Laptops and accessing land lines - feedback please

Some travellers have been able to do this in Telecentres (community run non-for-profit groups with public access computers). Telecentres are in a number of rural towns in WA, and I also saw a few in other states (eg Yunta in SA). For those who have used your laptop at a Telecentre, how has it worked? At our Telecentre here in Bridgetown, we have had to say no to this request, as we do not have regular phone sockets (phones are on a Commander system), and computers are linked to a server. A member tried her laptop (which had networking capabilities) plugging it direct into the Telecentre’s network, and was able to do her banking etc. as she would have at home, but I understand without the network card and setup, it wouldn’t have worked this way, as you would only be able to access the Telecentre’s settings. As travelling with laptops is increasing, and mobile calls can be expensive, I would be very interested to hear of other’s experiences. When we finally get away for a big trip, I would like to get a laptop. If this is a service in demand, our Telecentre will look at providing it (if cost effective). Meanwhile, all travellers are welcome to come in and access the internet through our computers.