paying bills back home

A lot of utility companies now have e-billing available. You could see if yours do and sign up for it. This way you receive your bill directly to your email, through their website, or through a third party site (like www.epost.ca). Saves on waste and is great when you aren't home all the time.
You may also be able to set up a forwarding mail address for yourself - perhaps to a family member? You could then leave them a specific amount of money so they can pay the bills for you or you can have them email you the amount and you can pay it.
Also some utilities companies have a billing process where they estimate how much water/electricity you will use over the year and then average it out across 12 equal payments. You either come out ahead (likely in your case) or behind at the end of the year and pay or regain the difference. This way you would have equal payements every month that you are gone and don't need to worry about the bills.

Can't you set up Direct Debits? Then you don't need to worry about them at all.

Never use internet banking in an internet cafe, too risky.

If you're taking your own laptop then don't use wireless in a public place. All the data
is there for everyone to see, passwords, account numbers everything.

The only safe method is to hard-wire your own laptop.

I set up monthly billing with direct debits for utilities. The gas and electric companies often do this. They use your previous years usage and you pay an equal amount for 11 months and then the 12 month they do an adjustment depending upon your usage.

The water bill is quarterly where I live and a bit more complicated. This one I can't get electronically or do direct debits so in advance I sent money to cover what I thought would be the amount for the first two bills and had bills forwarded to someone to pay after that.

I direct connect my laptop most of the time. On a rare occasion I will use wireless to check something, but I know that it isn't recommended. I would ask on the computers, cameras, phones branch as to what they recommend.

Ruth

www.paytrust.com<BR><BR>I've been using them for nearly eight years, while moving around a lot within the US and also living out of the country. I started using before direct debits was very common but I still like them because all my bills are in one place, they receive mail at a PO box so you still have a US address and if you get notices or anything you need to read that for whatever reason aren't available online they scan everything in and e-mail to you in .pdf.

Most utility companies allow you to pay by credit card, so you could have the bill put on a credit card or one of those visa/mastercard debit cards. You can pay via the internet, by phone, or fill out a form for direct debit. If you put everything on the card first, your bills will all come out of your account at once, which will make it easier to keep track of your balance. You can also prepay for the year.

I do almost all the stuff you aren't supposed to do in internet cafes and using wifi. If you plug in directly, that really isn't much different than using one the the machines in an internet cafe, since you are passing through someone else's system. What I didn't do was authorize internet transfers of funds. I keep the balance in my checking account fairly low, and I have to call my broker to get money moved. That way, on-line, I'm only at risk for a relatively small amount. I pay credit cards on line, but they insure losses. I have generally lousy credit, so I never worry about ID theft. No one would bother.

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<hr>If you plug in directly, that really isn't much different than using one the the machines in an internet cafe, since you are passing through someone else's system.<hr></blockquote>
You mean plug in your laptop? There's all the difference in the world.

The main risk you'd normally face is from software on the public PCs that records your passwords. Use your own (ideally clean) laptop and you avoid that risk. Your communications with the bank should be encrypted so risk of interception is minimal.

Thank you all for yourvery useful responses. I'm hoping to not carry a laptop, but wouldn't mind one of those smaller things that are now being produced -- would a Blackberry, an HP IPAQ or something similar allow me to check on my bank balance without running the risk of someone else finding out my passwords? I'm hoping one of these gadgets would also allow me to download photos so I can reuse my SD cards. An ultimate easy-to-pack gadget for travelers. Thanks again.

A HP Ipaq should work but the connection is still open. I have been doing my banking using my computer and wifi. I don't really have much choice, unless I got someone to do it at home. Touch wood, I haven't had any problems.

If you are worried I would contact your bank for advice. You could limit what can be done with your account, so even if someone was to access it they couldn't transfer money to themselves.

I believe I found an answer to my question about how to check one's bank accounts, use passwords, etc., safely when using someone else's computer, as in an internet cafe -- there is an external drive called the Seagate FreeAgent. The following is from Amazon.com -- and no, I'm not a sales person for this company -- just a traveler looking for a secure computer without carrying a laptop with me. It costs about $122 on Amazon and less on ebay.

If you find yourself working from multiple computers but needing constant access to your own software, email and digital files, the Seagate Free Agent Go 160GB Portable Hard Drive is for you. More than a simple portable back-up and storage solution, the Seagate Free Agent Go lets you take your favorite software, Web browser, IM client and contacts, email, cookies, and personalization settings wherever you go--safely and securely. Not only does this portable hard drive synchronize your data with just about any computer you want to work from, more importantly it features the latest encryption software to protect your content, leaving no trace of your last session on the borrowed computer. With the Seagate Free Agent Go, you have the best of all worlds--a convenient portable back-up solution and a virtual desktop in a pocket-size package