3G mobiley comms thingy

[Clive Long]

Hi,

Does anyone use a "3g" card in their laptop for mobile communications? What's the performance like on your network? Can you ramp up huge bills without knowing?

Would it be possible to have the SIM in a standard phone haddset and sling a cable (or Bluetooth) between the handset and the laptop - rather than buying a dedicated SIM and PMCIA card for the laptop?

These public Wifi spots - I think I have seen them at Starbucks - how are they charged for? Expensive?

Ta,

Clive

[DavidB]

Originally Posted by Clive Long

Does anyone use a "3g" card in their laptop for mobile communications? What's the performance like on your network? Can you ramp up huge bills without knowing?

Used one for a couple of years. They are about 5-10 times quicker than a standard GSM/GPRS modem, but nowhere near as quick as broadband.

They are more expensive than broadband. An unlimited tarriff is about £70 pcm, and a 400MB tarriff about £40.

They are not as reliable as broadband either. The connection can be poor in the middle of a large office. The cards hang on average once a week. The support is pretty bad until you get through to the dedicated 3G Data support. There are a lot of tricks you end up learning to restart the card without rebooting your PC.

But I couldn't do without it now.

David

[El Salsero Gringo]

I'm currently playing with an Inmarsat BGAN satellite broadband terminal that's basically a 3G phone with a highly customised radio transmitter. Gives you about 500kBit/sec from anywhere in Europe/Middle-East/Asia as long as you can see the right bit of sky.

Data is ~10$/Mbyte, which means by the time you've flattened the battery, your bill is about £7k.

Before anyone asks, at those prices, no, I'm not using it to post this message!

[El Salsero Gringo]

Originally Posted by Clive Long

Would it be possible to have the SIM in a standard phone haddset and sling a cable (or Bluetooth) between the handset and the laptop - rather than buying a dedicated SIM and PMCIA card for the laptop?

Yes, that should be possible.

[philsmove]

I have a 3G card
It’s expensive
Coverage is patchy
But if you use it for work
You can very quickly, pay its way

I have friend who uses “the starbucks system” it seems cheap, fast and reliable
But if its midnight, you urgently need an Internet connect, and the nearest starbucks is a 100 miles away …..

Another friend connects her laptop via her mobile, seems cheap, reliable but very slow




http://72.232.2.194/~fpauly/forum/showthread.php?t=5697

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally Posted by Clive Long

These public Wifi spots - I think I have seen them at Starbucks - how are they charged for? Expensive?

Never had the need for a 3G card but i use wireless hotspotsquite a lot - wireless is everywhere and costs around £5-£6 an hour. You can find wireless hotspots in airports, hotels, mcdonalds, starbucks, bt phone boxes ..etc..

see here for map

and see here for some free ones (scroll down and look for the city you're in)

[Tiggerbabe]

Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe

but i use wireless hotspotsquite a lot

Me too, and I don't think it's too bad price-wise. Mind you I'd quite like it if you could have a cheaper contracted monthly subscription without having a mobile-phone contract with them.
I realise you can purchase a month of access at a time but that is quite expensive.
I'd be lost if I couldn't use the internet when I'm staying away
(And why don't the bloomin' Travelodges have hotspots? )

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally Posted by Tiggerbabe

I realise you can purchase a month of access at a time but that is quite expensive.

BT Openzone do offer subscription plans - see here and the home page lists the hotspots.

(And why don't the bloomin' Travelodges have hotspots? )

Its a rubbish hotel chain Travel Inns have hotspots.

[Tiggerbabe]

Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe

BT Openzone do offer subscription plans - see here and the home page lists the hotspots.

Thanks

Its a rubbish hotel chain Travel Inns have hotspots.

Do they have £10 a night (if you book early enough) rooms too?

[Dreadful Scathe]

oh dunno - i never book it, I just think the quality is not nearly as good.

[Andreas]

Add to that that the driver support for Power Books (you've got a Mac, don't you?) leaves a lot of room for improvements ... I'd not opt for it if there is an alternative.

As David pointed out, you usually get volume or flaterate tariffs with UMTS, GPRS is the one where you can easily rake up a huge bill w/o realising it. Particularly dangerous on Windows with its automated updates ...

[frodo]

Originally Posted by Clive Long

Does anyone use a "3g" card in their laptop for mobile communications? What's the performance like on your network? Can you ramp up huge bills without knowing?

Would it be possible to have the SIM in a standard phone haddset and sling a cable (or Bluetooth) between the handset and the laptop - rather than buying a dedicated SIM and PMCIA card for the laptop?

These public Wifi spots - I think I have seen them at Starbucks - how are they charged for? Expensive?

I'm very pleased with the 3G Web n Walk Professional from TMobile (normally advertised with a 3G card but you can use a 3G handset instead). When connected by cable at home though a 3G handset I get 30-40K/sec, which is about the same as 300kbit broadband. It degrades a lot in non 3G areas but still works.

The thing about the handset is it doesn't use my one precious PC card slot, as you can use a USB cable or bluetooth, and you can also use the handset browser etc. for simply tasks where you don't want to get your laptop out.

This is £20.00 a month on its own or £10.00 on top of a voice tariff, for 2Gb a month transfer.

If you don't have the voice tariff the only way I think to rack up bills is to buy things on the TMobile mobile web site from the phone. If you go over the 2Gb limit in any two months of six they simply slow down your data transfer. The other restrictions are no VOIP (understandable) and no IM ().

For the stand-alone option it is sometimes advertised with a free 12month T-Mobile (incl Starbucks) Wifi pass (costs £23.00 a month if bought on its own), though I haven't got hold of it that yet.


