. The Caravan Club and the Camping & Caravanning Club both have sites that provide WiFi and there are many campsites in Europe also providing it. I began to plan a page which would list them but then realised there are a number of websites already out there giving that information, so why re-invent the wheel?! You'll get a list by putting 'wifi campsites' into Google but here are two to be going on with:

www.UKcampsite.co.uk - lots of campsites listed but I have to say the website is a bit gaudy and it carries a lot of intrusive adverts as well.

www.BigFreeGuide.com - a bit more restrained and therefore more pleasant to look at! But not as many sites listed.

Simon Mitchell
tells me that Orange can supply a GPRS datacard that plugs into the PCMCIA port of a laptop. It costs £25 a month for unlimited usage. And from July 1st (2004), a 3G datacard will be introduced (covering 60% of the population initially) which will provide speeds of 512 kbps - not just email in your caravan but broadband in your caravan!

And a similar product is recommended by Gary Elliott (MD of AdviceOnline.co.uk) who says:
I use a Sierra Aircard 750 in connection with an O₂ data contract. The charge is £8 per month for up to 5mb and about £1 per mb over that limit. In Europe the cost is £7 per mb except for Austria and Portugal where it is £18 per mb! The speed is excellent at about 125 bps which is low broadband and can be increased to 500 mbs using a separate tool called "Onspeed" (www.onspeed.co.uk) This compresses the data and make downloading very quick with only a small loss of picture clarity (which is adjustable). I have used the system in Antigua, France, Switzerland, Germany and the UK and have rarely been unable to get a decent download speed wherever I am. In effect I have broadband internet in my Hymer 694 mobile office which allows me to work remotely throughout the UK and Europe.

Geoff Innocent lives in Spain and has a caravan in the UK. He says:
Using HSCSD I use gonuts4free (www.gonuts4free.com), a Spanish based ISP which, as its name would suggest, is free. I use this as my main ISP in the UK as well. If you go to their site, you will find the UK number, and numbers for all of the Spanish nodes. I only managed speeds of 9.6kbps in Spain, which is probably the maximum available from Telefonica. The ISP is excellent, though, and all you need to do is change the telephone number in Internet Explorer when you change location.

Geoff also says:
I also use GPRS in the UK and Spain. This is really fast, and well worth having. However, although you can get a GPRS "bundle" for a reasonable price from Orange, be warned - GPRS in Spain is VERY expensive, at about £8 per megabyte! I only use it if I really have to. HSCSD is good enough for most things. The GPRS dialling number is the same in Spain as the UK.

Malcolm Lucas who lives in France and tours round in his motorhome whenever he has the opportunity adds the following advice.
(If anyone wants further information on what Malcolm says here, he's happy for you to contact him directly. His email address is malcolm.lucas@worldonline.fr.)

I read your article about mobile internet access with great interest as I set one up, after about the same amount of hassle you seem to have had. Eventually, as you said, my internet service provider, Tiscali.fr, gave me a dedicated number for mobile connections. When in France you can use this at normal mobile rates, the speed is slow but OK for emailing. You would need to sign up with Tiscali which you can do online at www.tiscali.fr. (If you type this address into Google, the search result will offer to translate the website into English for you - works surprisingly well!) Tiscali offers the same arrangement in France as in the UK - a free dial-up service, paid for through the connection charge.

The other cost saver for you would be to get a p.a.y.g sim card from Orange SA that will work in your Orange UK phone. They are available from France Telecom. Dialling into Tiscali, or any other ISP local to the country you're currently in, will allow you to access your email at local rates rather than incur international call charges. However, make sure you get the sim card tested in your own phone before purchase and also get it unlocked for international calls so that you can use it occasionally in the UK to keep it active.

Chris Dabbs has written to me with the following information.

Just thought I'd let you know that I have found a few different ways for European connection.
1. AOL will allow you to connect locally but with a surcharge.
2. http://www.iberpass.com/ offers a pretty good service that also allows worldwide roaming.
3. http://www.inter.net offers a similar service.

