Free wireless internet and cheap 3G broadband article discussion

Former_MSE_Lawrence · 12 February 2008 at 5:21PM

This thread is specifically to discuss the content of the new article:

Free wireless internet
Find free UK hotspots & cheap 3G mobile broadband

To discuss or ask a question about this article: click the reply button.

The_Candyman · 13 February 2008 at 4:56AM

I have recently gone to T Mobile mobile broadband . Does anyone know if it can be used through a router to connect 2 computers to the net

weegie.geek · 13 February 2008 at 5:55AM

I disagree with the point about using webmail.

Properly setup pop or imap will use much less transfer than using a web-based client.

garan · 13 February 2008 at 7:50AM

If you have broadband at home you can get free wireless access whilst you are out and about by purchasing a 25 Euro Fon router and allowing other members of the Fon community to share a bit of your broadband at home. BT have recently partnered with Fon, which has increased the UK coverage considerably and also given Fon users access to BT's commercial wireless hotspot.

More about Fon here: http://www.fon.com/en/info/whatsFon

Cheers,

Garan.

garan · 13 February 2008 at 7:54AM

The_Candyman wrote: »

I have recently gone to T Mobile mobile broadband . Does anyone know if it can be used through a router to connect 2 computers to the net

There are routers like the DrayTek Vigor 2910 that have a USB connection on the side for connecting 3G devices:

http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2910.html

It can be used as a backup broadband connection or as the primary connection. According to the spec page, the Huawei E220 USB modem (as used by T-Mobile) is supported.

I should add that I've not used one of these devices myself so try and find people who have and make sure that your device is supported before you buy.

Cheers,

Garan.

hulltrucker · 13 February 2008 at 11:20AM

I have been using the 3 network "dongle" for about 6 weeks now when I am away from home. Coverage seems generally good although I have found spots where there is no coverage - even though it shows coverage on the maps. Speed seems ok - fast enough to use 4 on demand to watch an episode of Big Brother which I had missed although this obviously burns up the allowance. I am on the PAYG version and paid £99 for my dongle as I do not need it every month - the months I don't need it I don't have to top up and I have a feeling usage charges will fall as more competition comes along which contracted users may not get to take advantage of. At the moment a top up lasts 30 days max even if you have not used your allowance - which again I am hoping may change later in the same way as PAYG mobiles did when they were first around. The real advantage of PAYG over contract for me though is that if you use up your allowance within the 30 day period you can just top up again rather than paying the massive "over allowance" charges Martin mentions. Otherwise I am quite impressed and if the allowances get a bit more generous I might even get rid of my Karoo broadband at home and just have the 3 dongle - It would be great to break the Kingston Communications monopoly here in Hull, but as I use things like 4od and BBCi Player quite a lot I am not ready to come off unmetered braoadband at home yet!

diabolikal · 13 February 2008 at 11:28AM

If you are using free, open public WiFi be incredibly careful. It's all too easy for people to set these up (just one laptop will work) and "sniff" the data - credit cards, passwords, anything.

When I'm in Coventry for Uni, there's a fake public wifi near where I live which has tempted people, and even real networks (our University wireless) was faked and copied by an attacker throughout our library.

It's all too easy to set-up these fake access points when people are willing to use them so never ever use your credit/debit card on the web when using one incase the connection is unsecure.
Another common attempt is setting up fake hotel wireless points, which ask for your card details on login.

Oh, and for the above post, POP3 almost definitely uses less data transfer than webmail... IMAP not so much..

ADC_3 · 13 February 2008 at 11:30AM

Stations have it. Especially big ones. Especially the East coast line. Sit on a bench near the first class lounge and you'll probably be able to connect.

point3 · 13 February 2008 at 2:08PM

The major drawback of mobile 3G internet is that connection speeds seem so variable - do you get GPRS speed, 3G or higher HSDPA speeds up to 7.2Mbps?

I'd like to get a contract for mobile internet, but which provider to go with? :think: 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone now offer pretty similar data packages which work out at around £15 per month for 3GB of data download.

If anyone has a mobile connection, maybe they could run a speed test (Speedtest.net) and then post their results here? Please include location, internet provider and modem used. It would really help to get an idea of the service that is available around the UK.

Thanks

metaphase · 13 February 2008 at 4:06PM

I've just done this to have a look at the speed of my T-Mobile connection - have a look at the PDF file below.

speedtest.pdf

Overall - very variable speeds, partly I think the problem is the increasing popularity of mobile broadband! Network sharing between 3 and T-Mobile should hopefully help things.

Cheers

Alan

point3 · 13 February 2008 at 6:11PM

Thanks, Alan, that's really helpful.

It's nice to see that it is possible to achieve download speeds of around 1Mbps in Edinburgh and London (Bloomsbury)

. Hopefully this should be an indication of the sort of speeds possible in areas classified as "Very Good" 3G coverage on T-Mobile's maps. I would have thought London Heathrow would have been a bit more zippy though!

As you point out, it's very interesting to see the variation in speeds with the same set-up in the same location too

.

Free wireless internet and cheap 3G broadband article discussion

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