What electonic communication devices do you prefer to travel with?
 

What portable communication devices do you prefer to travel with? Notebook computers? Net books? Smart phones? plain old mobile phones? None?
Pros/Cons?

I PAD with Sype cheap great

I have donated everything else i used to have

has pretty much gone the way of the dodo.

Try to use free wifi keep in airplane mode to save roaming

charges. insuremytrip.com always wise everyone is jealous

and wants one including all the thieves.

A netbook to use Skype in the hotel rooms (and also to look up various things/places as I travel, to store photos, post photos online for friends/family, to email home and to begin writing a trip report, etc). I loved having the netbook because I could use it for 1,000 different things and a one month subscription for unlimited calls to the US was only $3 or $4 and I could call to phones instead of just someone else using Skype. The downside is that it does take up a decent amount of space/weight (similar size to a hard cover novel). It was absolutely worth it's size/weight.

I also generally take a cheapo quad-band, unlocked cell phone that I can put a SIM card in to call if I want to. I took a smart phone on my last trip but couldn't get it to cooperate and use the internet or to call internationally. Note: learn how to use any device you take BEFORE you go. :)

I take my iPhone, adding 20MB international data roaming for overseas trips, and my MacBook Air.

Plain old cell phone. Anyone who needs to contact me has my email address or my itinerary and can call hotels.

I've considered buying a cheapo quad band, unlocked cell phone but never get around to it.

I travel with a blackberry - but I never call home with it. Anybody needs to contact me in an emergency can do it through my hotel. I do send a text or email once in awhile though.

I travel with my iphone, but I turn off international roaming and 3G, and just use it when I'm on WiFi (internet, Skype). I usually take, and use, the netbook for the same purposes. Until I got into Skype, I always took an unlocked cell for a local sim, but Skype is great, especially now that you can call actual phones instead of just computer to computer, so no longer have a need for the unlocked phone.

sf7307,
Can you tell me how to use skype on my iphone? I am technically challenged. My unlocked iphone always wants to go to the sim. If I put it in airplane mode it doesn't seem to allow me to skype??

My netbook and my ancient mobile phone go with me. I bought the netbook before tablets arrived on the scene, and since I like a real keyboard and need USBs, I am likely to stick with it for a long time. It works and I don't feel the need for the latest and greatest all the time, hence my 7 year old Nokia!
The netbook fits in my camera bag just fine and weighs less than some lenses so I am happy with it.

None.

I don't even own any of those except a laptop and it stays home. Pros- packing light, no worries, it's easy. Cons- I have to go to an internet cafe to send/receive email or if I need to make a phone call.

I take an unlocked phone, my Iphone, and netbook.

For us (couple) TWO Toshiba lightweight 10" screen laptops; two plain ordinary unlocked Nokia cell phones; that's it! We load MS software (Streets and Trips or Autoroute) depending on where we're going so don't need GPS.

The family don't really expect much more than a postcard but if someone has a birthday or the mood takes us we phone. Laptops are used to store our photos plus HD video, so half a terabyte of storage hardly suffices.

We each carry a camera backpack; each with a Nikon D90, 18-200 zoom, 2 X Nikon converter and small Nikon flash. Hubby also carries a Panasonic HD video camera that fits in an inside pocket. Manfrotto tripods, because they are heavy, fit in checked luggage.