Hubby and I are very excited.  He is in the process of completing the sale of his practice and starting July 1st, we will be full-timers.  I recently spoke with my employer about telecommuting.  I am a SAS programmer/statistical analyst - so my job is ideal for working from the road.  My boss didn't seem very thrilled at the idea (I think it has to do with the lack of control).  They might let me do it for a little while (until they get somebody to take over).  Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed about that, but I'm still very excited about hopping in our GMC + Durango 5th wheel and leaving all of the stress of 9-5 life behind us.  I'm looking forward to meeting many of the great folks that have posted to this forum as well as the many RVers that have not discovered the great community here at RV-Dreams.com. 

Thanks everyone for all of your input along the way.  It is greatly appreciated!

Colleen

YAY!!!  Hooray for you guys!!  Welcome to the road! 

Congratulations - Drive Safely, Have Fun, and God Bless you as you go.

I know you did not bring it up by expect the SAS programming will need you to use VPN (Virtual Private Networking) to hook into work from the road.  You will find that to VPN into a work environment you will need to use cell phone internet instead of satellite.  Even the slow EDGE (AT&T) and 1XRTT (slow speed for Verizon and Sprint) seem to work for VPN but satellite latency has all manner of issues.  WiFi is iffy, some will work and some will not. 
This is not a problem for website development since that is mostly done with a local copy and the upload to the server is a bulk transfer which works reliably for me with Hughes.net, my Verizon aircard, and many Wi-Fi's. 
I hope you can make it work for you, in both meanings of the word "work".

Congratulations....way to go!!!!

Can anyone please tell me what Bill just said. Speedy

Not me!

It's way over my head!!!

Jim

Speedhitch wrote:

---

Can anyone please tell me what Bill just said.

Speedy

---

I learned long ago that I am not good at explaining computer stuff but I will try.  VPN is the fancy new way to dial into a work computer only using the internet.

 

Bill,

Does that explain why we can't get Skype to work on a campground WIFI even though the connection seems very fast?

Thanks!
LeslieW

-- Edited by LeslieW at 01:14, 2008-05-19

Congratulations, I am very happy for both of you. Hey a new life ahead!

Thanks Bill,

We will be getting the Verizon aircard so hopefully that should work for us.  Based on the coverage map it looks they have decent coverage in the U.S.  I'm not sure if I'll need to use VPN.  I usually access datafiles through an FTP site or they are sent via email.  I think I could then download and encrypt them onto a flash drive or my computer and work with them from there.  I'm not sure yet how to encrypt files, I'll have to look into that.

Colleen

Thank you all for your support.  We can't wait! 

We are having a moving sale this weekend to get rid of most of the stuff we're not taking with us.  Trying to figure out what to bring, what to sell, what to give away, and what to store is more difficult than I imagined.  I started moving some stuff into the RV this weekend.  I started to cringe thinking about where things will go.  I just hope when we get the RV all packed it does not feel too cramped.  I really love the open feel of our fifth wheel and I hope it still feels that way when we load it up.  

Our plan is to spend July 4th here (we love to watch the fireworks over Lake Champlain).  Then we're going to head up to Nova Scotia in mid-July for a few weeks then come back down to New England in August to tie up any loose ends and say our goodbyes before we head South. 

Does anyone know if the Verizon aircard works in Nova Scotia?

-C

 

Don't use your Verizon aircard outside the United States since the roaming charges are per MB and will add up.  I know people who have had $500 bills for Canadian roaming and one who got hit with over $2000 picking up a Mexican tower from their U.S. border campsite.
Going into Canada or Mexico routinely is one place a Datastorm, automatic internet satellite, has a great advantage since it will work and you can easily change satellites to get the coverage. 

Thanks again Bill for the valuable information.  We do not travel to Canada regularly so I will either take some vacation time before we go or try to finish up any quick turn-around projects up before we leave.  I would not be a happy camper with a cell bill that high.
-C

Bill, is that true if you have the North American plan?

Verizon aircard plans are completely different than cell phone plans.  For Verizon aircards there are two plans, the $40 a month one that only lets you use 50MB and the $60 a month plan that lets you use 5GB.   Most of us could easily use 50MB in one day so the $40 plan is a dumb one to get since it costs $0.49/MB for overage.
If you have a cell phone on the North American plan that can be used as a modem only in some extended network areas does it provide internet service, but when it does it costs $2/day or $60/month extra.  Since Canada is all extended network for Verizon it might or might not work.  I was told Verizon no longer has an agreement with a phone company in Mexico so all Mexico calls are roaming.

BTW: Sprint aircards are going to the 5GB/month limit just like Verizon and AT&T.  Only Alltell is unlimited now, but who knows if that will last?

I have a Verizon aircard and I love it! We have not gone out of the states though, but I have only had trouble in Texas, and after I called Verizon, we got it worked out. Welcome to the site and the RV lifestyle. You will love it. Gary and Sally