Can i access the net using my mobile as a modem

hillendale

What is the cheapest way to access the net without a bt or any other landline , i have a laptop and a nokia 6300 on orange is it possible to link the mobile to the laptop to allow me to access the net and would i have to pay the earth if i did it this way and is their any other options .
all help welcome
regards

BoingBoing_2

Hi

I access the internet on my pc by using my mobile as a modem, it's relatively easy!

You need either the cable which came with your phone, or a bluetooth dongle (it fits into a USB port on the pc). Dongles cost around 15 quid fromO2 shop, or Currys (orange dont sell em anymore tut) or pick 1 up on Ebay for under 5 quid but they are more difficult to work as you need to download additional stuff from internet to get it to work properly.

Phone orange, subscribe to orange world (the free evening and weekend browsing package is great as it is unlimited) and then ask to be transferred to data services.

The lovely guys there will talk you through setting things up on your pc, they even phone you back if you phone from the phone you want to use as the modem!

Orange world is free for first 2 months and 5 quid per month after that.

Hope this helps, any questions just ask

faerie_girl

Yes, i would say as the above poster has done you can use a bluetooth dongle, or a data cable you could have got with your phone.

May I ask what sort of sites you will be using?

My partner tried this and it was far too expensive to use it regulary.

A Tip: If you can do this - disable pictures in the setting on your phone as these will totally eat up your credit.

When i had an orange PAYG phone about 2 years ago it cost the same P/min on wap as it did p/min to call.

Hope some of this is useful for you

Regards, Faerie x

christopher

BoingBoing wrote: »

Hi

I access the internet on my pc by using my mobile as a modem, it's relatively easy!

You need either the cable which came with your phone, or a bluetooth dongle (it fits into a USB port on the pc). Dongles cost around 15 quid fromO2 shop, or Currys (orange dont sell em anymore tut) or pick 1 up on Ebay for under 5 quid but they are more difficult to work as you need to download additional stuff from internet to get it to work properly.

Phone orange, subscribe to orange world (the free evening and weekend browsing package is great as it is unlimited) and then ask to be transferred to data services.

The lovely guys there will talk you through setting things up on your pc, they even phone you back if you phone from the phone you want to use as the modem!

Orange world is free for first 2 months and 5 quid per month after that.

Hope this helps, any questions just ask

Careful though, you only get 25Mb (or thereabouts) inclusive data on Orange World's £5pm deal and after that you're charged £1 per day for overages.

I did a big comparison of the mobile networks' data services on the 3g.co.uk forums the other day, more for myself than anybody else but it's there for everyone to read. Here's what I wrote:

---

Thread deserves a bump because I have some stuff to add... And I feel it might help others with their future decisions, too.

T-Mobile may have its flaws at the moment (sub-standard reception in some more surprising areas, patchy HSDPA speeds sometimes) but from several lengthy telephone conversations with both CSRs and techs I'm confident that the network and the underlying infrastructure is going to get several good upgrades within the space of the next year/two years (including 3.6Mbps HSDPA and eventually HSUPA, nice!), which is why I'll be sticking with them when I renew. Customer Service (in my experience) is AEONS better than O2's service, and I don't regret migrating from O2 one bit. The difference is like night and day...


One particular thing I laud T-Mobile for is their Web 'n Walk service. They don't shout about it that often, and when they do they're fairly restrained, whereas campaigns like Vodafone's recent one for their 3G services in my opinion are really misleading and not as good value for money. If you do a comparison of the 3G web access packages across all the providers, T-Mobile comes out on top every time for me - here's why:

Usage Allowances
T-Mobile, Web 'n Walk Basic (£7.50pm): 1Gb (if you go over a bit they don't mind as long as you don't do it by huge amounts each month). This is the package I'm on, apart from inline image recompression to save bandwidth (which you can override with a Reload of the page or Ctrl+R if you're using IE on a PC) they don't do anything to the content. VPN and, more annoyingly, FTP are blocked on the basic package but I've been able to do just about everything else with it with no problems, emailing, I tried out Skype once and it worked fine, Pocket MSN works fine, and the HSDPA speed is only limited by my handset (Hermes can only do 1.2mbps). No inclusive video minutes though.

The rest of these packages I've not been on so can't comment personally, but just looking at the T&Cs it's plain that they're all a bit of a ripoff:

This is how Orange's access was a few months ago:

Orange World 3G (£5pm, EVENINGS AND WEEKENDS ONLY): "Fair Usage", which will probably mean a couple of hundred megabytes MAX, and Orange World Access 4 gives you 4Mb for £4. Err, what?

They've since updated, see this post for more info, and I also quote these messages from fellow 3G.co.uk forumers:

No, there isnt a 100mb bundle.

The £8 bundle is capped at 30mbs (not 25) - any use over the monthly 30mb is then capped at a daily rate. This means that if you use up the 30mbs before the month has finished any other usage would cost you a maximum of £1.50 each day.

Yes there is a 2mnths free trial of the evening and weekend Orange World (this can be added if not had before or it gets put on automatically at each new connection of package change) This is UNLIMITED evening and weekend usage. If you carry on with the bundle after the free trial the cost is £5 per month. it is not capped at 4mb per night at any time

The 4mb mentioned was the old £4 per month bundle which was for 4mb.
this is no longer available and there is nothing at all that relates to 4mb usage day or evenings at all now.
k

This, from TheDoctor (who works for Orange apparently):

Put simply, we have the Unlimited Evening and Weekend bundle for £5 a month, the Unlimited Anytime Bundle for £8 a month and the Unlimited OW Access for £1 a day. They're the 3 bundles we have, and to tie them together, they've all been called Unlimited, but are all subject to FUPs.

