Free wireless internet and cheap 3G broadband article discussion

gt94sss2

If you are a BT Broadband customer:

- All of its tariffs come with a certain amount of free minutes/month for BT Openzone Hotspots (amount depending on which Broadband Option you are on)

- You can also join BTFON which lets you use other people's BT Broadband and FON routers (both in the UK and internationally) for free unlimited WiFi access.

There is no need for BT Broadband customers to buy any additional equipment - and you can opt into the service whether or not you have a BT Home Hub.

Regards
Sunil

hstrike

I travel by train from Havant to Waterloo everyday and want to use mobile internet on the train for some of the journey (probably the bit near to london). Does anyone know which provider would be best for this?

danejb92

When using free wireless hotspots it is best to be cautious, to be sure your data is protected download (onto your computer) the free Anchor Free Hotspot Shield.

This is a Virtual Private Network that encrypts all data send/received to protect it from being "sniffed" by other people

However, there is a monthly limit of 10GB of bandwidth per month

Windows and Mac only though

It says US only but this will not affect anything

point3

euan wrote: »

I have listed on eBay Invites to purchase FON routers for 5.99EURO's!!

What sort of range does a FON Hotspot have?
FON's website is surprisingly vague about this. Understandably it will vary according to local conditions, but are we talking typical ranges of 10 metres, 500 metres, several km??

squawkbox

I think in regards to 3G access, although there was mention of 3's high overage charges - I couldn't really see much mention to the Pay As You Go offerings (which I think are better value for money).

Just just buy a £99 USB modem and whenever you want to use the web, you can top-up (£10 / £10 / £25 for 1GB / 3GB and 7GB respectively) which last for a month. It is exactly the same as the contract, however you only need to topup when you want to use it and there is no overage charges if there is no money in your account!

Twydallaer

Orange offer unlimited evening & weekend browsing for £5 per month for contract customers. Daytime use is £1.50 per mB capped at £1.50 per day.

Get a bluetooth dongle or cable to connect your mobile (which acts as a 3G modem) to your PC and away you go.

:beer:

HarryPotter_3

Hi,

Just for info, I have a 3 mobile USB modem it gives a 0.5mb connection at worst and a 1.5mb oter times, its quite fast and reliable.

I also have an Orange 3G modem from work, it is so slow, about 0.3mb at the very best.

The software is not as good as three's, it does not update the signal strength as you move around.

Orange is updating is network to be faster this year, but Three and Vodaphone have done this ao get a fast connection.

Orange are merging with Vodaphone so they can use the same RAN which will improve both of services coverage.

Three already share with Vodaphone I beleve so the future may be brighter for Orange 3G customers.

Harry.

hulltrucker

point3 wrote: »

The major drawback of mobile 3G internet is that connection speeds seem so variable - do you get GPRS speed, 3G or higher HSDPA speeds up to 7.2Mbps?

I'd like to get a contract for mobile internet, but which provider to go with? :think: 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone now offer pretty similar data packages which work out at around £15 per month for 3GB of data download.

If anyone has a mobile connection, maybe they could run a speed test (Speedtest.net) and then post their results here? Please include location, internet provider and modem used. It would really help to get an idea of the service that is available around the UK.

Thanks

Pont3 i have just done this - Using 3 network on the Huawei (think that's how you spell it) modem from home in Hull - I achieved 794kbs down and 247kbs up. I also did a test on my Karoo line (Kingston Communications) to compare, and achieved 3554kbs down and 303kbs up.

Interestingly Speetest.net shows my ISP as Torch Communications Ltd rather than Karoo/Kingston - the 3 one showed Hutchinson as you would expect.

I would say this is a good representation of the speed achieved on both lines (although the Karoo line is "contended" so it will be slower this week with kids on holiday from school etc) The 3 "dongle" is definately slower than a land line but it seems quick enough for everyday use and as I said before I even managed to stream an episode of Big Brother from the 4od site which was quite acceptable to watch albeit a little hungry on the download allowance.

Hope this helps

hulltrucker

squawkbox wrote: »

I think in regards to 3G access, although there was mention of 3's high overage charges - I couldn't really see much mention to the Pay As You Go offerings (which I think are better value for money).

Just just buy a £99 USB modem and whenever you want to use the web, you can top-up (£10 / £10 / £25 for 1GB / 3GB and 7GB respectively) which last for a month. It is exactly the same as the contract, however you only need to topup when you want to use it and there is no overage charges if there is no money in your account!

My point entirely sqawkbox - and if you run out of allowance within the 30 days you can just buy another top up and start all over again - contracted users have to either wait until the next months allowance comes in or put up with these massive overage charges

point3

Respectable speeds from Hull too - this is looking good!