It wasn’t that long ago that Pocketmail was our only option for email that we could use as we traveled. Now, with Internet connections available almost everywhere we go, email should work just like at home, right? Well … almost.
A friend of mine recently took a short trip from his home in Florida to North Carolina and he took his laptop computer (with WiFi) with him, but he said he couldn’t get his email because that always comes into Outlook on his desktop computer at home. I taught him how he can check his email from anywhere, and the same technique should apply to you as well.
His email is @bellsouth.net. So, all he needs to do is go to www.bellsouth.net – in your case it may be www.telus.net, www.comcast.net, or whatever the website is for your provider – and find the link to log in. On Bellsouth.net there is a spot in the upper right that says, “Sign In”. It doesn’t mention email because that is just one of the services provided for customers. Once you sign in with your account’s username and password, you will see a link to check your email. Other providers’ websites specifically link to ‘Webmail’ or ‘Check your Email’.
The point is, as long as you know your username (same as your email) and password, most providers give you a way to see your email thru their website. You don’t have to have Outlook, or any other email client, set up. You don’t have to have a specific webmail account like Yahoo! or Gmail or Hotmail, you can check your regular email on your provider’s website. If you don’t know your email provider’s website, or it’s not working right, you can try www.mail2web.com. It’s quite amazing. You don’t even need to be registered with them. Just enter your email address and password, and it will go retrieve your mail! It can even get your email on corporate accounts.
Once you know how to check your email from your provider’s website, you can make a shortcut to that on your desktop, or put it in your favorites. There’s a video on my website that teaches how to make a shortcut. It’s on the ‘Essential Skills‘ page, then click on ‘shortcuts.’
If you are going to be traveling for extended periods, you may be canceling your service from Bellsouth, or Comcast, or whatever you use at home. Then, having a gmail account is a great idea. We like gmail a lot! We have a tutorial video on our website about how to sign up for a Gmail account. Just go to ‘More’ videos, and click on ‘Get a Gmail account.’
Next week I’ll tell you how you can have the best of both worlds by setting up Outlook Express to work with your Gmail account.
Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com