Email

6. Email when Travelling

Once you are used to email, you will probably want to send and receive it wherever you go.

6.1 Subscribing to a worldwide Internet service provider enables you to plug in a laptop and retrieve your messages.

• Many ISPs will give you local phone numbers to use in almost every country.
• When signing up with an ISP, check they offer worldwide access at reasonable prices.

6.2 Use one of the free, web-based email systems offered by Hotmail, Excite, Yahoo!, and others. These allow you access from any browser, anywhere in the world.

6.3 Alternatively, use a special conversion system to link telephone, fax and email.

• Systems such as j2 provide fax and telephone numbers that convert messages to documents which are sent to you as attachments to email messages.
• Use email-to-fax software to forward your messages to a hotel fax machine.

6.4 Forward email messages from your office to another account.

• Use selective forwarding to send only important documents. The facilities offered vary from one service provider to another.
• Some email systems allow you to set up an automatic 'out-of-the-office' message, which warns people if you will not be reading your email for a few days.
• If you are accessing messages over a slow link or from a handheld computer, leave large attachments for later.

6.5 Use the latest technology to access your email on the move.

• Check your messages and go online by linking your handheld or portable computer to a mobile phone.
• WAP mobile phones allow you to send and receive emails without a computer, wherever you are.