I am travelling to Florida from the UK, and will be staying in a villa. It has a pay phone that uses a phone card. Is there a not too expensive way that I can access the internet through it? I was thinking of say a temporary account with an internet provider that uses a free 0800 number though I am not sure how to connect the computer.
I presume the line is blocked so I would have to go through the telephone somehow?
Are there any providers that would give me two weeks access as opposed to trying to sign me up for a year?
How do you propose to connect your computer to a pay phone without using an acoustic coupler?
Why not scout out the local public library and see if it has Internet access. If you have a free email account (such as Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail), you’ll be in like flint.
acoustic coupler - thats what I was sort of thinking of. The library is a good idea - though I am not planning to go to central Orlando much which is why a coupler may work better
Once you manage to get the phone and the computer connected, I’d recommend AOL for this purpose. They give you 45 days free, and all you have to do when you want out is to call them and say so. I used to do this all the time when I was on the road (before the days of low-cost wireless Internet through cell phone). I’d subscribe, travel, return home, and cancel. When they asked me the reason for the cancellation, I’d just tell them the truth. It clearly annoyed them, but they never gave me too much hassle.
The difficult part in this will be connecting computer to phone.
Oh, and you don’t need an ISP with an 800 number. US phone calls to local numbers are not billed by the minute, so all local calls tend to be free – depending on how much the hotel feels like charging you.
Do you mind saying where you’ll be staying, at least the city? Someone might be able to tell you where you can find somewhere with Internet access nearby.