International Broadband Dongle

gavkt1

I'm looking to do some travelling soon, Across Africa US etc. I'm bringing a netbook, and was wondering if you could get such a thing as a Broadband Dongle to cover different countries. A frind of mine told me this was possible, but have had no luck finding one that doesn't charge a stupid amount for logging on abroad.

Biggles

I'm not sure this is feasible at all.

In Africa, though mobile phones are ubiquitous, you will be lucky to get a broadband-quality signal.

And, travelling across the US, you will find large areas, especially away from major population centres, where there is no GSM signal, only CDMA.

Roger1

Well, Africa and the US are big places!

In South Africa, mobile internet coverage is good to excellent in the cities and most towns. Best is to take an unlocked dongle if you have one and buy a SIM and credit when you arrive from any mobile phone shop. Otherwise, buy the dongle locally. Can't speak for other African countries.

Similarly in the US, GSM coverage is good to excellent in the cities and towns and along freeways but nil in the desert. From memory, T-Mobile is one of the operators offering GSM and packages. I've only used hotspots or hotels in the US so can't speak for dongles. They already have 4G, ahead of the UK which is still on 3G.

One international offer worth a look is from abroadband.com, a SIM which works internationally at lower cost than roaming with a UK SIM.

gavkt1

Thanks for your help guys. Looks like there is no real solution. abroadband.com only cover South Africa! I'm looking at going East and West!
Looks like there is a massive gap in the Market for this. Maybe This is how I could make my 1st million!

Biggles

gavkt1 wrote: »

Looks like there is a massive gap in the Market for this. Maybe This is how I could make my 1st million!

I think that gap in the market would have been plugged if there were the infrastructure available in all these countries. Mobile broadband will come, slowly, but so far even fixed-line broadband is a rarity in most third world countries, and where you can get it it's very slow and very expensive.

Doshwaster

I have no real experience of Africa, but elsewhere in the world you never seem to be far from a free (or cheap) Wifi service in bars, cafes and hotels.

The general rule with hotels is the cheaper the hotel the more likely it is that the Wifi will be free. Internet access in top-end hotels is almost never free.

Roger1

gavkt1 wrote: »

... abroadband.com only cover South Africa!

... and Egypt amongst numerous other countries including the US and a lot of 'etc'. http://www.abroadband.com/en/GB/countries

I'm looking at going East and West!

If only you'd said before, I could have saved the time. You said 'Across Africa US etc' and I commented 'Well, Africa and the US are big places!' before offering advice on South Africa which is still part of Africa.

Oh, well. I still think abroadband.com is worth looking at for international broadband internet.

Bogtrotter

Two years ago I was investigating how to provide internet access for a UK company involved in projects in Tanzania. The only reliable connection was by satellite and cost in the region of $2000 per month for a 2Mbit link. If this is the price to the mobile networks for internet links you can only imagine your roaming data costs if it were possible.

gavkt1 wrote: »

Looks like there is a massive gap in the Market for this. Maybe This is how I could make my 1st million!

I wouldn't say its a massive gap (how many westerner's travel across Africa). As to the massive gap being the locals. I would guess that most networks in (non developed) Africa are 2G networks so in order to exploit the market you need to update the mobile network to 3G. Thats not even enough, the internet backbone connectivity to most of Africa is very poor so you would have to upgrade connections to the internet. To recoup the cost of all this investment the would be too much for the local enduser to afford.

The result would be probably similar to the Iridium Satellite phone network. The company who invests in the network goes bust and another company aquires the assets at a fraction of the cost enabling them to provide an affordable product.

You're more likely to loose your first billion than to make your first million

gavkt1

Ok Guys,
Thanks. I think i need to learn how to live a little more without the help of the internet anyway! I should imagine a big part of the travel experience!
Back to the drawing board for making my 1st million then!
Maybe if we all chip in, we could buy our own dedicated sattelite and start from there?? Anyone??