Travel with MSN TV/WebTV!
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Page Last Updated November 15, 2004
[You may want to print these pages for reference]
MSN TV has contract ISPs [Internet Service Providers] in all 50 States in all urban and most rural areas. Thus, if you normally connect through MSN TV instead of your own local ISP, travelling with MSN TV will not cost anything extra as long as:
If you'd like to take your MSN TV with you on vacation anywhere in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, here are some useful tips:
Near the bottom of the following page, click on the link to find if there are dialup numbers in an area where you know a local phone number:
Enter the motel/hotel phone number (or the phone number of a private home where you'll be staying). Anytime MSN TV is disconnected from power, the next time you power up and switch ON, a screen appears asking if you're dialing from the same phone number or whether you've moved. Clicking on "Moved" will dial into a toll-free number that searches automatically for local dialup numbers. Then your unit will dial the closest number, also automatically. If there's a local dialup number and you're continuing to use MSN TV's ISPs, that's all you have to do -- MSN TV takes care of the rest for you. If you're staying in a hotel or motel, also see the instructions below for resetting your dialing options to get an outside line and for connecting to TVs. MSN TV (and computers) can be used only with Analog (normal) telephone equipment or with special adapters to protect modems from the high voltages common on digital phone lines. Although Digital telephone systems are not common in motels and hotels (they're found mainly in business offices), some do exist. Hotels and motels with digital phone systems sometimes have a protective adapter for use by businessmen who want to connect with the home office with their laptops--ask at the front desk. The price of such a protective device is currently [May 2004] about $40 . Some hotels or motels may require a different procedure to dial a toll-free number from your room. Ask at the front desk if you're having problems. Good hotels and motels want to make their guests happy and will furnish any special instructions or information needed to connect and use your unit for Internet access. Ask for the manager [or Concierge, in some hotels] if you have problems WHILE TRAVELLING: Take the batteries out of your keyboard and remote. If a key is depressed while either is packed, the batteries will drain and may go "dead." It's always a good idea to have spare batteries If you use your own local ISP to connect to the MSN TV Network, there's a problem unless your ISP also has affiliate ISPs in the city where you'll be. Contact your local ISP and ask about local dialups or toll-free dialup numbers in other areas. However, if you feel it's worth the money to remain "in touch," you can always connect through MSN TV and pay the extra $10 MSN TV charges for its normal service (using and paying for your own ISP, you'll receive a $10 discount per month from MSN TV's normal rates). If you'd like to do this, go to your Dialing Options (instructions below) and choose "Use MSN TV" instead of "Use Your ISP." Please note that one single connection through MSN TV's ISPs activates the normal MSN TV monthly fee. NOTE: MSN TV's charges began on the first date you connected; thus, rather than by calendar month, MSN TV's charges recur on the monthly anniversary of your first connection. To check what date that is, refer to your credit card bill. If your vacation overlaps that date (for example, you first connected on the 19th of a month and you'll be on vacation from the 16th through the 30th of a month), you'll be responsible for two monthly fees, a total of $20 extra for using MSN TV's ISPs through such overlapping anniversary periods. And Kara asks me to remind everyone that many modern hotel/motel telephones have "data ports" on the base of the phone where you can plug in your MSN TV telephone cord directly without having to access the wall jack. If you wish to use your MSN TV as you do at home, you'll need to connect the coaxial cable ("antenna cable" the round cord, about 1/4" or larger in diameter with screw-on or push-on end connectors) to your MSN TV's UHF/VHF In jack. This may require "unlocking" the cable, as explained below. You'll then connect the short coaxial cable that came with your MSN TV from the UHF/VHF Out to the TV input jack. Most of the following instructions apply to using WebTV Plus units; if you have a Classic, to connect you'l need either If the TV has external RCA input jacks, simply use them for MSN TV input without disconnecting the coaxial cable.
If there are RCA jacks on the TV, just use the RCA cord (red, yellow, white colors on end plugs) that came with your MSN TV to connect from MSN TV Line Out to the TV's input jacks. Then set the TV tuner to AUX, Video Input, Line, Input, or Channel 3 to view MSN TV.
NOTE: If the TV set has only two RCA input jacks, you don't need to connect all three plugs to use MSN TV. The yellow plug is for video, the red and white are both audio channels. So you can use the yellow video connector and just one of the red and white audio connectors (you don't really need stereo sound to use MSN TV). Connect from the Line Out on the back of the MSN TV box to the Video In or Input jacks on the TV and set the TV tuner to AUX, Video Input, Line, Input, or Channel 3.
Sometimes there is a lock on the motel/hotel TV coaxial cable input ("antenna cable"). These are installed to help prevent theft of TV sets. If you explain politely to the manager what you'd like to do to connect your WebTV/MSN TV, usually he/she will have someone unlock the cable so you can hook up.
It's a good idea to inquire in advance about their policy on temporarily removing any coaxial cable locks.
For best performance, you'll need to check or change three settings: The 9 gets an outside line dial tone, each comma creates a pause so MSN TV will have a chance to "hear" the dial tone before attempting to dial out.
There are multiple ways to get into Dialing Options to change settings:
I pack my Sony INT W200 (original Plus) in an inexpensive-looking padded soft zippered carrying bag and take it on flights as carry-on luggage.
Many times it will go through the X-ray machines without question (which says a lot about the quality of security at airports!). At other times, security personnel may ask you to open the bag for hand inspection.
If you explain that it "connects to a TV and is similar to a VCR" you'll find you get through the gates in much less time than if you try to explain what MSN TV really is and does.
To further save time, I often reset my Dialing options just before I leave for vacation so they're ready when I get to the motel or hotel.
I've travelled to Anchorage, Alaska; York, Pennsylvania; and all over Northern and Southern California with my MSN TV so I could continue to post on the MSN TV/WebTV Users Newsgroup. It's no secret I'm addicted to MSN TV and the Internet/Web!
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