International Computer Connections 
If you are traveling or relocating internationally and taking
a computer with you – whether it's your home computer or a
laptop – there are several issues related to getting it connected
that you must address before leaving your home country. There
will be some questions relating to power supply and others,
which need answering if you use a modem to connect to the
Internet or E-mail services. You will need to resolve these
issues and the following questions in order to connect your
computer and make it compatible with the local system before
you leave home:
- What are the electrical voltage, current, and plug configuration
in your destination country? Does your computer have a built-in
voltage adapter? Can you obtain the necessary plug adapters?
Should these be grounded?
- What is the design of the telephone plugs locally? Are
telephones hard-wired directly into the wall? If so, traveling
with an old-fashioned acoustic coupler may be the best solution.
Can you obtain a telephone plug adapter? Should you take
an extra telephone cord?
- Do the local telephones use digital technology? You can
use a "line-tester" to find this out when you arrive. Modems
do not work through digital exchanges, although an adapter
can be obtained to overcome this.
Other questions to consider include:
- Is the power supply reliable? Is a surge protector or
back-up power supply recommended?
- What is the quality of telephone service? Are telephone
lines delivering clear and uninterrupted information?
- Are there "tax impulses", high frequency "beeps" that
interrupt data transmission? If so, you should obtain a
filter, or some modems can be reset to ignore momentary
signal interruptions.
- Is the dial tone different from your home country and,
if so, will your modem recognize it? Is dialing performed
using "pulse" or "tone" dialing? You can set up your modem
before you leave home so that it will ignore the dial tone:
consult your technical manual or vendor.
- Not all modems are approved for use in all countries.
Check with your modem manufacturer or supplier for which
countries your modem is approved.
There are several strategies you can adopt to cope with
connectivity problems, including:
- Learn the workings of your modem and its related software
ahead of your departure.
- Learn dialing strategies to bypass local dial tones and
avoid having to teach your modem the full range of international
access codes.
- Practice connecting manually through your modem, bypassing
the modem's automatic dialing and using modem software to
complete the connection.
- Use a phone card to overcome inflated hotel telephone
charges.
- Find a local Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Your relocation consultant, local office, or building
management may be able to answer some of your questions.
Other issues will need to be addressed to your computer,
modem, and software technical help services, or to your
Internet Service Provider – ISP.
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