dial up on laptop?

annedunlop

My dad wants to access emails on his laptop but doesn't want 'big bills'. I had thought I could set him up with BT dial up - he has BT phone - but have realised I can't plug the phone into the laptop.
Can anyone advise on cheapest method? He 90yrs old and wouldn't need access that often which is why I thought dial up would be his best bet.

gardner1

well as you can get broadband from £7 a month do you really want dial up

macman

Does the laptop have a dial up modem? If not you'll need to use a USB modem or a card modem to fit the laptop.
Why BT dial up? It may well be cheaper to set him up with bb for no more than £6.49 pm-check his LLU options by doing an exchange search on www.samnknows.com.
At 90 he's probably got limited patience with computers, and dial up speeds will prove very frustrating.

Browntoa

my 84 year old uncle uses a broadband dongle and copes quite well, just tops up as needed

spike7451

The are cheap dial up internet which you pay for as you use it on a 0844 number but that can get quite expensive (as I found out years ago when I got an internet TV,before broadband I might add!)
Most dial up internet costs are around the £12-25 a month as the ISP's try to force people over to broadband.Tesco do a relativley cheap dial up access;
https://register.tesco.net/productpicker/welcome?submit.x=0&submit.y=0
but your best bet would be to see what broadband you can get.It may be cheaper in the long run.

annedunlop

Thanks for your replys. I don't know a lot about computers, but mine is working just fine at the moment so I'm trying to avoid him coming over and using mine to download his messages, which is what he is suggesting!! Is there much involved with setting him up with a dongle or is it just a matter of buying one and plugging it in.

spike7451

annedunlop wrote: »

Thanks for your replys. I don't know a lot about computers, but mine is working just fine at the moment so I'm trying to avoid him coming over and using mine to download his messages, which is what he is suggesting!! Is there much involved with setting him up with a dongle or is it just a matter of buying one and plugging it in.

The most you would have to do is to run a CD for the initial set up & create a username & password for him to use.One important thing tho is to check the coverage in your area,DO NOT rely on the shop ect to tell you it'll work OK.A friend of mine did & ended up buying a '3' dongle on contract when the's no coverage in her area!


You can compare prices here;

http://www.broadband-expert.co.uk/dongle/

Check network coverage here;

http://www.internetdongle.com/coverage/

macman

On most dongles you have to buy the data top up which the expires in 30 days if not used. At maybe £10 a top up that could well cost more than a budget broadband contract-and mobile broadband is not an adequate substitute for ADSL broadband.
At least look at samknows to view his LLU options, post the , someone can then advise the best deal he can get on that exchange. Does he already have a BT line installed?

spud17

macman;)

he has BT phone

Just to add, a search is needed via Samknows.

To those advocating BB in all cases, I know an elderly couple who live in a rural area with no LLU at all.

They spend around £7/8 mth on dial up, Tesco, as against full price BB (£12+?) and 0.5Mbps.

Cool_Mint

No, no, no, no, no! NO! Really NO!!

It's not so much of a threat these days but rogue diallers are still a potential danger to dial-up connections. This is an article from 2004 on the BBC's website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3760656.stm

It's safe enough when you've got up-to-date anti-malware software on your computer but at 90 years old your dad could easily make a mistake and download something nasty. Broadband is 100% safe from dialler scams.

Good broadband deals: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-broadband


Compare packages:
http://www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk/
http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/broadband/home

Pay As You Go (PAYG) mobile broadband is the most expensive but for occasional use it's not a bad idea.


If your dad is living in a normal street the very cheapest option I can think of is to ask his neighbors if they have wireless broadband and ask if you might have the password to access their wireless broadband connection.

If he has friendly neighbors I'm sure they won't mind helping out but you might also need to buy a good long-range network adapter or range extender to get a clear signal. You might get a perfectly good signal with just a normal laptop network adapter.

Long range network adapter:
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&q=long+range+network+adapter&cid=3312041038360032871&ei=TTr0TKnVEMX3-Qa779iCDQ&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

Range extender:
http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=range+extender&hl=en&cid=4861685555317766423&ei=qzv0TLGGMo7J-Qan-_mADQ&sa=title&ved=0CDwQ8wIwCTgA#p

mickbhall

I agree with the above post about diallers, Another good think about getting him broadband it is always on. No dialling up etc.