Staying in touch....

On a quiet Sunday thought I'd write about how we stay in touch on the road. I know that it's much easier now than it was 12 years ago when my late husband and I were full-timing (and working). Technology has made huge advances and I don't see that slowing up much.

When Stu and I first met, I had a Motorola Razor from Verizon and he had an iPhone from AT&T. Before I knew it, I had iPhone envy...I admit it. But I also hated giving up my Verizon service. Having two separate providers meant that at least one of us usually had decent service. But eventually I gave in...seduced my the iPhone and the roll-over minutes.

Stu got the first edition iPhone and I ended up with the newer 3G phone. Frustrations ensued...my phone had less memory (no, I didn't think to ask because I didn't know....LOL), the battery died much more quickly (thanks to the newer things added like a true GPS) and it took me quite a while to get it to sync with Outlook.

Fast forward 18 months and we are both frustrated with AT&T and are anxiously watching the market. The Nexus One from Google and the Droid by Motorola are mixing things up. In addition, it looks like Verizon will have some type of iPhone by the end of the year. Turns out that roll-over minutes are meaningless to us. We just don't use the phone that much...now data, that is something else. We do text family/friends (and each other..."Where ru?") and we use the internet all the time.

I have many more apps on my iPhone that Stu does. Some of the ones we both use are Facebook, iGasUp, TipMaster. Some of the others that I use frequently are Now Playing, Lose it!, Done, WeatherBug elite, CameraOne, Notes, USPS Mobile, Passport America, Amazon, Kindle, Google Reader, GoodReader and most recently Skype.

Now why would I want Skype on my phone when I already don't use the minutes that we have. Well, there are times, like right now, when we are in a no service area for AT&T. BUT we do have a decent (not great but good enough) Wi-Fi signal on one or both of our aircards. Right now we are running our router on my Verizon aircard. That means our phones can connect to our router and get to the internet. We can't make phone calls or send text since we are in a no service area but with Skype we CAN make phone calls via our Wi-Fi connection to our aircards.

We haven't tried it yet but if it were an emergency we know it's available. The quality would be relevant to the signal but still better than nothing. We can make Skype to Skype phone calls for free and make calls to landlines for a small fee. Just one more way to stay in touch. Oh, we both already have Skype on our computers....we used it to talk (and see each other) when we were separated in August 2008. We have also used it to talk to friends and keep bugging all our kids to install it on their computers.

Skype works on more than just iPhones....check it out here. Scroll down to Mobile Phones. Skype is free and I have no vested interest...just wanted to share what works for us.

Now, the aircards....we have my old Verizon USB aircard and Stu's Sprint Expresscard. The router we got recently is a Cradlepoint MBR1000 that lets us use them both...even at the same time (that said, we've found if one has a better signal it's better to use it than to try to use them at the same time). Both our aircards are grandfathered in under the original "unlimited" plans. We are loathe to get rid of either one since that will mean having to go to 5GB a month limit. Someday when both cards have died we won't have a choice. I just hope by then the unlimited plans are cheaper. LOL!

Then of course there is email....and Facebook. We use them both extensively to keep in touch with our family and friends. My only Facebook wish is that I could more easily separate my wall for display of close friends and family and everyone else. LOL! My only other option is to start deleting the many folks I've never met in person (but may someday) that follow this blog or our riding adventures.

Anyway, just wanted to touch base with folks wondering how we stay in touch. Oh, snail mail? Well, we have a mail forwarding service, MyDakotaAddress.com, an outfit I have used since August 2007. When we know we will be heading to a spot for a couple of days we get our accumulated mail forwarded to that location. Sometimes a campground, sometimes a friend or family member and the rest of the time it's General Delivery at the local Post Office.

One last thing to pass along...nothing to do with communication but I read this in a friend's blog, RV News & Reviews. There are some free National Parks days coming! I don't think we will get to take advantage of them but thought someone else might. Enjoy!!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu