Laptop cards for internet access....can you help?

[JulieL/B]

I want to be able to access the internet via my laptop when we are out on the narrowboat

I have looked at T mobile - which appears to be a good offer but I'm not sure if there is anything better.

Do any of you have any experience of using these cards?
Are they any good?

I want something thats easy to use (I'm a technophobe) and provides unlimited access to the internet.

Any recommendations?

 

[hermes]

I don't know about the cards but I have used my mobile as a modem several times on holiday. (Not to come on here though...honest!)

You need a data cable and software to connect to the laptop and these are very cheap on ebay and quite expensive in carphone warehouse. It was a bit tricky to set up but I phoned Orange customer support using a different phone and they guided me through and now it works every time. Come to think of it though, a card would probably be easier.

One problem is that on a narrowboat last easter there were many rural areas where I couldn't get a signal and I'm sure the same would apply with the cards.

 

[Moz]

JulieL/B
moz
I love her ... she is FANTASTIC

 

[JulieL/B]

on a narrowboat last easter

Hermes thanks for your reply!

Where did you go on your narrowboat holiday?

 

[hermes]

Picked up boat at Silsden (up near your area?) over to Leeds basin, back West and passed Silsden to a nice village who's name I forget for our last night. Looking forward to pub and forgot about having to turn the bl**dy thing round to get back for dropoff the next day, and after entertaining locals by trying to turn round in a spot where the canal was 57' wide and our boat was 58' long, we had to cruise another 6 miles to find a turning point.
Easter before that we did the Warwickshire ring which was great. If we go next year maybe either in France or Llangollen canal or can you reccomend anywhere?

 

[Richardp]

I've just spent all day setting my laptop up for just that!
Have you got a GPRS phone and is it internet enabled by your provider ??
if it is you can use that with blue tooth.
my phone is a sony eriksson s700i so I downloaded Mobile Networking Wizard software from their site, my provider is vodaphone so I got the Internet Access settings from their site and hey presto!!! well it took all flipping day but working well. As well as being faster than the older dial-up method of connecting , the main advantage is that you don't pay your online time per-minute, you pay for the amount of data you transfer. Another bonus of GPRS, is that sessions can be suspended when an incoming voice call is detected, so you don't lose calls.
in the end it was the simplest advice that helped from here

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=1524

 

[JulieL/B]

Have you got a GPRS phone and is it internet enabled by your provider ??

No, I have a very basic Nokia 3120 phone which is provided by work - I do have a second line on it for my personal calls.
This is why I was asking about the laptop card as I don't want to have to buy another for internet access.

 

[Moz]

Julie ..... this isnt isnt old mate jules .....

 

[Richardp]

Hi Julie
I don't have the card but I have setup my laptop to get on-line via my mobile phone GPRS connection which I would guess is the same, and its great. I'm taking it away on my hol's {sad arent I?} so that I can maintain my website which requires daily updates.
cheers
Richard
after broadband its abit like watching B+W telly after colour.

this site is made with you in mind .
http://www.franksingleton.clara.net/mobile_setting.html

 

[2scoops0406]

You could use one of these but you need to take out another mobile subscription, it would probably be cheaper to use your existing phone and connect it to your laptop using bluetooth (assuming your laptop supports bluetooth).

 

[toasty]

Eddie,

Never mind her laptop, her mobile is a Nokia 3120, that doesn't do bluetooth

Back to the drawing board mate..

BTW, lots of narrowboating marinas have Wireless LAN now, maybe that's an option for when you are nearby?

-Dan

 

[eggplant]

I think a 3120 has IR - but connection speed is poor, I have used a moby in this way before, its less than ideal but ok for checking mail etc.

 

[2scoops0406]

In that case, if you can't upgrade to a bluetooth enabled phone, maybe go for a Nokia D211, but you'd have to take the SIM card out of the phone and transfer it into the D211 each time you wanted to use tinternet.

 

[JulieL/B]

Thanks for all your replies.

I did actually go ahead an bought the T mobile web n walk card, with a contract (£19.99 per month)
Tried it at the boat this weekend......absolutely great...was slightly slower than what I'm used to (we have broadband at home) but it's absolutely fine for my use.