Since receiving Chris's email, I've had a look at Iberpass myself. There's no membership fee, you simply sign up and create an account, depositing a credit (minimum EUR100) by credit card. You then download some dialler software that allows you to dial into a local number anywhere in Europe and each time you use the service, your credit balance is reduced at a per minute rate. In France and Germany, that rate is about 7p + VAT; in other European countries the charge may be different. Indeed in Spain, there is a fixed flat rate of EUR15 for a week's unlimited use (at least that's what I understand it to say!). There are no other charges, nor is there a time limit in which to use up your credit. If you subsequently decide to cancel the service, any outstanding credit will be refunded. Can't say fairer than that.

Chris B. also says:

If you register with Orange at www.orange-today.co.uk and set up an email account, for any emails sent to your Orange address, your mobile will receive a text (SMS) alert free of charge. The notification will only include sender details and subject heading but this is usually sufficient for you to decide whether you need to connect up your mobile and laptop or visit an internet cafe to read the full email. O2, www.o2.co.uk, have a similar set up to alert you by text message of waiting email. [Although Chris doesn't mention it, I assume that Vodaphone and T-Mobile have similar schemes.]
He then goes on to say:
Lastly if you have a WAP enabled phone Yahoo, www.yahoo.co.uk, let you collect email from their own and other accounts via their Web or Wap sites.

Richard Phillips has written in from Portugal. He says:

We have been in Portugal now for several months and regarding internet & email we have signed up for vodafone portugal gprs/ g3 connection. The PCMCIA card was only 1 euro on a contract (250 euro on paygo) and the contract we chose is 1 Gig per month. Connection has not failed yet it is a bit slow with gprs but as already stated elsewhere you only pay for info not the time connected.... there are other much cheaper monthly options available if you just want to check email with no major downloads/ browsing ie 10 euro - 10 Mb, 20 euro - 50 Mb, 30 euro - 100 Mb, 66 euro - 300 Mb, 85 euro - 1000 Mb.

17 July 2007 - Nick Ritchie has sent this report about "3":

I was interested in the stuff about emailing away from home but it took me ages to find out how much it would cost on the "3" network. Having eventually found it by accident when I was looking for something else (they don't make it easy) I thought I may as well share the information.

On the "3" network they call it "wireless web" which is an add-on package only available to contract customers, so if you go on their website that's what you need to search for. The search engine on the three website is not very good though, so the page with the information on all the add-ons is presently: http://www.three.co.uk/personal/products_services_/add-ons.omp

To find the information from your phone, click on the following options: "planet 3" then "internet" then "buy internet access". Scroll down to "wireless web" then "more info on wireless web" With a 3g phone they say that you get the internet at speeds of up to 384Kbit/s. The deals are 56Mb for £15/month or 512 Mb for £45/month then £1 for each extra Mb. The minimum contract appears to be one month.

You can also get a 3g datacard from three on a contract which costs from £17.02/month for 100Mb up to £45/month for 1Gb. For this you need a type II pc card slot but the speed is only the same as using your phone as a modem. See: http://www.three.co.uk/personal/handsets_/datacard_/overview.omp

If you're really desperate - and have good eyesight! - you can get email on your phone for £2.50/month, unlimited internet access for £5/month or 10Mb/month for £2.50. Casual internet access is £2/Mb These prices are correct as of July 2007.

19 October 2007 - Tony Thompson writes from Biarritz

Ipass (www.ipass.com) allows you to connect via the telephone or WiFi anywhere in the world at the cost of a local telephone call plus their charge. I have used it in hotels in the Europe, Far East and America and not been charged any more of the calls than the local rate and the Ipass charge is more then reasonable. For WiFi all you have to do is find a carrier…..Ipass comes with a hot spot finder but an IBIS hotels is a good place! At Ibis, you can buy access for periods of time that can be used over a period of up to 12 months at very reasonable charges and all you need do is find an Ibis hotel, sit outside or in reception and crack on! Many hotels, airports and other places now have WiFi access and surprisingly many are not money grabbers but, like Starbucks, realise that it brings in customers!!