¿Tengo Internet?

¿Tengo Internet?

Such a question, phrased in Spanish, would inquire as to the availability of an internet connection. In the Ameicano vernacular, TengoInternet now refers to a growing company that provides internet wifi services to RV parks across the US.

It didn't exactly start out with a boom. In 2002 when TengoInternet founder Eric Stumberg tried hawking wifi services to RV park owners, many found him plumb loco. "It was a very hard sell at the time," he says. "Most of the owners were independent operators. They weren't technically savvy themselves, and they viewed WiFi as a technology versus an amenity. A lot of them were concerned about its obsolescence."

My how the tide has turned. Today Strumberg's company has servers in 300 RV parks, and the money is flowing in: Nearly two and a half million dollars in 2007. What makes the market go? It's those young dollar-bearing folks. Baby boomers are making the RV market grow, and Gen-Xers are seen by many in the industry as a growing salvation. Boomers and Xers have a perfect addiction to the internet, and TengoInternet sees itself as the supplier.

Users typically purchase airtime at a participating RV park. However, visitors to the TengoInternet site can also purchase time online. Rates? They start at $4.95 per day up to $29.95 per month of service. Yep, you can find wifi service free in some cafes--but it won't take long to drink up that much in lattes. For a map of enabled RV parks, visit here.

For more on the rise of TengoInternet, visit bizjournals.

Who answers your phone while you're gone?

So, how do you deal with your phone when you're away from home?

I know that some people just let their answering system pick up calls, then they check in periodically by calling their own phone.

Others use call forwarding to direct calls to their cell phone while they're away, but invariably the first call that comes in when they get home goes to their cell and there's a mad dash to grab it... or they just forget for a day or so until they realize they aren't getting any calls on their home phone.

If any of these, or different variations apply to you, you might want to give GrandCentral a try. It's a free (yea, really free!) service that routes your incoming calls to as many phone numbers as you like. That means your calls come to your new, free phone number and ring on both your home and cell phone.

There are some very cool features that let you set up different ring tones, different answer messages, and other niceties. And you can set the system to send email, text messages, or both to announce when you get voicemail.

You need to tell your callers to use your new phone number (which you can also announce on your home answering system), and your new number can be in a completely different area of the country if you like. For instance, I live in North Carolina but I just signed up for a Beverly Hills, California phone number... and hey, there goes Hillary Swank... Call me, girl!!

Anyhow, GrandCentral may be just the answer for stabilizing your phone traffic.