1. Dial your Blacksburg.Net account long distance if you have your own
computer and phone line. Make sure that you use the proper
area code if
you are outside the local calling area). There are methods
to compose off line and read mail off line to reduce the phone bill. (See
the help pages
for your operating system and e-mail program) This works well for
domestic travel but may be too expensive for foreign travel.
2. If you travel extensively with your laptop, you may want to sign up
for an 800 number account with one of the long distance providers
offering "personal" or "private" 800 numbers and have the 800 number
pointed at Blacksburg.Net modem pool rather than your home number.
These 800 number usuually offer connections far below calling card rates
from the United States and Canada.
3. For domestic or foreign travel when you do not have your own computer
with you, you will need Internet access, which is possible in many
professional meetings, Internet cafes and hotels around the world. Often
convention centers will have public terminals set up so that you
can access the Internet. Once you have Internet access you can access your
Blacksburg.Net mail account by configuring your email program
(Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape mail, etc.) to use pop.blacksburg.net
as the incoming (or pop) email server, and specify your username (or account)
and password as appropriate, if necessary . Leave all the other setting
set to those for the system or ISP you are using.
Try to connect and check your mail before you depart so that you know how
it works. If you have checked "save password" make sure
you know your password before you travel.
Example 1: Eudora Pro
Joe Brown is in Italy for the semester on a faculty exchange
program, and uses a local ISP called ret.net to connect to the Internet,
although he uses his
Blacksburg.Net address as her primary e-mail account. Using Eudora
Pro, Professor Brown brings up tools in the Options menu and enters the
following:
Under Getting Started
POP account: brown@pop.blacksburg.net
Real name: Joe
Brown
Under Personal Information
Return address: brown@blacksburg.net
Under Hosts
SMTP: ret.net
Example 2: Netscape Communicator
Mary Shelley is out of town at a conference on neogothic literature
over the holidays, and has access to a computer running Netscape Communicator
to check her mail. In Communicator
she selects Preferences in the Edit menu, then clicks Mail and Groups
in the dialog box, changing the following:
Under Identity
Your name:
Mary Shelley
Email address:
shelley@blacksburg.net
Reply-to-address:
shelley@blacksburg.net
Organization:
Dept. of English
Under Mail server
Mail server user name: shelley
Incoming mail server:
pop.blacksburg.net
NOTE: Make sure the "Leave messages on server after retrieval" box is checked. This ensures that your messages will be available to you later.
After Professor Shelley is finished reading her mail, she retraces the above steps, deleting her information from the Preferences file before leaving the computer.
Again, the specifics of each settings file will vary depending on the
mail software you use.
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