internet on the go (again!)

[briwy]

Yes, got it thanks Geoff. Works well. loads of info on it re the networks that are available.
It's available for Android as well.

[downward dog]

Ok I pondered on all your advice and (we needed one anyway) bought a 7 inch chinese android tablet with lots of gigawhotsits for seventy quid, I checked it was a good un and it seems most excellent indeed, thus I have purchased an unlocked mobile internet unit which has now arrived, it apparently can take cards from wherever, so i can buy and put in a french card in france or whathaveyou. This should also give me internet pretty well anywhere UK or abroad, and also when I move house into rented I will have internet straight away. I also have the bird apps, tree apps etc on the tablet so we should be set!!
I'm off out this weekend to test with a '3' mobile internet card in it.
Tablet is a NATCO M9000S (16 GB/1GB) from Wendy Lou
Internet thingy is a ZTE MF60
Fingers are crossed!!

[briwy]

Finally got round to trying out the aerial.

Parked up here over the weekend, set up the aerial and got around 30 networks straight away.





Around six of them were unlocked so logged onto one and connected up without any problems

[MountainGoat]

Interesting, I tried to get on line at Gairloch but found all the networks locked. Was there a campsite network? never saw a notice for one. Being a BT broadband customer can anyone explain exactly how the hot spot system works and the pros and cons of using it. It seemed to me that you have to leave your home connection unlocked or something so that it joins the zillion BT hotspots, terrifying.

Tony

[g8dhe]

No you don't leave it unlocked!
The router creates two separate WiFi networks, one is used by yourself and is fully locked and secured and you need your password / encryption key to gain access.
The second one is open to the world, but requires that you login and identify yourself as a BT network user before you can get out onto the internet itself.

PRO. It gives people access where they might not have access otherwise.

CONS. It uses a small bit of your bandwidth up when it is in use by others.
The coverage spot is normally very limited (small), expect to see people sitting in vehicles directly outside your house!

[briwy]

No you don't leave it unlocked!
The router creates two separate WiFi networks, one is used by yourself and is fully locked and secured and you need your password / encryption key to gain access.
The second one is open to the world, but requires that you login and identify yourself as a BT network user before you can get out onto the internet itself.

PRO. It gives people access where they might not have access otherwise.

CONS. It uses a small bit of your bandwidth up when it is in use by others.
The coverage spot is normally very limited (small), expect to see people sitting in vehicles directly outside your house!

Does the router set up the open network automatically Geoff, if so can it be disabled?
Does it limit the bandwidth available? I've just been looking at going to BT but I wouldn't want someone sitting outside my house watching telly and using a lot of bandwidth.

[g8dhe]

The bandwidth is I believe limited to 512Kbps, at one time, however the terms and Conditions are stated here http://www.bt.com/static/wa/wifi/pages/info.html
and says at this date;

...
4) Any BT Broadband customer who has opted into BT Wi–fi gives you unlimited minutes at BT Wi–fi and Fon hotspots.

5) You can opt-out of BT Wi-fi at any time, however you will lose your free and unlimited wi-fi access at BT Wi-fi, Fon and our associated partner network hotspots. BT will not credit any more minutes to your account and other BT Wi-fi members will not be able to share your bandwidth.
...

So you currently opted-in by default and need to opt-out if you don't want to offer or use the facility for new contracts.
The unlimited is "minutes" not bandwidth.

[briwy]

OK thanks Geoff, I can live with that.

[Rebiam]

In reality finding hotspots in a residential area using BT wifi is hit and miss, and you are lucky if you find a campsite where a local resident or business (or the campsite itself) has shared using this system. Having said that it is very useful in more and more areas of towns and cities to check emails, or have a quick look at websites while shopping or in the pub. When you are on the move connection isn't seamless and continuous as you move from one hotspot to the next - you have to reconnect as you change from connection with one homehub to another. You can download other free wifi apps with hotspots - I have O2 wifi (I am not a customer) and fast connect in addition to BT opt in and Vodafone which come with my contract.

[MountainGoat]

Being retired and living 35 miles from the nearest city and 5 mins from the centre of a small country town it does not appear that hot spots are going to be much use to me at the moment. Unless I fancy going to eat at the local McDonalds (ugh) or walk around the university campus half a mile away from my house.

What I need is to be able to get on line when I am out in the motorhome on a campsite or wild camping. So what is the best system available at the moment that is a)most reliable with the best coverage and b) most reasonably priced. At the moment I am a BT broadband any time customer and a Vodaphone pay as you go customer with an ordinary phone. I only use the phone to send and receive text messages on account of loosing my hearing when I was a kid.

Tony

[g8dhe]

The most reliable is always going to be a cellphone type setup either 2.5/3/4G type but even so it won't give 100% coverage, the best is around the 96-98% of population (not area!). Hence I prefer to use a MiFi type device which is basically a local WiFi node, connected to a router and firewall and linked to the Internet via the internal cellphone (data and SMS only, no voice). The usual devices are Huawei MiFi E3580 and the like see http://bit.ly/11n3f2y .
You still won't get much coverage when there is little population, we were camping at Abbotsbury next to the Chisle bank and no coverage, but up the hill a mile and no problems.

[MountainGoat]

Did a bit of searching on the internet. it would seem that the cheapest available Huawei MiFi E3580 device is sold by Tesco but this is locked to the 3 network with the PAYG device having at first a free month before you start PAYG. No point in buying one at the moment as we will not be going away for a few weeks.

Searching ebay unlocked Huawei MiFi E3580 devices are available from UK suppliers at more or less the same price as the locked Tesco devices. Could you tell me if these are a good bet or are they only unlocked because they are older models. If exactly the same as Tesco sells they appear to be a good deal to me. Without the free month run in they can be purchased at any time and I will have the option of two different networks as I have with my unlocked Vodaphone mobile.

Tony

[g8dhe]

Provided the devices are new and the source is reliable then go for it, mine was unlocked, but its no great shakes to unlock them just a Google search with the two terms!
I doubt that they are still available but if you can search out the old original Vodafone sim cards that allowed full use of your credit without a time restriction, that's they way to go! Most sim's these days are on 30 day credit terms i.e. your credit expires after 30 days, so if you don't use the card you loose your money, the original vodafone sim's don't have this restriction, and you only top up once you have nearly used all the credit!

[briwy]

Tony.

Another option is to get yourself a smartphone, new or s/h, most of these have an option to use it as a router which you then use in the normal way to connect your computer to.

This uses the data allowance on your phone or PAYG data which I assume is the same sort of thing that Geoff is talking about with the MiFi units.

[downward dog]

I have just come back from a 5 week bongo jaunt across nations (didn't see another bongo at all), using a mobile hotspot (MF60) and a roamline sim, superb, no problems, no barriers and the roamline sim can be used, pay only for what you use, worldwide. Simple, portable, easy, and you can use up to 5 devices on it at the same time.