dave and marie

Hi all,

We are leaving the UK bound for Gold Coast in just 13 days!! I am thinking of taking my laptop with us so we can keep in touch with family and friends - I have asked PC world to check over the laptop but they have said I will need to take as much as information about australian telephone connections. Does anyone know if the connections are different from the UK and has anyone taken a UK laptop and successfully connected to the net in Australia?

@boy

Your UK laptop has a standard RJ12 dial up modem socket.
Most places will have the same phone socket here as you are used to in the UK/Ireland. Some may have the older type, but you can get an adapter in any local Dick Smith or electronics outlet.

No biggie !

For ref...
http://www.accesscomms.com.au/reference/plugsock.htm

dave and marie

Thanks for that info. At the risk of sounding stupid, the hotel room we will be staying in temporarily advertises each room has STD phones, will I be able to use this line to connect to the internet using dial up? Or will I need some adapters?

@boy

Not a stupid question by any means.
Many a business traveller has been frequently caught out (in hotels all over the world) by not checking out exactly what data connectivity the hotel offers in advance of their trip.

Although the hotel may offer STD phones (which simple is an acronym for Subscriber Trunk Dialling, which just means you can make a call without operator assistance), many hotels hardwire the phone directly into the wall socket so you may find you have no way to 'jack in'.

Make sure you check this out in advance by confirming you can actually connect your phone cable into their wall socket.
Also, confirm they have a standard RJ12 socket. If not then you will need the adapter.

A whole other story is the HORRIFIC rates hotels will charge you for making phone calls.
Additionally, what ISP will you be dialling into ?
Will you be using a roaming IPASS account, or dialing internationally back to your ISP ?
That will cost ya big time.......