[LUG] OT French camp site internet

[George <georgeparker20@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm on my annual "Living away from home in a caravan in Europe" trip and 
reading about the Hotel internet system made me think about my internet 
access on French camping sites so far.
Every site seems to require you to open a browser window to log onto 
their system. Most require a password, even if free. Some are free 
access but only around their reception area. Some are site wide but will 
charge something like 4 Euros a day, or perhaps 2 Euros for an hours 
connection that you can log onto and off, so spreading the hour. Some 
are free all over but site coverage is iffy.
One guy on a site providing free coverage told me that if I opened a 
browser on a site with adverts their system would not log in as it timed 
out while the site was looking for an advert.  He said use Google.com as 
it doesn't have any ads. Also, forget using an Apple device.
The one I'm on at the moment in Paulo del Vidre (Catalan for Palace of 
Glass) near the Spanish border is the best I've come across as it is 
site wide but totally free, log on to one of 3 transmitters, no password 
required.  Unfortunately in 2 days time they change to a new system, 
better cover apparently, first half hour per day free then you pay. I 
guess I can live with that.

I use Thunderbird  for email with IMAP.  Using dodgy connections, the 
biggest problem is if you are writing a mail and the connection drops 
then you get a message saying the mail cannot be saved.  It does not 
allow other than saving online so if you cannot revive the connection 
you are likely to lose what you have written.  I can write the email in 
a text editor and copy to send but it's a faff. Any way of setting up an 
offline mode under IMAP to write then log-on to send?  I assume this 
wouldn't happen if I was using POP.

BTW The British Caravan Club and The Camping and Caravan Club internet 
charges are extortionate and coverage on sites is generally poor.

George

George

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