ISP providers with wifi

[hawk20]

Sorry to have two queries at once -but not had any before.

If I get a laptop for my daughter, who lives in London in rented rooms without a landline, if it is wi-fi can she use it in McDonalds, and other places with wi-fi links without having an Internet Service provider.

I use AOL for e-mails etc etc with broadband. Will she need some equivalent provider even with wi-fi?

 

[Sp!ke]

Do you think it wise for your daughter to be using a laptop in McDonalds?

Round my way I'd be fearful of being mugged for the laptop on leaving. (and I live in whats generally considered a safe part of london).

The rented house may not have a landline but can she get cable? (Virgin/NTL)

The other option is some of the 3G offerings. The carphonewarehouse were offering free laptops bundled with a 3G contract. You'd need to consider her data use and what the cappings are but it might be an option for you.

 

[Nibbo]

To answer your quastion, NO you do not need an ISP yourself if you intend to use other peoples Wi-Fi networks.
She will be limited in terms of e-mail accounts as these generally come with the ISP but google has it's own e-mail as do many others.. hotmail etc...

 

[WLeg]

Starbucks/Costa please.....
(Starbucks store finder also has a handy free wifi finder function)

If the laptop has wifi, it will connect to any wifi network, if she is given access rights (or it is an open network).....she might have a friendly (or not techy savy) neighbour...

But no, you don't need to have your own ISP, and do tell her to by very carefull where she uses it in public places.

If you use BT, she might be able to use your account for Openzone - some BT accounts give you free openzone minutes.

 

[Rory]

can she use it in McDonalds, and other places with wi-fi links without having an Internet Service provider.

Yes - she just simply has access to the internet.

I use AOL for e-mails etc etc with broadband. Will she need some equivalent provider even with wi-fi?

No - as long as she has an account with an internet accessible email service, such as Hotmail or Google's Gmail, then you send email to her Hotmail (or whatever) account and she will be able to read it by logging into the account via the internet. AOL probably offer the same capability - I'm not familiar with them. BT certainly do, through BT Yahoo.

 

[w124coupe]

Being in London she will be in range of many wifi networks paid for by her neighbours. Why not knock on a few doors (she may already know the neighbours?) and offer to share the monthly cost in return for using some of their bandwidth?

Important to be on a secure connection so doing it this way would mean she would be part of a secured network not "freeloading" off someone too daft to set security on theior network (and therefore open to every scumbie).

I'm sure it will break some Terms somewhere but impossible for the supplier to tell if she's next door or in the next bedroom....

Absolutely go for one of the independent e-mail providers - you can then keep your address over time as you battle at renewal time to get the best broadband price & package in future.

Re McD's etc, general surfing is absolutely NOT secure on a public wifi like this - anyone with savvy can watch what you do - but secure surfing (i.e. with https AND the padlock) will still be fine for banking etc unless MI6 are on your tail.

 

[grober]

Why not buy a Vodaphone USB modem stick. It uses the 3G MOBILE network to connect to the internet. Good coverage in the London area AFAIK. Vodafone Mobile Broadband

 

[Gollom]

Came across this which may help (It is being run by MicroP incidentally):


www.3dongle4free.co.uk is giving away a FREE broadband Internet dongle, providing broadband speeds of up to 3.6Mbps. The 3 branded broadband dongle enables you to have connectivity when at home or on the move, its Pay As You Go so no contracts! Simply top up from £10, and then plug and play. Easy-to-use Internet access whenever and wherever you need it. You need to pay postage of £4.95.

(with thanks to MoneySavingExpert.com)

(Hope this is not advertising - if it is please could a mod delete it and PM me to say it is not acceptable so I don't do it again!)

 

[flango]

Came across this which may help (It is being run by MicroP incidentally):


www.3dongle4free.co.uk is giving away a FREE broadband Internet dongle, providing broadband speeds of up to 3.6Mbps. The 3 branded broadband dongle enables you to have connectivity when at home or on the move, its Pay As You Go so no contracts! Simply top up from £10, and then plug and play. Easy-to-use Internet access whenever and wherever you need it. You need to pay postage of £4.95.

(with thanks to MoneySavingExpert.com)

(Hope this is not advertising - if it is please could a mod delete it and PM me to say it is not acceptable so I don't do it again!)

My Dell laptop has on board GSM internet via Vodafone, whch is just the same as a Vodafone dongle, I spent a fair ammount of time in london and on the train to get there. In London you can usually get the high speed data connection 3.5g which is like lightening and absolutely flawless. When I renewed the contract on my mobile phone I did a deal on a data package and they gave me a new sim card to put in my laptop, cost of this was £7 per month for unlimited downloads, subject to a fair usage policy, they get a bit upset if you start downloading hundreds of Gb of music or movies.

I can highly recommned this Vodafone internet over the cellular network, it also comes with a host of security features, a Vodafone email address, a separate phone number which people can send faxes to and then they appear in your e mail all for £7 a month great value I think.

Hope that helps

 

[hawk20]

Wow. Many thanks to you all. What a mine of useful information. Thanks again.

 

[w124coupe]

Just one last thing with the dongle approach. Most of the contracts have a fixed GB limit per month and punishing costs if you go over (the pre pay ones just stop when you run out).

There is also a trend towards wanting a 24 month contract in return for reasonable monthly rates (for new subscribers at least).

The big bandwidth consumers are music/film downloads and rich media sites (e.g. Facebook or Youtube) with lots of pics/sound files/videos on the pages.

Ordinary browsing - e.g. on here - is trivial in comparison.

I would check her intended usage and get a reasonable estimate of her monthly needs and then try to get a service that matches as closely as you can.

 

[verytalldave]

My sons Apple 3g phone picks up about 15 wifi users within range in his bedroom.
So as has been said, finding a neighbour that will perhaps share bandwidth might be possible.

I also agree, using a laptop in McDonalds is not something I would encourage or even allow. Too many crooks around nowadays. Sad, but true.............

 

[HughJarse]

Remember though if you dont get permission from neighbour you are breaking the law.

 

[kay7]

Sorry to have two queries at once -but not had any before.

If I get a laptop for my daughter, who lives in London in rented rooms without a landline, if it is wi-fi can she use it in McDonalds, and other places with wi-fi links without having an Internet Service provider.

I use AOL for e-mails etc etc with broadband. Will she need some equivalent provider even with wi-fi?

The best laptop offer is from PC World Business: Lenovo SL300/400/500 with Vodafone 3G. Pricing between £ 550 and £ 900. Vodafone 3G free for a month and after that monthly direct debit( depends on usage ). You can cancel it anytime with 1 month notice.
Lenovo laptops aka IBM are on the same level as Macs.
If this budget suits you, take it. Do not be tempted buying a laptop from 3 or O2. Good luck