Using Lotus Notes on the Road

     During my European and Asian travels for a client (Spring, '97), I needed to maintain contact with my business and manage it from afar (not to mention, keep up my participation in client forums...and communicate with my family). So, here's what I did:

     I have a Notes server, running on Windows NT, that is connected via ISDN to a cooperative and helpful ISP (Brainstorm Networks, Mountain View, CA). They have configured their routers to automatically dial our local router when any traffic arrives for us. That gives us a "virtual" full-time, automatic and bidirectional connection to "the Internet cloud". WIth my monthly bill with them, and my telco ISDN charges, I pay about $1.20/hour, average, for 128 KB/s.  (Normally, we get a 64 KB/s connection, which jumps up to 128 KB/s when traffic demands.)

     I have a dial-up (28.8) account with IBM Global Network ($20/month, regardless of usage or access point).  IBM Global Network has local access telephone numbers in every major city on the globe. That means I can access "the Internet cloud" from anywhere in the civilized world with a local telephone call

     I configured my Location documents in Notes to provide for scheduled replication and mail routing; once at "oh-dark:30" and another just after business hours. I can, of course, invoke manual routing/replication at any time.   That means that at the scheduled early-morning and early-evening hours, my laptop checks to see if it has a telephone line and, if it does, it automatically dials the local access number to initiate Internet communications with my server.

     Each Location document has to be associated with a unique DUN/RAS description, which must be created separately from Notes (which is the arcane complication that, I believe, keeps more people from using it). Therefore, I tend to have a Location/RAS description pair for each city I visit.

     I also use the IBM-supplied "Phone Dialer" program for manual connections, and have a single Location document (with scheduling disabled, named "Internet") for all manually-placed calls. I use the IBM Phone Dialer application to establish a pipe via the local phone to "the Internet cloud", then manually invoke replication. I use this the first time in a new city to test the process and make sure I get all the digits right (ouside access, etc.) in the telephone number. I also use manual connection if I intend to do some Web surfing. And, I use it if I'm passing through a city and don't expect to be there long or to return.

     I used this for making regular connections in Dublin, London, Canberra, Hong Kong, Tokyo and virtually ever major city in the U.S. In Dublin, I actually had to dial Belfast, Northern Ireland, about 150 miles away, because the Dublin POP was down the week I was there. And, in Singapore, IBM Global Network has no presence, so I had to call Kuala Lumpur, about 200 miles away. Even in these cases, the call charges for replicating with my server at home (in Silicon Valley, California) were well under $10 (US) per call.

Now, it's not all been rosy and sweet. Here're some of the key problems:

Local telephone connections in many foreign countries are abysmal. Sometimes I can only connect at 9600 bps. But, frankly, who cares? Once I make a local call, I don't care if I'm connected for hours 'n' hours, because charges don't change, and I'm not physically involved in the process.
Hotel per-call charges, which are now typically 75 cents. Irritating, but much better than the $35-40 calls from Hong Kong to California just to get my e-mail!
To configure DUN/RAS, I have to know the difference between SLIP and PPP (IBM Global Network uses both, depending on the city), and details like bit framing and authentication methods, and too much jargon to make it easy.  In the corporate environment, I'd rather see a technical person build the requisite configuration for a non-technical executive to use as required.
DUN/RAS doesn't provide any way to copy a configuration to save the essential details; I have to re-enter too much stuff.
Diagnostics are abysmal, both in DUN/RAS, and in Notes. When a call fails, I have a hard time figuring out how to diagnose the problem to correct it.  Is it a problem with the local hotel phone system?  Inability to get an outside line?  Poor local telco lines? POP down? Failure to authenticate? Too-busy cloud? Inability to dial my server? My server down?
From Notes' RAS configuration, I have no control of the DUN/RAS configuration, nor the modem configuration beyond that (for instance, I'd like to be able to decide, in my Location document, whether the modem's speaker is to be off or on).
Retry attempts and re-dial efforts are hard to manage to set limits on how many times to try (remember, if the hotel's outgoing lines are busy, I want to keep trying...but if the POP's down, I don't want 200 calls at 75 cents each from the hotel!).

The Culture of Being on the Road

     I'd love to be able to take my family travelling with me, but it's not often practical.  I'm rushing from city-to-city, and busy from breakfast to bedtime...just no time to take off to see the sights.  When I relax, I relax...but, when I work, I work.

     Fortunately, sometimes we get a chance to extend a trip and enjoy the time.  On a recent trip to Dublin, I took my family, and we had six delightful days before I had to work with the client.

     But, most of the time, I use e-mail.  Yes, e-mail, to talk with my family!  (Sometimes, to remind each other of something, we'll send an e-mail across the living room!).

     When I'm in North America, I phone home at least daily, and sometimes more often.  But, I find the occasional intimate e-mail dashed off in the middle of the day has a most positive effect on family relations.

     While I'm on the road overseas, I write what I call "sagas."  Every day or two I get several hours alone in an airplane, and I use that time to write the saga of my travels.  I don't just recite a litany of the troubles I've had; rather, I try to convey some sense of "being there," so my family can read it and, for the moment at least, participate in the excitement and the joy.  I take them on tours of the offices I visit, introduce them to the people I meet, let them inside on my feelings in the moment.   Each "saga" is an e-mail that's typically a couple of pages long.

     The "sagas" work to cement my family relationships, even though I can't be there in "real time."  And, even when the cost of a daily, long telephone call wouldn't be prohibitive, it's hard to coordinate schedules with family on the opposite side of the globe, most often a problem when I'm in Asia.