Wifi

stefano

Someone mentioned that some railway companies in England have wifi access on their train. I seem to remember someone saying this about Virgin trains.
I am about to become a rail commuter, having previously commuted by motorbike. Unfortunately, a very serious road traffic accident has put an end to that.
I will now commute by train, on Southeastern Railways, between Hastings and London, via Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks.
Does anyboby know or can anyone confirm if this may well be the case?
If it is, I will not bother with a mobile broadband dongle.

Many thanks in anticipation

imho

I think its just for First class passengers.

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2010/07/16/the-free-wi-fi-myth/

JasX

Not sure about wifi but 3G dongles aren't always hugely reliable on railway routes, be sure to check the operators coverage on your parrticular route as some will be better than others....

JasX

imho wrote: »

I think its just for First class passengers.

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2010/07/16/the-free-wi-fi-myth/

varies by operator, if they have it anywhere on the train at worst case you'll be able to get an account with whoever provides the wifi for about the same/lower cost than a 3G dongle but will get more reliable service on the train

23n1th

Get yourself a decent smart phone and contract, HTC Desire maybe for simple internet use. I've had no problems surfing with mine on trains or buses. If theres no wifi I use my monthly quota.

ahmadali

23n1th wrote: »

Get yourself a decent smart phone and contract, HTC Desire maybe for simple internet use. I've had no problems surfing with mine on trains or buses. If theres no wifi I use my monthly quota.

Definitly the best advice in my opinion, even if you don't want to browse on your phone you can tether your phone and use it as a 3G modem.

You may be able to do this with your existing phone (most sony erricson's can do this)

Just be careful of the amount of bandwidth your using.

stefano

ahmadali wrote: »

Definitly the best advice in my opinion, even if you don't want to browse on your phone you can tether your phone and use it as a 3G modem.

You may be able to do this with your existing phone (most sony erricson's can do this)

Just be careful of the amount of bandwidth your using.

How does that work?

Vuze

stefano wrote: »

How does that work?

Depends what your phone model is, but typically there are 2 connectivity options:

1) connect your phone to your laptop via a usb cable

2) connect your phone to your laptop with a bluetooth connection

If you have bluetooth enabled laptop and phone, you're good to go, or you can get the bluetooth dongle or buy a cable.

Once your phone is connected, (I have a Nokia N97) so I used the Nokia PC suite software and used that to connect to the internet - the software turns your phone into a 3G modem as though it was a mobile broadband dongle.

stefano

Vuze wrote: »

Depends what your phone model is, but typically there are 2 connectivity options:

1) connect your phone to your laptop via a usb cable

2) connect your phone to your laptop with a bluetooth connection

If you have bluetooth enabled laptop and phone, you're good to go, or you can get the bluetooth dongle or buy a cable.

Once your phone is connected, (I have a Nokia N97) so I used the Nokia PC suite software and used that to connect to the internet - the software turns your phone into a 3G modem as though it was a mobile broadband dongle.

I have a SE W595, a little old, but I have connected my laptop via USB to transfer files, so I assume I will be able to do more. My query is: Once my phone is turned into a 3G modem, how does it connect? What number will my phone dial and what part of my contract credit will be used?

JasX

stefano wrote: »

Once my phone is turned into a 3G modem, how does it connect?

it wil open up a data connection via your operators network, in a similar manner as when you open a new browser window on your handset and access the network directly, exact settings will depend on your operator and phone model (which i think we only have information on one of above)

stefano wrote: »

What number will my phone dial

GPRS/3G network connections settings will depend on your network operator

stefano wrote: »

and what part of my contract credit will be used?

again depends on your network operator, some forbid 'tethering' and will charge you directly for data used at £££ per megabyte ignoring any data useage you may already have as part of your contract (at least one story flying around of someone signing up for an 'unlimited data package' mobile, running his desktop PC home internet connection thru his phone to download videos etc then getting a bill of thousands of pounds as tethered data was excluded from his unlimited deal)

Other operators explicitly DO allow tethering and include in your normal data useage contract allowances, i think vodafone do but worth checking...

Vuze

Yeah be careful of racking up a massive bill with your data usage - I would strongly recommend giving your operator a quick call and confirming the data charges for what you're doing because there are many shock stories of bills running into the thousands.

You can also minimize your data usage by using a text-only browser like Lynx - images and video media are bandwidth hogs.