One of the things that people really like to be able to do from Ethiopia is to e-mail family and friends and tell them how things are going in-country. However, the vast majority of Addis has only dial-up. This can make even a short note from Addis take a ridiculously long time to send. And if you are trying to send pictures, you'll most likely really be frustrated.

However, there are a few tricks that make internet use a little less painful in Ethiopia. First of all, before you go to Ethiopia, set up a Yahoo email account for whomever is traveling. Other travelers to Ethiopia have reported that yahoo had been the most reliable email.

Make sure that you know your password, and send a trial email before you leave just to make sure all is working. Keep in mind that if you are hoping to update a blog, you'd better not have a Blogspot blog. Blogspot is blocked in Ethiopia and you will not be able to access your Blogger account while there.

A lot of people wonder if it is worthwhile to bring their own laptop to Ethiopia. I really enjoyed having mine. I could compose an email on my own computer, save it to a jump drive, and then carry the jump drive to a computer with internet access.

I brought a voltage transformer for the laptop. You can buy them at Walmart in the luggage section. However I discovered that the adaptor that came with my computer was equipped to handle a range of 120-240, so it worked fine in Addis. Check to see if this is also the case with your computer.

It is really nice to have Word installed on your laptop, as you can compose messages with photos in them. Then you can save the Word document a jump drive and walk the jump drive over to the internet cafe. Then just plug it in, and attach your Word file to a short email. This can save you a bit of money, as internet fees at some hotels are pretty expensive ($20/hr in some places).

There is a little trick to getting the photos into Word and compressing them. Here are the steps (hat tip to Anne at Babysinnia):

1. Insert the photos into the document.

2. Double click on one of the photos.

3. In the dialog box, choose "compress" in the lower left corner.

4. In the new dialog box, under Apply, check "all pictures in document."

5. In the same dialog box, under Change Resolution, check Web/Screen.

6. Don't bother with the other check boxes -- leave them checked.

7. Click OK. You'll get a message asking you if you want to apply picture optimization -- click "apply."

This will make the photos small enough to upload several of them fairly quickly even using dialup. The whole process might seem a little complicated written down. Try it out at home before you go so that the steps will be familiar.


With a little advance prep, it is possible to communicate fairly easliy from Ethiopia. I found that with all the busy-ness of travel, e-mail was a much more convenient way to communicate, as both the writer and the reader couple communicate at the time that was most convenient to them. If you have other tips for communicating with family from Ethiopia, please leave a note in comments.


Related links
Calling from Addis
Driving in Addis