O.K. I have a REALLY stupid question (computer)

Since I have a laptop now, I'm going to take it when I stay out of town.

I have wireless internet at home so I assume I will need to take the phone line thingy. My stupid question is when I plug in what happens???? I click on internet explorer and connected to their provider or do I have to somehow remoted access my own provider??? Sorry to be clueless but I've never had a opportunity to take a laptop before.

First of all please understand that I'm no expert, okay?

I would think that you'd need to get a dial-up number from your current ISP for whatever location you'll be visiting. That's what my husband usually does, but we don't have a wireless account so I'm not sure if that'll make a difference or not.

Not much help, I know. Best of luck!

Most times when you plug in, you will go to a screen in the hotel that you will most likely have to agree to their fees. Once you agree you are in.

The hotel I am in now, and the last one I stayed in in KY - all had wireless networks. The current hotel I just turn it on, open internet and then it does what I said above. The hotel in KY had special instructions, but they gave them to me when I checked in - it also had a toll free number to call for assitance in trying to follow their directions.

If where you are going has a wireless internet in place, your network card on the laptop should be able to pick it up and you would be on the internet. You wouldn't be on your own provider, though. You would be able to access anything through the world wide web, such as TCS but I am not sure if you would be able to access your email accounts since those on your own provider. You should check with them about that. If you don't have a wireless connection where you are staying, there should be a data line available possibly on the phone or in place of the phone. You would need to have a local area phone number to call to connect with your ISP or else, when you dial in to connect, you would incur long distance charges. Once again, you would be on the net and you would be able to access your email since you are connecting through your own ISP. Most of the ISP will have a link to the list of phone numbers for dial-up connections in other cities somewhere on their home pages. I know when I took mine to my parents place I entered the contact phone number for the dial-up in their area before I left and had a short-cut to that connection on my desktop so all I had to do was click on it and it started the connection. I haven't travelled with my laptop to any place where they also had a wireless connection so haven't tested that part of it personally.

Kathryn

They're right about the wireless. If you're not staying where there's wireless you need a local provider there for dialup and you need your modem and everything. You'll need to make sure your laptop is set up for that. The other thing you can do is look for a hotspot somewhere in town where you can logon to someone's wireless network. Some towns provide them, some businesses provide them, but it's not extremely common yet.

If your ISP provides some type of web-based email, you would be able to access your email by going to your ISP's homepage. I can get to my email anywhere. The same would be true if you used a yahoo-type account. If where you're staying has a wireless network, your computer should pick it up. Many hotels now have high speed internet access, too. I'm not sure, whether it's dial-up or high speed, if you need to provide your own ethernet cable or phone cable, though. Perhaps a phone call to the place you're staying before you go would help.