Informix in WAN - opinions wanted

Hi, everybody, we are planning information system for about 160 site, each site has its own LAN with at least one Informix 7 database server. We need these severs to communicate and share some data, though batch processing will suffice and data flow will not be extreme (500 KB or less each day). If we use dial up lines and Slip protocol (and TCP/IP over it, of course), what Informix tools should we use? Is remote access to database tables OK? Is it secure - what if we update some table and the line goes down - is transaction usage enough to make our data consistent (to maintain integrity)? Does anybody have any experiences with such a usage of Informix database server? Any opinions wanted, since I've heard somewhere that remote access to databases is not very good supported in Informix, is that true. Thanx in advance bye erik