Being without e-mail while you are traveling isn't fun and also isn't necessary. If you are an Open Door customer, you can still read your e-mail while you are on the road. The method for doing this depends on whether you have a computer with you or are using somebody else's computer, for example at a relative's house or in a public library.

Reading E-Mail from Your Own Computer

If you travel with a laptop, then reading e-mail is quite easy, although exactly how you do this will depend on how you connect to the Internet.

Once connected to the Internet, you can read e-mail the same way you normally do, whether that's with Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, Mac OS X Mail, or some other e-mail application.

Dialing into the Internet with an old-fashioned analog modem and phone line is slow. If you can use a different method, then you should. If you are at a location that has a high-speed (sometimes called "broadband") connection to the Internet -- this could be a relative's house, a college, a library, an Internet cafe, or a number of other places -- then you should try to use that connection.

To use a high-speed connection, simply connect the Ethernet port on your laptop to the network (be sure to pack an Ethernet cable when you're getting ready for your trip) and reboot the laptop. Better yet, if your computer has wireless (AirPort), and you're in one of the ever-growing number of businesses that provides wireless Internet access, simply join their wireless network. You should then be able to surf the Web and read e-mail in the same manner that you normally do. In some cases, you may need to also reboot other network devices, such as a cable modem. If the administrator for the network (for example, at a college) has placed restrictions on outside users, then this method may not work, but in many cases it will work and is the easiest and fastest way to go.

If you haven't yet configured your laptop to get your Open Door email, you should do so before you leave on your trip. There are many e-mail applications, including Outlook Express (which Internet Explorer uses), Netscape Messenger, the Mail application under Mac OS X, and many others. The e-mail applications are all slightly different.

In general, you should find a menu item that lets you configure e-mail information. The menu item may be in the File, Edit, Tools or some other menu, and may be called Preferences, Accounts, Options or something similar.

You should configure the following information:

• Account name: This is your Open Door account name. (In most cases, your account name is the first part of your e-mail address before the @opendoor.com.)
• Password: This is your Open Door password, which you are already using for e-mail.
• The name of the server for sending mail, which is sometimes called the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server: Set this to opendoor.com.
• The name of the server for receiving mail, which is sometimes called the Post Office Protocol (POP) server: Set this to opendoor.com.

Reading E-Mail from Someone Else's Computer

If you don't have a laptop, you can still read your Open Door email using Yahoo mail, .Mac, or other web-based mail services. Because these services are Web-based, you only need a Web browser to read your email, which you can do from any machine that's on the Internet, without having to configure that machine in any way.

Open Door Networks has a limited Web-based email system available at http://www.opendoor.com/webmail/. Please contact us if you would like details.