Internet access for laptop whilst travelling abroad

Mattandkatyuk

My fiancee and I are planning to go travelling to Australia and USA for six months.

Does anyone know if we took our laptop if there any mobile devices available where we would be able to get internet access readily availble while travelling in these countries. One of my friends has mobile broadband internet for his laptop at home which seems to be quite a reliable connection, is it possible to get this sort of device while abroad and does anyone know what sort of price/ monthly charge this would be?

Many thanks

Matt

aerostar

Would forget mobile device.

In the US there isplenty of free wifi access available, hotels, fast food places, delis etc.

Free wifi is available in OZ, Google is your friend for both countries, lots of information around. Google the town/place for free wifi.

macman

You can use mobile broadband abroad with no problem, but you'd better have deep pocket-the roaming charges are horrendous. Quite common for people to have £1000 s a couple of weeks light usage.
Better to buy a local SIM card on arrival and use in an unlocked dongle.

Mattandkatyuk

macman wrote: »

You can use mobile broadband abroad with no problem, but you'd better have deep pocket-the roaming charges are horrendous. Quite common for people to have £1000 s a couple of weeks light usage.
Better to buy a local SIM card on arrival and use in an unlocked dongle.

Would it be easy to go into a shop in Australia and get PAYG mobile broadband?

macman

Mattandkatyuk wrote: »

Would it be easy to go into a shop in Australia and get PAYG mobile broadband?

Yes, just as easy as here.

Jemma-T

If you want to take your UK account you will need very VERY deep pockets. As the Internet is errr.. the Internet no matter where you are it's virtually always best to get it where you are (ie PAYG).

Either take along your laptop and use wifi (coffee shops, libraries etc), the ethernet cable, PAYG dongles (not cheap -you'd be better to take an unlocked dongle and buy the SIM) or Internet cafes (some will allow you to plug in your own cable).

Unless you know exactly where you'll be I'd say just leave the machines in the UK and maybe think about Internet phones for emailing. If that's the case it may be worth phoning your UK provider as they may offer yo ua very limted use service which will be convenient and use it only if you have to.

Lots of options.

Donnie

Some horrible advice on this thread

Australia

To save you looking. Get the ZTE M627 modem as indicated on this forum for a fiver or so(through 3 website via Quidco). Unlock it, again there is a thread, then look here. SIM card costs AUD10. 300 MB inclusive, valid for 30 days. After that, Top-ups are AUD15.

$10 Virgin Mobile Broadband Sim Pack 300MB data to get you started!
5 email addresses


Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband Data Prices:
$15 0.5GB 30 days after recharge
$30 1GB 30 days after recharge
$50 3GB 60 days after recharge
$100 6GB 90 days after recharge
$149 10GB 365 days after recharge

Second choice: DoDo Mobile Broadband

250 MB Data $10.00 30 days
1000 MB Data $20.00 60 days
3000 MB Data $40.00 60 days
7000 MB Data $70.00 90 days
10000 MB Data $99.00 180 days
15000 MB Data $139.00 365 days

or

10 hours $10.00 30 days
30 hours $20.00 60 days
70 hours $40.00 60 days
150 hours $70.00 90 days

Both use the Optus network.

Mattandkatyuk

Thanks Donnie, how much roughly is 300mb, would it cover about three hours web browsing a day for 30 days?

Donnie

Have no idea. Depends on where your surf. If it runs out, top up.

Donnie

Three-Mobile Broadband, though they might not cover everywhere you wish to visit.

macman

Mattandkatyuk wrote: »

Thanks Donnie, how much roughly is 300mb, would it cover about three hours web browsing a day for 30 days?

That's 90 hours a month, you would need more than 300MB a month on that. Rememeber that every time your laptop gets an AV update. or Windows Update, that will eat into your data allowance.
Are you really sure you need that much-that's over a month of your 6m holiday spent on the net!