Connecting a laptop to the internet without 'phone line?

PeteHerts

Norman-B wrote: »

Pete, thanks again! I'm with TT broadband at home and that is so sloooooow. Can you give me the tip re BT, please. Both of her pals are on BT broadband.

With BT there is a thing called FON. If you opt into it it means you share some of your bandwidth with other people who have opted in and if they are mobile and close to you then they use a little of your bandwidth. Now if your daughter has a Wi-Fi connection on her PC/Laptop then it can be configured so she can share with someone else who is on FON but this is down to luck and needing someone close enough she can share with. There is a FON map checker so if you enter her location you can see if anyone if close enough.
It's a bit of a long shot I admit.
If one of her pals lived really close then she could simply share their connect buy I bet it's not that simple.

PeteHerts

Norman couldn't she just simply get a phoneline and a Broadband provider or am I missing something?
I'm sure there are companies doing a phoneline and free broadband now.

Norman-B

PeteHerts wrote: »

Norman couldn't she just simply get a phoneline and a Broadband provider or am I missing something?
I'm sure there are companies doing a phoneline and free broadband now.

Yes she could but she expects to move from her flat at the end of the year. Don't providers have 18/24 months min rental?

PeteHerts

Norman-B wrote: »

Yes she could but she expects to move from her flat at the end of the year. Don't providers have 18/24 months min rental?

You can get month to month contracts with broadband.

espresso

PeteHerts wrote: »

You can get month to month contracts with broadband.

You can but you normally have to pay the full installation charge or an early leaving charge.

Norman-B

If you source your own unlocked wireless USB dongle, you can simply insert any mobile operators SIM and most offer £1 per day surfing. i.e. not pay a monthly fee or be committed to 12-18 month contract. Depends on the amount and frequency of use.

benjus

Although you can get ADSL broadband with a short-term contract, getting the phone line itself with a short term contract is more of a problem. I think BT has a minimum 12 month contract with financial penalties if you cancel before that. If the flat already has the phone cables installed and just needs to be activated, you could try the Phone Co-op (http://www.thephone.coop/) which has a minimum 3 month contract unless a new installation is required (in which case it is 12 months).

I would weigh up the costs of getting a BT line installed paying for ADSL, and then cancelling the BT line at the end of the year against the costs of 12 months of 3G with Three, T-mobile, Orange or Vodafone.

The Guardian ran an article recently about 3G broadband, comparing the major providers: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/10/mobilephones.internetphonesbroadband. Unfortunately the online version of the article doesn't contain all the details of the printed version.

jje_2

Don't forget providing she has a wireless connection on the laptop that their are a number of free WI-FI hotspots that you can connect to Free of Charge . Starting with MacDonalds

hot spot finders just google here's one .
http://www.jiwire.com/

jje

TonyLisaP

WPA security on any wireless network can be cracked in about 30 seconds, unless it is MAC protected. Not that I would ever condone such action.

benjus

TonyLisaP wrote: »

WPA security on any wireless network can be cracked in about 30 seconds, unless it is MAC protected. Not that I would ever condone such action.

Do you mean WEP security? As far as I know WPA is pretty tight unless you have a weak passphrase. On the other hand WEP can indeed be cracked in minutes or even seconds if you have the right software.

espresso

TonyLisaP wrote: »

WPA security on any wireless network can be cracked in about 30 seconds, unless it is MAC protected. Not that I would ever condone such action.

OK I'll bite. Your above statement is absolute rubbish.

:rolleyes: