Hi Lauren.
You ask a number of questions, and may be this forum is not the best place to ask some. For example the question about accessing the internet whilst you are away using a wireless access point may be better asked in the Networking and Wireless forum, where all the experts hang out.
Your question about your Comcast email may also be difficult to answer, but I will have a go.
Firstly you need to know that a "Screen Name" in an email account is just a name that appears when you send emails, and is created for convenience sake. Your email address is not the "Screen Name", but is the whole address, eg My.Name@MyISP and the @MyISP is the important part of the email address. That is because it shows who your email provider is. In your case your email provider would seem to be Comcast, and so your email address will be something like Your.Name@Comcast.com
For example, my email address may be mark.flax@myisp.com, but when I send emails, my Screen Name, (or Display Name), will just be Mark Flaxman.
If you cancel your subscription with Comcast, then you will lose your email address, not just your screen name. That means that you will have to find another resource to register with and create a new email address, and then let all of your friends and other contacts know of your changed email address.
But I wonder if that is necessary? If you were to continue paying for the Comcast email, you may be able to continue to access your email account and send and receive emails from the same Comcast account by using your internet browser to log-on to your Comcast email account. Most major ISP's, (Internet Service Providers), allow web-based email access nowadays.
Of course, I would not presume to discuss your finances in these forums, and if that is a factor in your consideration to cancel your Comcast account, then that is entirely your decision.
If that is the case, then perhaps something like GMail, (from Google), or Yahoo mail, (from Yahoo), may be he best option.
I've just seen that you will be (eventually?) settling down in Panama? Would it be an idea to check out ISP availability whilst you are visiting there?
I'm not sure what else I can offer, but good luck on your trip.
Mark
Dear New Friends::
Problem: we are taking off for a long overseas trip and don't know when we will return. We want to keep up with friends/family via email and do online banking.We bought an EEPC from Asus for its long battery life, low weight, etc. We don't don't want to use cyber cafes and are also wary of public wifi spots. We heard there is a USB device that we can buy and connect to our netbook to scramble our ISP address and would make it safer to use with public WIFI. Any suggestions on using this and what they are called - can't find them thru a search.Next problem: we have been using a Comcast email box forever but when we disconnect Comcast, they won't let us keep our screen name. It seems a hassle to try to get everyone to adjust to a new screen name , say one we get obtain via gmail. I think we can ask a friend to add us to his unused list of screen names on Comcast but does this make sense in the long run? My sense is that Comcast protects our emails and backs them up and has good security. It would be nice to download important emails to the netbook in case Comcast server is down or we can't get to it for some reason. I guess Outlook is a microsoft program on my computer and I've heard talk of using that to automatically download my emails from Comcast directly to my netbook so there is a backup. If we ditch Compcast and go to Gmail, then what?
I need real clear english to understand what to do. Some of the veteran posters talk over my head and my eyes glaze over and I wearily think "well, tomorrow is another day" as I close down and learn nothing. If you have some tips for me I would be eternally grateful and will send you our new home address in Panama when we eventually settle down there! Thank you so much, Lauren
Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic