Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
Hello folks got a question. I am having a load of problems with my life right now and as a result its fooked allot of things up. I may be forced to move out soon (when i don't know) but basically if I do theres a high chance I won't be moving into a place with a internet connection, now I know that doesnt sound to bad but for me it will effectlivly make me lose all my income, and then mess up more of my life etc. I basically run a small business kinda thing like alot of us esatoarians and if I cant list my items on gaybay/esato and the likes I will get mo money in, I cant buy from my suppliers (most of which I contact via the net) this will then make me poor and help stop me from socialising as much etc, it will also help me loose all motivation as I dont have allot to look foward to these days, but believe me when im say im more worried about the business side of things here.
anyway thats the history. Now for the bit I need some answers for. I need a internet connection:
it cannot use a phone line
it must be compatable with macs
it must be able to work with my apple laptop
it must be fast (if possible if it gets really bad I will live with a dial up connection speen)
it must be as cheap as possible - I cannot justify spending £200 a month on a connection (im sure you understand)
it cannot be something I have to sign up with for like 18 months as I may not need it for that long
Now what i can say is:
cost is not really a option, as long as it has a reasnoble cost per month etc im fine with paying a start up cost.
if it needs a specific bit of hardware I will and can buy it
if It needs credit cards I can sort it out
If it needs anythign I can probally sort out something
Also I have a windows laptop so if say I can share it from one pc to the other thats just anohter benifit, but is not essential.
Cheers Luke
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[ This Message was edited by: Luke-the-magic-man on 2006-05-09 20:11 ]
Posted by axxxr
After reading through the list of your requirements the only options i could think of is getting a vodafone wireless 3G data card for £52.88 which will give you Unlimited data...or the other cheaper option is a long shot but worth a try is to check if you live anywhere near a wifi hotspot and get online that way.Apart from these not much else i can suggest apart from more viable wireless data card option,it might help to shop around for a better deal though.
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
ooo yeh something like that would be good, but £53 quid a month is quite allot though it does seem pretty cool as I could use my laptop anywhere and get internet access (its broadband speed I presume?).
Posted by axxxr
No its not broadband speed,but you will get about 128 KB out of it tops.
Posted by scotsboyuk
@LUke
3G sppeds are rated at 384 Kbps at the moment so it is the equivalent of a low speed broadband connection. The actual rate of data transfer is usually around 30-40 KBps. You will only be able to use the 3G speeds when in a 3G area so it would be worth checking to make sure you will be in a 3G area before buying. When you aren't able to use 3G the card would revert to GPRS I believe.
You may also want to look into whether or not Vodafone (or whichever network you choose) has a fair usage for 'unlimited' data downloads and what that policy is.
As has been mentioned a Wi-Fi hot spot is a possibility if you are near one. If anyone living beside you has Wi-Fi you could perhaps speak to them about sharing their connection if you contributed towards the cost.
Of course connecting through your handset is always an option, but this could turn out to be very expensive if you download a lot of data.
If you simply cannot get connected any other way then you could always look to utilise a connection at your local library. You could use the library connection for any times when you needed relatively fast access to websites and use your mobile to connect when simply looking to check e-mails, etc.
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
yeh, i had thought about that, but unforchantly the amount of business I need to do on my laptops is quite high, especially the ebay part of it as I can sell like £3k a month pretty easily, and well over 100 items which means without a decent internet connection itl be a right bitch as i have to pack at the same time as being connected (address are stored online)
found this on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBay[....]pagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1
and talked to the guy, basically is a sim card on a network that allows this, anyone know which network?
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[ This Message was edited by: Luke-the-magic-man on 2006-05-09 20:18 ]
Posted by scapevlocity
that uses GPRS, so it's actually slower than 3G. they have that kind of service here in new york, with Cingular, that uses EDGE instead - which is still slower than 3G.
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
http://www.ukmobilesales.co.uk/vodafone/VODDATACARD.php - also jsut found that one
Posted by absinthebri
My library does free wi-fi and they let me plug my lappy into their electricity if I sit in the corner.
Posted by whistla
Try and find out if there are any neighbours who have wireless and try and split the internet connection for half the cost, that way you can have fast internet for cheap. But will only work on wifi.
Edit: Just read the title properly! Doh!
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[ This Message was edited by: Hustl£r on 2006-05-09 20:28 ]
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
yeh, well that would be good, but I have no idea where I will be going or if anyone will have wi-fi... if so I would be sorted lol as all my lappys have wi-fi built in
Posted by scotsboyuk
@Luke
I think the 3G option is really going to be the frontrunner here if you can't use a fixed line and if Wi-Fi is going to be an issue.
Posted by masseur
I've used that vodafone 3g/gprs data card on the no limit plan and its rubbish.
actually its fine if you are always stationary and in good 3g coverage but I was travelling mostly on a train and while switching from 3g to gprs was fairly quick as we went out of 3g coverage, switching back to 3g when coverage returned was painfully slow and sometime the whole card and pc software that vodafone supply for the card had to be stopped and restarted
this was late last year so they may have improved things but thats just my experience
Posted by carkitter
@luke
Had a similar conumdrum Dec last year when I attempted to
live 'Unplugged', that is, without landline.
I connected my laptop using
mobiles via GPRS but network provider was unable to bill the Data properly. In fact, my account still says I owe $66.36 (approx 23 pounds) from last month due to thier most recent error... They've promised me a credit twice but it's still owing.
3G Data Card was next step but I was not convinced that the billing issues would go away and so decided not to buy the card and find out.
Anyway... now I'm back on 3.5Mbps ADSL via landline and Wifi.
Posted by dave_uk
Hey Luke,
You may be interested to know that T-Mobile also offer a 3G/GPRS data card, which also has built-in Wi-Fi capability.
The speed is upto 384Kbps, but the card should be compatible with HSDPA speeds of up to 1.8Mbps, due to be released later this year.
The best part is that the line rental is £19.99 per month for unlimited usage (although their fair use policy limits this to 2Gb/month) and the card is free on an 18-month contract and about £60 on a 12-month deal.
Can't vouch for the coverage, although T-Mobile have invested heavily in this area, and have the largest global GPRS footprint of any UK network, if that is any indication of their commitment to data.
Also, comes with 12-months free access to their HotSpot network, so if you do happen to have Wi-Fi access, you can use that for free as well.
Check it out here if it sounds interesting.
Dave
Posted by Luke-the-magic-man
now thats what im talking about. I can probally get a card on ebay or something, but as long as I dont download a load of crap I recon that would be ok. Shame its a 12 month contract as I will only need it for a few months, but the novelty will be cool for like a 8months lol.
So asuming I bought a card off ebay could I transfere this plan over do u recon?