The one I referred to as Unlimited for £8 is the 30Mb version (because the "30Mb for £8 bundle" is more of a meal than "Unlimited".

Asked my team leader about a true unlimited offer and he said he knows nothing about there being another refresh of the OW bundles so soon after this one (that's not to say there won't be, but we don't know there for definite either).

If we do hear anything, we'll be sure to let you know, of course.

Still not very good value at all.

Vodafone 3G (£7.50pm): 120Mb inclusive per month, if you go over it's £1 per day (and the web pages are all transparently 'squeezed' to display better on mobile devices, except this doesn't always work and unless you know where to look it's really hard to turn this option off). Pay As You Go users only get a £1 per day option with 15Mb inclusive, if they go over that it's £2 per megabyte!

3's Internet Unlimited plan (£5pm): 1Gb inclusive allowance, subject to FUP. Worryingly they list "E-Mail" as a SEPARATE add-on for another fiver a month, so whether they block SMTP and POP3 access via 3G until you buy that add-on too I'm not sure. Still, £5 for a gig of usage is £2.50 cheaper than T-Mobile (though I know for sure that I can do just about everything I'd ever want to do with my £7.50 Web 'n Walk, including email, and if you barter with them sometimes you can get a discount on your WnW to £5pm, as I've read on various mobile forums).


What about O2, you say? Well, as far as I know O2 don't even HAVE an inclusive data plan outside of their inclusive Blackberry tariff, and even then it's only a pitiful amount per month.


Now, this is ENTIRELY sidestepping the other various issues such as network contention, HSDPA access, the quality and functionality of the various handsets and how the networks have restricted or locked them up (a real bone of contention with many smartphone users like myself, fortunately T-Mobile don't really restrict their smartphone handsets so one quick colour theme change later and it's a standard device, unlike Orange and Vodafone).



If anybody has any updates or changes that I might've missed, let me know, but for the most part I think that purely based on what they let you do with your web access once you have it, and the allowance of megabytes you get per month for your money, T-Mobile comes out on top. I'm glad I went with them.

---

The thread's here: http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=336596 if you want to see it in context.


Personally, I'd recommend T-Mobile and their Web 'n Walk plans, but of course you're free to make up your own mind. Just don't get caught out because some of the providers are VERY vague.

rjm2k1

In addition to disabling pictures as mentioned above you should also disable activex downloads unless a site absolutely won't work without them. Can't you get a broadband line of some kind installed? Maybe you could investigate whether or not there is a wi-fi option where you live.

Stuart_W

As someone who is not technical, I can certainly recommend the T-mobile web'n'walk plus tarrif with free USB modem.

Check to see if you are in a high speed area - http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/street-check/?ref=newhome_streetcheck_link (look for 3G - High Speed Internet coverage)
Where the 3G signal isn't available, and you're not in the coverage of a t-mobile hotspot then will automatically use the 2G signal which works at the speed of a dial-up connection.

If you are in a high speed area, this is a great way to get on line without any type of fixed phone.

Signing up to the offer below gets the modem free, 11 months at half price with the 18 month contract and £25 cashback is available via quidco.com. All of this cashback taken into account means a total cost of £18.75/month equivalent for High Speed Mobile Internet with a limit of 3GB per month.
11 months half price: http://www.mobiles.co.uk/t-mobile-3g-usb-modem.html
£25 cashback: http://www.quidco.com/mobiles-co-uk/

BoingBoing_2

I have the free evening and weekend orange world package £5, and when I purchased my contract a month ago I was told it was unlimited??? The salesman told me not to take the £8 option as it would't be enough for the amount of mb I estimate I use.

I also have T-Mobile with web n walk, but that contract ends next month and I refuse to renew it as most times I get 2 bars or less signal at home, and have to stand at the back door or outside to ensure I don't get cut off during calls! I was told by T-Mobile that yes they are in the process of upgrading systems and signal should improve within the next 12 months (this was last Xmas). I've seen no improvement at all which is dissapointing as the flext package combined with web n walk is simply the best value out there imho.

BoingBoing_2

I've just checked out the supposed coverage for my postcode and it made me laugh! 4 bar 'very good signal' for 2G and 3 bar 'good signal' for 3G.

Can any1 explain how come I get anything from 0 to 3 bar signal when I'm sat on my sofa under the window?

espresso

BoingBoing wrote: »

I've just checked out the supposed coverage for my postcode and it made me laugh! 4 bar 'very good signal' for 2G and 3 bar 'good signal' for 3G.

Can any1 explain how come I get anything from 0 to 3 bar signal when I'm sat on my sofa under the window?

The predicted coverage is outside your property. How can they predict coverage on your sofa?

:rolleyes:

christopher

BoingBoing wrote: »

I've just checked out the supposed coverage for my postcode and it made me laugh! 4 bar 'very good signal' for 2G and 3 bar 'good signal' for 3G.

Can any1 explain how come I get anything from 0 to 3 bar signal when I'm sat on my sofa under the window?

Could be buildings around you causing signal disruption or absorbing some of the signals (happens more and more the further you are away from your nearest cell), this happens particularly in urban areas.

Could also be some localised RF or EM interference in the same part of the spectrum as used by the 3G signal...

benbfc

This might sound like a really stupid question, in my postcode area i have 'excellent' 3g speed according to t-mobile.

I am on the 16th floor of a block of flats in central manchester, will my height above the ground make a difference to the quality/