The wonders of electronics have taken the long haul driver of not so long ago and changed his environment from that of the solitary truck cab to that of the complete mobile office. As with any such transition the first of each of the components was fairly low tech and costly to use. Case in point, the mobile phone the first units were large, cumbersome, expensive to buy and use, had limited user areas, required operator assistance to place every call and no privacy to boot.....

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Now with advent of the cell phone and it's progression into the modern digital phones the cell sites are plentiful, the cost is reasonable and the functionality limited only by yours and some hardware manufacturers imagination. You can now talk, send pictures, fax (both send and receive), hook up your computer via modem. All this to a unit smaller than a deck of cards.

Laptop computers were an item that were found only in the hands of the business executive or sales staff and were normally purchased by the company as the prices for these units were out of reach for most of us. But the technology companies felt that students would have a lot of uses for them and so they went to work to make them smaller, lighter, more powerful and less costly. Well if a student could now afford one so could a truck driver and with the mapping software and accounting software available these items found their way into the hands of the owner operators and then to the company driver.

With these computers you could now easily have a route to destination planned giving you the mileages for each leg and the hours it would take to get you there. One went out and got themselves a mobile dialup connection and you now had internet access so you could communicate cheaply with home. By adding a web cam on both ends you were able to now not only hear but also see the family you'd left at home. Though the ISP connections through dial up were slow and the resulting images were jerky and the sound quality poor, that really was your family staring back at you from your computer screen.

Jump forward now to today where the advent of the WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) connection, and the numerous access points (Hot Spots) found around the country, the numbers are growing daily, means now you have quality High Speed from your vehicle access to the internet. All that it requires is a WiFi card (pcmcia or internal) or USB antenna with the WiFi card built in for your laptop (these are available at any computer/electronics store and various truck stops for prices ranging from $39.95 up to around $80.00) and a WiFi ISP plan and you are up and running. Plan costs may vary by ISP --- the one I use is from Ton Services (a Flying J company)and access in at most Flying J truck stops and they also have access close to other national truck stops. At this time they have some 250 Hot Spot locations across the country (location booklets are available at the Flying J fuel desks and sales counters). There are also free Hot Spots located around the country though many are unavailable to anyone driving a vehicle larger than a bread box.

Add to this the power inverter which can give you 120 volt AC output (in varying watt ratings from as small as 50w right up to 6000w and larger capacity) and you now can plug in a printer, scanner and numerous household appliances (for any office mobile or not a coffee maker comes to mind). A little caution should be used here as these units come in two types 'full sine wave' and 'modified sine wave or square wave' the less expensive is the modified sine wave but not all devices will operate properly with them and they can even damage some items therefore due diligence is required when making this purchase to make certain it will operate your devices properly and safely.

Though the cost for the combined items may range from around $1000. to upwards of several thousand dollars, depending on what you want, the expense may be well worth it when the serviceability and convenience are taken into account.

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