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Don't Know Jack
The Travel Technologist · August 12, 1998

Drug addicts. That's what international business travelers behave like when they're on the road. Jittery with jetlag and disoriented after a marathon flight, they crave their next e-mail fix. Without a nearby phone jack to plug in to, they become despondent, moody and withdrawn.

What a perfect opportunity for a scam.

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The laptop computer industry is $16 billion-a-year business, according to International Data Corp. Connecting all of those portables to the Internet is a top priority for new users, especially if they're business travelers. It should hardly come as a surprise, then, that the hardware manufacturers peddling everything from filters and line tester to adapters are enjoying double-digit sales growth.

But the add-on expansion now appears to be outpacing the laptop boom itself, and I think I know why. Corporate travelers need to retrieve their electronic messages at predictable intervals, which isn't a problem in North America, where the standard phone jack is -- well, standard. (It's referred to in tech-lingo as the RJ-11. Just unplug your phone to see what one looks like.) But what if you travel overseas? Well, then you've got a problem. Not only are the jacks almost always incompatible with yours, but many of the phones are still hardwired, meaning you can't unplug them at all. Add to that the annoying practice of tax impulsing, which is an intermittent 16-kilohertz tone used to register usage in some European countries - one that can summarily disconnect you from the 'Net - and you get the picture.

Put simply, laptop users in general, and business travelers in particular, are ripe for a con. They'll buy anything to prevent them from missing their next e-mail hit.

I know, because I was taken for more than $200 a few years ago.

Just before I left for a year-long Fulbright fellowship in Germany, I tried to buy a reliable e-mail connection. Half of Germany still uses communist-era East German jacks; the other half is hooked up via the elongated West German jacks. Many phones are hardwired. Still others are digital, meaning that my analog modem is a no-go. Oh yes, then there's the tax impulsing. They've got that, too.

A sales rep for one of the peripheral manufacturers - I won't say which one, because I'm pretty sure they all do this - explained the connectivity obstacles and offered a long list of recommended hardware.

"Do you think I need all of that?" I asked.

"You want to be able to connect, don't you?" she replied.

She had a point. I couldn't live without e-mail and she knew it. I ended up buying a tax-impulse filter, adapters for both German jacks, an acoustic coupler (for hardwired phones) and a line tester, plus a few spare wires that might come in handy.

After my year in Germany ended, the acoustic coupler was practically unused, the East German jack was still in the box and so was the filter. The "better safe than sorry" philosophy had cost me dearly but enriched the hardware seller.

Rada Iyengar, a marketing manager for peripheral manufacturer TeleAdapt Inc. in San Jose, Calif., assured me that most customers actually need what they buy. What's more, she insists the "better safe than sorry" philosophy, which most of the industry subscribes to, is sound.

"Most business travelers don't have the luxury of not being able to connect," she told me. "When you're talking about a million dollar deal, you can't not access your e-mail."

But another way of seeing it is that road warriors are hopelessly hooked to e-mail and they can't imagine life without the joke of the day or Dilbert, so they absolutely must connect, cost be damned.

For the folks whose life depends on a reliable connection (reasons aside) I'll concede that the filters and plugs can be a worthwhile investment. Carole Roberts, a San Francisco technology consultant, comes to mind. Her overseas travels have taken her to Mexico, Greece and Kenya, among other places. She estimates that she's shelled out about $300 for connectivity equipment.

"As a business traveler, I'm not always sure what my circumstances are going to be. It helps to know that you can connect," she says.

For others - and it's not easy to tell when - the add-ons are completely unnecessary. Public relations executive Jim Caruso counts himself among the connectivity minimalists.

"After traveling to over 20 countries throughout Asia and Europe, I can't think of a single one where I could not get into the phone system using a standard phone cord," says the Roswell, Ga., executive. "Truth is you rarely if ever need any additional equipment overseas. I would never recommend that somebody buy an add-on for the phone plugs."

If you're on a generous expense account and you're expected to pick up your e-mail messages every few hours, then I don't see a reason why you shouldn't buy all the toys you can find. Dominique Brown, director of marketing at peripheral manufacturer Road Warrior International Inc. in Santa Ana, Calif., says businesses rarely balk at shelling out big bucks for the devices these days.

"Companies are buying extra modems, line testers and travel kits for their employees, because the equipment isn't optional anymore," she says. "It's essential."

However, if you're picking up the tab instead of the shareholders, take a moment to consider how afraid you really are. What are the chances you'll not connect from your hotel in London, where lots of rooms already feature RJ-11s, for example? What difference is it going to make? Is the equipment worth the expense?

Didn't think so. If worse comes to worst, suggests Peter Geier of modem manufacturer Eicon Technology Inc. in Carollton, Texas, any business traveler can access a phone without a fancy adapter or an expensive acoustic coupler. Elemental wiretapping, which takes a little practice, can save you hundreds of dollars.

"Just don't forget to bring a screwdriver on your next trip," Geier warns.

That's much better. You're on the way to recovery now.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Annapolis, Md. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion. The Travel Technologist appears weekly on this site. This story was also published on Biztravel.com.