Internet access from my car

[Boballoo]

I am going to be traveling across the country (Canada) by car for ten days and I need to have access to my web site management tools and my email accounts from my laptop running Win2K. I have lots of questions but I have just begun my research so bear with me if I ask a stupid question.

I think need a WiFi connection (but correct me if I am wrong) because we will be camping and do not want to stay in hotels just so I can use their dialup. I don't have a wireless card installed yet but I will be getting one. I am new at this but I assume wireless cards have different ranges. I would need the longest range possible. What is the longest range available? Any recommendations for a specific card?

Is there special software that can boost your range and make your connection stronger?

How long can I run my Laptop from the car battery (via the lighter socket) before I have to worry about starting the car to charge the battery? (Of course it depends on what I am doing on the laptop but any general ideas?)

Do I also need a wireless router or access point such as this:
http://www.linksys.com/products/prod...id=505&scid=35
How would that work from my car if my laptop is already plugged into the lighter socket?

I also think I need a WiFi finder such as this: http://www.kensington.com/html/3720.html (Is this a good one? Do I need it? Any other recommendations?)

Finally, I will need a way to secure my communications since I work on private documents for my clients and my email and the documents I send and retrieve through my web site MUST be kept private at all times.

Now how would I get across the country and be able to securely connect to the Internet at least twice a day (morning and evening) for approximately one hour?

First, after installing the WiFi card and security software, I guess I would need to get a list of hotspots and plan my trip according to where they are. Can I get a countrywide account to a wireless service provider so that I can connect from wherever I am? Do I need this? Are there providers who have service areas all across the country? Who would be the best candidates?

This is a lot of questions but any information at all would be helpful. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[crood]

I don't think WiFi is what you are looking for. WiFi is a fairly short range technology and requires an access point that is hard wired to the internet. While I can't say for sure, I would doubt many campsites would be wired for public internet access, let alone WiFi. Most major airports have WiFi set up, as do many hotels and restaurants. Of course you could always try to piggyback on an unsecured wireless network in someone's home, but you need to be close enough to the house.

I think you probably looking for a wireless modem card or even a usb adapter for a wireless phone. These use the Cellular and/or PCS networks to make a dialup call to an ISP. Speed is dependent on how the 3G rollout has progressed in the area you will be travelling to and what data plan you are signed up for.

[sheureka]

I'm not going to go into details about the kind of setup you need, but there are a lot of campgrounds that have free wifi now. Here's one list - http://www.wififreespot.com/rv.html - and I'm sure if you google around a little bit you can find lots more. And I don't know about Canada, but more and more state rest stops in the US are putting in wifi. If you go to a website like jiwire.com and do a search in Canada, you'll find hundreds of locations with free wifi. Have fun! - sheureka

[ShoresGuy]

Have a look at jwire.com, they list a lot of WiFi sites around the US/Canada.