Basic IT for Parish Council

downshifter · 23 November 2015 at 3:00PM

Dear all

In common with all other Parish Councils in this England, ours is required to provide their info on a website as well as other IT related stuff. Government funding is available. Ours already has a basic website (free Wordpress, only cost was domain name) but want to be able to provide internet access at the village hall, as well as a laptop for the Clerk (and others) to use. The Clerk works from home and has bb access there so we only need it for occasional use in the hall.

There's plenty of threads on here about buying a basic laptop so I'll be looking out for any offers, but we are a bit stuck with internet access. It would be a waste of public money to have a phone line installed just for occasional internet use so the only other possibility seems to be a mobile bb dongle. However, as these are dependent on the mobile phone signal this could be a waste of money also. EE (or Orange as was) is the only service that we stand a hope in hell of receiving out here in the sticks so I'm beginning to feel rather defeated. And how good are these dongles?

Can anyone suggest how I might go about getting internet access at the hall, for occasional use in this scenario? Is there any hope?

Thank you

DS

AndyPix · 23 November 2015 at 3:32PM

Dongles are good - providing you have a signal of course.

Instead of that, if it is only light surfing you require, you could teather the signal from a mobile phone - to save the cost of the dongle ..

But again, that relies on a decent mobile signal ..

The only other option, is to get wired BB, down a phone line im afraid

Andy

m0bov · 23 November 2015 at 3:36PM

Get a sim only from the supermarket, find someone with an old unwanted mobile, or maybe ebay a cheapy 3G mobile like a samsung S2 or similar. Set it up as a hotspot and stick it up high on a shelf and plug it into the mains. You can test the theory out with your own phone, make sure you get 3G or "H" next to the mobile signal meter.

downshifter · 23 November 2015 at 3:44PM

Tethering! That's a good idea, now why didn't I think of that! I'll have to see how that can be costed so we can still apply for the funding.

Thanks both.

agrinnall · 23 November 2015 at 3:45PM

Perhaps a post on the Small Biz and Charities board might be worthwhile to see whether they know if any of the landline providers offer any sort of deal to organisations such as yours.

AndyPix · 23 November 2015 at 3:59PM

Or I could send you some instructions on how to hack one of your neighbours WIFI

NiftyDigits · 23 November 2015 at 4:02PM

Other options include a PAYG modem that provides a WiFi signal for up to ten users:

EE Huawei E5330 MiFi with a 6GB data SIM/90 days £24.99

Replacement SIMs cost £15(every three months if one uses less than 2GB per month).

DaftyDuck · 23 November 2015 at 4:05PM

Some years back, when demands on downloading weren't so extreme, I provided the village hall with an old computer and a wireless extender, and linked it in to my (then Virgin) Broadband. It was set up with Windows 98 (ah, sweet...), Lotus Smartsuite, various other simple softwares, many culled from magazines... I did it because a couple of "old dears" expressed the wish to email their niece, or write poetry... After about six months it was popular enough that I supplies a second. That became so popular, I just left the village before I had to supply a bunch of top-end computers and printers...

However, for the first year or two, it worked fine using wireless extenders, very cheap ones (Tenda W300D using WDS, cost less than a fiver, dasychained three for the distance). I actually accidentally spilled the beans during a phonecall with Virgin Customer Support and, rather than screaming at me, I was told this was OK... doubt they'd be so relaxed now.

Anyway, the point is, wireless extenders are cheap (I'd stick with Tenda/Geeya as they are so cheap on ebay... Geeya 306/tenda 3002R do it) and, when firing across a garden or field, they can cope with something like 100 metres just fine. You can link to more than one household to spread the burden...

I know one of those old "poppits" went on to do an OU course in some aspect of computing... I wouldn't dare show my face in there again; I think they thought I knew what I was doing... So, maybe don't follow my suggestion...

HappyMJ · 23 November 2015 at 4:11PM

downshifter wrote: »

Dear all

In common with all other Parish Councils in this England, ours is required to provide their info on a website as well as other IT related stuff. Government funding is available. Ours already has a basic website (free Wordpress, only cost was domain name) but want to be able to provide internet access at the village hall, as well as a laptop for the Clerk (and others) to use. The Clerk works from home and has bb access there so we only need it for occasional use in the hall.

There's plenty of threads on here about buying a basic laptop so I'll be looking out for any offers, but we are a bit stuck with internet access. It would be a waste of public money to have a phone line installed just for occasional internet use so the only other possibility seems to be a mobile bb dongle. However, as these are dependent on the mobile phone signal this could be a waste of money also. EE (or Orange as was) is the only service that we stand a hope in hell of receiving out here in the sticks so I'm beginning to feel rather defeated. And how good are these dongles?

Can anyone suggest how I might go about getting internet access at the hall, for occasional use in this scenario? Is there any hope?

Thank you

DS

You will probably need to get a wired phone line and broadband. I would....

You'll also need to block access to premium rate numbers and access to international calls which you may need to pay a fee for.

As this would be a business line it will be more expensive than your domestic line.

I would also speak to Sky and ask if they could provision "The Cloud" to be installed at the hall for the use of anyone that uses the hall to use.

"Cloud in a box" costs £40 per month and (in my opinion) would be a good use of Parish council funds.

downshifter · 23 November 2015 at 4:28PM

Thank you all so much. I assume the mifi gizmo is still dependent on mobile signal to work, so I'll test out with a phone first.

Unfortunately the extender idea won't work as there is no property within 100m of the hall.

The phone wire won't be possible either, far too expensive I'm afraid for very occasional net use.

I would love to set up some little drop-in training sessions, lots of locals don't use the internet. I'll need to work on councillors first however, so they can be ambassadors for this idea. Several years down the line I fear!

Thanks all - will post on the charities board as suggested.

DS

m0bov · 23 November 2015 at 5:06PM

Is there a local IT business (shop or consultancy) that might sponsor the service? They would get some work out of it when the locals then start tinkering with their home computers. Speak to BT there might be a local communities project where they can do it at reduced costs or something.

Basic IT for Parish Council

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