newbie wireless/plusnet help needed

wordsfan

Hi all
i have signed up to plusnet anytime. I have a very old laptop. My aunt used to use it on virgin broadband but they made her buy a special dongle to connect to internet. I have an 02 dongle from being a payg customer. Will that work? Also how Will i know how much data I've used? Will i know went near limit? Can i protect against others using my data allowance but still access wifi from our mobile phones? Thanks

robmar0se

Its not clear from your post whether the dongles you are referring to are 3g are just standard wireless dongles. I am guessing, in that you said it is a very old laptop, that the laptop doesn't have wireless built in. My answer is based on wireless rather than 3g.

Apolopies if you already know this. Plusnet should have sent you a router which connects either via cable or adsl to the internet; the wireless dongle is designed to allow the laptop to connect to the router and thus the net, the wireless connection should be secured via a passphrase which limits access to only those you wish to use your connection. The old dongle, is probably not as good as the new one, so perhaps the related software should be uninstalled from the laptop?

The dongle should come with a disk that allows you to install the dongle on your laptop. There will be instructions included with it, which you should follow to the letter.

You should also have received an ethernet cable that would allow you to connect initially via wire to the router (assuming the laptop has an ethernet socket), so you could initially connect to the net that way, and also allow you to undertake any configuration, if necessary, of the router - in some cases the router is not configured and you need to follow Plusnet's instructions to enter your account details, and wireless settings/passphrases etc.


Regarding usage, I don't use Plusnet, but most ISPs have a personal accounts page on the net, that allows you to monitor usage. Whether Plusnet warns you about when you reach yr monthly limit I don't know, some do, some don't.

rmg1

As far as I know, Plusnet don't warn you when you're approaching your limit.
They do, however, have a usage page under My Account that will tell you what you've used and give you a breakdown as well.

SteveJH200

I'm with Plusnet and they do send you an email when you get within approx 2Gb of the usage limit.

wordsfan

Hi
firstly thanks for all the replies so far. The o2 payg dongle is 3 years old. At one stage it stopped working and o2 had to send me new software to reinstall it and use it. I think it is a 3g. When i try to connect to internet the connection manager says "please enable your wifi". I can't find a button or switch of any kind on the laptop which is anything to do with wifi. When i search for wireless on laptop i get something called "novel wireless" on the c drive. If this computer is pre wireless can it be made into a wifi compatible computer?'

wordsfan

Its an acer translate 212 txv

Figment

Yes ,that is an old laptop!

Looking at Acer's site, it has neither built in wi-fi or ethernet

The O2 dongle is for mobile broadband (over the mobile phone network) so is of no use for connecting to a wireless router.

Do you still have the Virgin dongle, (which at a guess is likely to be a USB WiFi dongle)?