Newbie wants email via cellphone

[email protected] wrote:
> Gonna leave my Tracfone home and do some overseas travel. Was thinking
> about picking up a used Blackberry or other GSM with similar
> capabilities. In order to get "push" benefits is it necessary to sign
> up for a fee or are there public sources that provide email forwarding
> to cellphones. At home I have cable broadband. What servers would you
> recommend?

While I've never used it, I've seen it advertised:

http://fastmail.fm

--
Notan

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<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Gonna leave my Tracfone home and do some overseas travel.

You don't have much of a choice about leaving the Tracfone home- AFAIK,
Tracfone offers no overseas roaming.

> Was thinking
> about picking up a used Blackberry or other GSM with similar
> capabilities. In order to get "push" benefits is it necessary to sign
> up for a fee or are there public sources that provide email forwarding
> to cellphones. At home I have cable broadband. What servers would you
> recommend?


You really have two separate issues here- you need an e-mail server (maybe)
and some form of internet access to get that e-mail while overseas.

As far as the e-mail goes, theoretically, you should be able to use your
current e-mail address and provider, IF they allow POP or IMAP access
(non-web-based incoming e-mail, like you'd use with Outlook or Outlook
Express) , and allows SMTP (sending) when not connected to their network. I
used to have Comcast, and, at least back then, SMTP wasn't a problem.
However, some providers, to control SPAM, only allow e-mail to be sent while
connected to their service (like at home), which would leave you out in the
cold overseas. You could check with your current e-mail provider (probably
your cable company, I assume) to see if they allow e-mail on a cellphone.

If they don't, you'd have to forward your e-mail to a service that allows
mobile access (like the Fastmail Notan suggested) or even AOL, who now
offers free IMAP/SMTP accounts that work from anywhere there's internet
access.

If your e-mail provider doesn't allow forwarding, you'd need an e-mail
aggregation service, that checks your e-mail for you at a predefined
interval, collects it and resends it to you. Fastmail and also Mail2Web.com
does this- it pulls your e-mail hourly and sends it to you via your free
mail2web account. Mail2Web also provides "push" service (like a Blackberry)
for free to Windows Mobile 5 or 6-based phones. (Pushing to a Blackberry,
however is $10/month.)

As important, or even more important than the actual e-mail server, is how
do you intend to get access to e-mail? Many foreign prepaid SIMs offer data
access, but it's usually quite pricey. T-Mobile's European divisions offer
prepaid accounts with ~$2/day web access, which is pretty cheap for prepaid.
Check out prepaidgsm.net for the various costs for the countries you'll be
in, keeping in mind that you might have to buy a different SIM for each
country unless the prepaid SIM for country A also roams in country B.

Otherwise, you might consider setting up service here before you go, but no
American carrier allows international roaming (except Canada and Mexico) on
a prepaid plan, and you'll probably not want to sign a year's cell phone
contract to be able to check e-mail on a two-week vacation.

While Blackberries are certainly nice e-mail phones, MANY GSM phones support
POP/IMAP e-mail, but you have to "pull" it (check it at certain intervals)
rather than have it pushed a la Blackberry or Windows Mobile.

Feel free to ask any additional questions, but you might consider letting us
know where you'll be traveling ("overseas" is a bit vague!) and how long
you'll be there.

Have a great trip!

"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Gonna leave my Tracfone home and do some overseas travel. Was thinking
> about picking up a used Blackberry or other GSM with similar
> capabilities. In order to get "push" benefits is it necessary to sign
> up for a fee or are there public sources that provide email forwarding
> to cellphones. At home I have cable broadband. What servers would you
> recommend?
>
>

Get a Gmail account from Google, which has a webpage interface.

Carry your wifi laptop and use free wifi links in all the major hotels in
most countries for free or a small fee.

Getting a cellphone company to deliver emails worldwide is madness.
They're still not gotten used to the idea of selling data by the
kilobyte. Moving data from one company to the other to your phone in
multiple countries, reliably, is very hard, if not fatal.

You need an internet connection so you can do real work over the common
network. Gmail works great anywhere there's a connection, even for more
than just text.

Don't forget to carry your Ethernet cable to plug into the hotel
room....and DON'T FORGET THE CHARGER!...(c; A friend of mine disappeared
going to Europe. He left the charger on his desk at home...and couldn't
buy another one! You might also check on a 220VAC charger the rest of
the planet uses if your charger won't adapt to 220VAC 50Hz, as some do
automatically.