Maintaining contact via laptop on a trip around the world

Maintaining contact via laptop on a trip around the world

I want to take a laptop computer with me on a bicycle trip around the world in order to keep a journal of the trip and to send/receive messages over the Ethernet and to maintain a Web site for people interested in my trip. It would have to be solar powered and I prefer using an Apple notebook. Is this possible and how would I go about it?

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Sounds like fun! Since I have never considered purchasing a solar battery, I'll stick to considering how you can obtain Internet access during your ride.

Airport wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) cards are available for and even shipped with certain Apple notebooks. But Wi-Fi will only help when you visit a wireless LAN hot spot. For example, find yourself a cafe, library, or hotel that offers wireless Internet access. Start by checking the directory of commercial and community hot spot locations at http://www.boingo.com or http://www.wayport.com. If you connect to the Internet from a Wi-Fi hot spot, you'll have plenty of bandwidth to edit your Web site. You'll also be able to plug your laptop into a local power source.

But I suspect that you're really hoping to connect right from your campsite at night? You'll need a wireless WAN solution like GSM or GPRS. You can use a USB adapter to connect a Motorola Timeport P280 cellphone to your G3/G4 powerbook or iBook - see http://www.teleadaptusa.com. Or connect a powerbook running MacOS X to a Bluetooth cellphone from Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola - for details, see http://www.apple.com/bluetooth/ and http://www.macsonly.com/arch00205.html#bluetooth3.

GSM is really too slow for maintaining a Web site, but GPRS services now being trialed are roughly comparable to v.90 (56Kbps) dial-up. The problem you'll have is coverage. GPRS networks are being rolled out by carriers like Voicestream, AT&T Wireless, and Cingular, but serving areas are far more limited than "regular" cell service. Depending upon where you plan to ride, you may find it easier to drop into Wi-Fi hot spots than to count on GPRS coverage during your bike trip.

This was first published in August 2002

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