| by Mark
Lamendola, MBA One of the big hassles for travelers whose normal ISP is a
high-speed provider, and not a dial up connection ISP, is Internet access. Many of us
"solved" this by using one of the free ISP services. What we found was a
frustrating experience with proprietary software that takes over your computer,
banners and pop-ups that make it nearly impossible to browse, and long waits while the
system gives you the latest list of access numbers.
Compounding the problem, those
access numbers give no indication of what suburbs they pertain to, and whether they are
long-distance or not. For example, Blue Light won't work for you if you are on the Kansas
side of the Kansas City area and don't know that all the 913 area code listings they have
are long-distance but you need one of the 816 listings. And like many other cities, San
Jose poses a problem when dialing within the area code unless you know the local
geography.
The above problems are only part of the frustrating picture.
What adds salt to the wounds for many travelers is they want out of town access just a
few times a year. The only way to get this is to subscribe to one of the hated national
services like AOL or MSN, and put up with their high rates and "take over the
computer" method of operating. What choices do you have? Until recently, no other
choices. However, there's good news!
Consider the BAMnet Corporation at http://www.bamnet.com.
As of this writing (mid-2001), they offer Internet access at just 6.5¢ per minute.
Compare that to 12 months of $21.95 or whatever AOL charges these days.
Consider, also, what happens when you go to a location where your closest local access
number is 50 miles away and you have to pay 10-20¢ per minute in addition to the $21.95 a
month. With BAMnet, you don't get the nasty surprises of hidden charges. Nor do you
put up with monthly fees, busy signals, and surcharges.
If you use the service from home because your normal ISP is down or you need the access
when away from home, you don't need to spend that $21.95! Instead, you just use BAMnet's
number and the low per minute charges go to your home phone bill (or your credit card,
depending on which way you want it). And you're browsing at 56K. No hassle!
From BamNet's FAQ page (late 2011)
BAMnet Dialup FAQ (frequently asked questions)
Q. Which services does BAMnet offer?
A. Local dialup Internet access (30,000+ plus numbers across the U.S.). 1-800
dialup access in both the U.S. and Canada. International dialup access from
locations outside the U.S. And Wi-Fi access which is a combination of our own
locations as well as access to our partner locations.
Q. How much does it cost?
A. Local dialup Internet (lower 48 U.S. States and Canada) is rated at 1 cent
per-minute or less. Actual cost depends on which plan you signed up for. 1-800
dialup (lower 48 U.S. States) is rated between 4.5 and 6.5 cents per-minute.
Actual cost depends on which plan you signed up for. And, International dialup
access from locations outside the U.S. is rated between 9 to 13 cents
per-minute. Actual cost depends on which plan you signed up for.
Q. How do I know if a number is local to my area?
A. Check our list of dialup Internet numbers for the towns nearest to your
location. Once you locate a few numbers local to your area, call your local
phone company and ask if those numbers are considered a local call. If there are
no local numbers available, and you live in the U.S., consider using our
1-800-737-7530 dialup number at the rates posted during account signup.
Q. Do you limit the websites I can visit?
A. No. If you would like to restrict access to adult content, we recommend
CYBERsitter (www.cybersitter.com).
Q. Do you offer an unlimited plan?
A. No.
Q. What payment methods do you accept?
A. Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. We also have payment by check plans
available for individuals starting from as little as $20. Or, for corporations
or groups (our group option) starting at $50.
Q. How do I know how much time my account has left?
A. All users can log into their account detail through our website login page.
Visit www.bamnet.com and click Registered Users Login (or Account Manager).
Q. What happens when my time left runs out?
A. Simply buy more time. If your account is set for "auto-replenish" then there
is nothing you need to do. Upon the minutes remaining reaching zero, the account
will be recharged based on your selected plan type. If your account is set for
"do not auto-replenish" then upon your minutes remaining reaching zero, you can
log into our web interface and buy more minutes.
Any time a credit card is charged, an email confirmation is sent so please be
sure to keep your email address current. Log into our Account Manager to update
your contact information.
Q. Are there any commitments or obligations?
A. No. All plans are set for a prepaid quantity of minutes. There are no monthly
access fees or minimum usage requirements associated with your purchase.
Q. Does my account ever expire?
A. No. All remaining minutes do not have an expiration date.
Q. Can I use the same username from multiple computers?
A. Yes. However, the same username can not be simultaneously connected at the
same time from multiple computers. If you have a need for multiple usernames,
please consider our "group" option where you can create an unlimited number of
usernames/passwords that share in the same pool of prepaid minutes. You become
the administrator of your own group!
If your company/group is a larger account ($1,000 or up), we can write custom
processes to handle your needs. For example, a single username/password used by
hundreds or even thousands of devices requiring access to the Internet, we can
engineer account management based on the originating telephone numbers. Blocking
call-from numbers, browse usage reports, or other security related account
management.
Q. Help, do you provide free technical support?
A. Yes, call us at 1-877-322-6638. Our technical support staff work in-house at
BAMnet Corporation from 9:00am EST through 9:00pm EST. In after hours, call and
leave a message, we have staff onsite that will get to your call.
Q. Help, I just signed up but I'm unable to log on to a modem.
A. Check to see if you have "@bamnet" at the end of your username. For example
username@bamnet and notice there are no ".com" or ".net" extensions after
@bamnet.
Next, check for capitalization. BAMnet's usernames/passwords are case sensitive.
If you signed up using all lowercase characters, please be sure that your
username capitalization matches; therefore, should also be lowercase.
Q. Help, I just signed up but I'm unable to log in to the web admin.
A. Check for capitalization. BAMnet's usernames/passwords are case sensitive. If
you signed up using all lowercase characters, please be sure that your username
capitalization matches; therefore, should also be lowercase. When logging into
the website admin interface, @bamnet is not required.
Q. My POP3 E-mail service isn't working, what can I do?
A. Contact your POP3 e-mail provider and ask about connecting to their e-mail
server while traveling. Most larger POP3 providers have an alternative method
for accessing their servers such as User Authentication which is a method where
sending email requires a username/password. In addition, BAMnet's local and
International numbers are blocking port 25. Most of the larger POP3 type email
providers specifically have an alternate SMTP server for use from outside their
own network -- using a generic port number other then port 25.
See our Customer Support page for more details.
Q. My 56k modem only connects at 24,000 BPS - why?
A. BAMnet's network supports up to 56k speeds; however, there are locations
where for various reasons the distance between you and our modem doesn't allow
for a 56k connection. Try another one of our dialup numbers to see if you get a
higher speed.
Q. Every time I start Internet Explorer, it tries to dial my old (or home) ISP,
what can I do to make it stop?
A. Locate the Internet Options configuration area and switch the Connections
option to "Never dial a connection."
Internet Options can usually be found by clicking on the Tools pulldown menu,
then select Internet Options. Once the Internet Options window opens, select the
Connections tab across the top portion of the window. Within the Dial-up
Settings area, click "Never dial a connection." |