One advantage of the PC-Card is that I understand it actually has the ability to run much faster than existing 3G once TMobile have upgraded their network, which you don't get with a handset.

[Clive Long]

Originally Posted by frodo

I'm very pleased with the 3G Web n Walk Professional from TMobile (normally advertised with a 3G card but you can use a 3G handset instead). When connected by cable at home though a 3G handset I get 30-40K/sec, which is about the same as 300kbit broadband. It degrades a lot in non 3G areas but still works.

The thing about the handset is it doesn't use my one precious PC card slot, as you can use a USB cable or bluetooth, and you can also use the handset browser etc. for simply tasks where you don't want to get your laptop out.

Hi

T-Mobile WebnWalk looks the best deal of all UK operators at the moment

Which handset do you use? Nokia N7x series looks good but useless for mobile browsing.

I like the idea of the MDA Vario all in one (convergence - don't tell DJ) but it only supports GPRS SIMs

Clive

[frodo]

Originally Posted by Clive Long

Which handset do you use? Nokia N7x series looks good but useless for mobile browsing.

I like the idea of the MDA Vario all in one (convergence - don't tell DJ) but it only supports GPRS SIMs

Just a basic N70 (so I'm curious about the background of your thought).

Generally I've used it to browse the mobile friendly web sites on the TMobile home page, However I had a go today, and it seems perfectly workable to browse sites such as, for example, this one.

That said I probably would have gone for the Vario if it had done 3G as it isn't much more expensive than the N70 and only ~ 35 g heavier.

There is the MDA Pro which does 3G and VGA but it is an extra ~ £200 and 90g.


The N70 isn't that much less converged in any case. You're trading 3G, a radio, and 35g, for an embedded keyboard, bigger screen and touch screen. You can view PDF's / Office Documents and use a Bluetooth keyboard on the N70.

[Clive Long]

Originally Posted by frodo

Just a basic N70 (so I'm curious about the background of your thought).

Don't get me wrong, the N70 looks a neat phone, and I'm thinking of getting one, it's just I have a Nokia 6310 (or is it a 6130, or Nokia Flame ... ?) for work and blow me, Gordon, every time I manipulate its little nipple (official term) I have to "re-navigate" two , even three, times to retrieve a phone number. And those silly, silly keys. Small??? Thinking about navigating on a standard size handset, let alone trying to read any content seems perverse to the point of geekiness

Originally Posted by frodo

Generally I've used it to browse the mobile friendly web sites on the TMobile home page,
However I had a go today, and it seems perfectly workable to browse sites such as, for example, this one.

Aha! Mobile friendly sites Ever tried to retireve Yahoo mail through a device with the screen the size of an XDA? Painful. What must be like on the screen of a standard sized handset

Originally Posted by frodo

That said I probably would have gone for the Vario if it had done 3G as it isn't much more expensive than the N70 and only ~ 35 g heavier.

Me too. Vario with 3G and the choice would have been a no-brainer. Of course we'll all be 11Mbits wifi everywhere for voice and data soon.

Originally Posted by frodo

There is the MDA Pro which does 3G and VGA but it is an extra ~ £200 and 90g.

Too big

Originally Posted by frodo

The N70 isn't that much less converged in any case. You're trading 3G, a radio, and 35g, for an embedded keyboard, bigger screen and touch screen. You can view PDF's / Office Documents and use a Bluetooth keyboard on the N70.

But the screen size

[frodo]

Originally Posted by Clive Long

...every time I manipulate its little nipple (official term) I have to "re-navigate" two , even three, times ...
And those silly, silly keys. Small??? Thinking about navigating on a standard size handset, let alone trying to read any content seems perverse to the point of geekiness

Before I got the N70 I would have tended to agree with you.

Navigating web pages using the 4 way pad, middle of pad button and the two option buttons below the screen is really quite quick, and I haven't noticed any problem with incorrect navigation. I do have to look and take quite a bit of care to hit any of the other buttons though.

Originally Posted by Clive Long

Aha! Mobile friendly sites Ever tried to retireve Yahoo mail through a device with the screen the size of an XDA? Painful. What must be like on the screen of a standard sized handset

I don't know about Yahoo, but didn't have a problem with my smaller web mail provider.

FWIW I've noticed the viability of using a small screen for a task can depend heavily on the software being used as well as the degree of smallness.

Originally Posted by Clive Long

But the screen size

To be fair I think the PDF / Office stuff is too compromised by the screen size to be of much use for viewing content except in an emergency. For reading web content and emails it seems quite a bit of use, despite the screen size though.

My comment was really to say in terms of number of functions there isn't too much difference, I'd agree that providing the software makes reasonable use of the bigger / touch screen the quality of those functions should be very much better on the Vario.

[DavidB]

Originally Posted by Clive Long

Ever tried to retireve Yahoo mail through a device with the screen the size of an XDA? Painful. What must be like on the screen of a standard sized handset

Apparently Yahoo have just released a mobile version.

[pmjd]

Was going to get the T-mobile web and walk thing but found out that it is only meant to be for browsing from your mobile phone, using it for connecting to a laptop will result in reduced speed.

From T-mobile
"To ensure a high quality of service for all our customers, they are not to be used for other activities such as (but not limited to): modem access for computers, internet based video/audio streaming services, peer to peer file sharing, internet based video download and internet based telephony. If such use is detected, notice may be given, after which network protection controls may be applied which will result in a reduced speed of transmission."

They have a business users version of web and walk, says "unlimited" but actually capped at 2GB per month, using a 3G card for £17 a month.

Hope the info is of some use!