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By Joel Jaeggli
joelja@darkwing.uoregon.edu
Immediately after the summer break is probably not the ideal time to talk about traveling, but I'd like to share some observations about accessing the Internet while traveling in the US and abroad.
In most cases, careful planning is required. You may be very disappointed if you just throw your laptop on the plane and expect it to work at the other end.
While virtually every country in the world now has some form of Internet connectivity, it varies widely in scope, quality, and expense--from mail-only UUCP dialup connections in some places in Africa and the Pacific Islands, to low bit-rate simplex or duplex satellite connections, to multi-megabit connectivity rivaling anything in the US. Arranging for connectivity beforehand, whether through a university if you are visiting one, or through a commercial Internet service provider if you are not, is a good precaution.
Choosing an ISP. In the United States (and to some extent, Canada) this is largely a question of choosing any one of the large nationwide ISPs (Internet Service Providers), such as AOL, AT&T WorldNet, IBM Global Networking, and so on. Signup can typically be done directly from the ISP's web page, and costs are generally on the order of $20 a month or less. To find a local ISP outside the US, you might start by looking at Yahoo's ISP list at http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Communications_and_Networking/Internet_and_World_Wide_Web/Network_Service_Providers/Internet_Service_Providers__ISPs_/By_Region/ or The List's ISP Buyers Guide at http://thelist.Internet.com/ or Boardwatch Magazine's Directory of ISPs at http://www.boardwatch.com/isp/ac/index.html
Ethernet connections. If you have access to a network connection on a university campus or in a business setting, significantly faster network connections may be available to you. Bring an Ethernet card and be prepared to make significant changes to your network settings in order to make it work. In some locations (such as at the UO) DHCP service is provided and connecting to the network is only a question of plugging in your Ethernet card. Elsewhere, static-IP addresses are assigned; in that case, you must get one assigned to you and configure your laptop accordingly.
Once you have a network connection, whether through a dialup provider or over Ethernet, you can use network applications just as you would on the UO campus or modem pool....with a few caveats. Some of these exceptions are described below.
Email: The UO email servers on Oregon, Gladstone, and Darkwing will accept POP or IMAP connections from anywhere on earth. They will not, however, relay SMTP mail for you. The practical consequence of this is that mail sent to UO addresses will be delivered, but mail sent through the UO to other addresses will not be delivered. The solution to this is to set your email client to use an SMTP mail server at your current location (i.e., wherever you may be when traveling). The local server will then relay mail to the UO and to other locations on your behalf.
World Wide Web: Frequently, service providers outside the US insist that you use a proxy server. Their proxy may function in one of two ways. One method requires no configuration on your part, and the other requires you to reconfigure your web browser, as described below:
1. Transparent proxy: a transparent proxy automatically relays requests made on port 80 (the http port) to a proxy server. This requires no configuration on your part, but it may cause connections to certain web sites to break in undexpected ways, and there is little you can do to overcome this.
2. Blocking the http port: a provider might also choose to block port 80 on their routers and require that users configure their web browsers to point at a specific web proxy. In either case, if your web browser was previously configured to use the UO proxy server, or was automatically configured to do so (Internet Explorer 5 or later) you may have to change the proxy setting in order to make it work in a different environment.
Streaming Media Applications: These may require additional configuration to pass through a proxy, or be blocked entirely in the interest of conserving bandwidth.
Finally, expect to be flexible. It is difficult for consultants at the UO to troubleshoot problems associated with attempting to connect to the network from distant university campuses. If your machine doesn't work on a distant network, or your mail client fails to work for some reason, you can always access email on our primary systems (Oregon, Darkwing Gladstone) by going to http://email.uoregon.edu from any Internet-connected web browser.
Asking questions before you leave is generally best. If you're planning to travel and would like connectivity advice, feel free to email your questions to microhelp@oregon.uoregon.edu and consult@gladstone.uoregon.edu