Getting online while travelling in the UK? [modified]
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Philipp Sumi wrote:
Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue
Don't think that's going to be a problem
Philipp Sumi wrote:
or even a better suggestion?
Drive around looking for an unsecured wireless?? :laugh:
Tom Deketelaere wrote:
Drive around looking for an unsecured wireless??
...which would probably be close to a pub, resulting in costs of 50 pounds per online session, paid in beer ;)
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Hello UK-CPians Me and a few colleagues will be spending a while in the UK, and being able to get online with the notebook is rather essential (for the first two weeks, we'll have an appartment in Clacton-on-Sea near Colchester and I'll be working part time from there). I thought of buying one of those USB sticks with a months worth of online time. With Orange, this would add up to 50 pounds, which seems to look like a great offer with no strings attached (makes me somewhat suspicious): Orange Dongle Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue, but I hope we'll be fine (some of us have EU passports). Anybody having experience with these things, or even a better suggestion? Thanks for your advice Philipp
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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Hello UK-CPians Me and a few colleagues will be spending a while in the UK, and being able to get online with the notebook is rather essential (for the first two weeks, we'll have an appartment in Clacton-on-Sea near Colchester and I'll be working part time from there). I thought of buying one of those USB sticks with a months worth of online time. With Orange, this would add up to 50 pounds, which seems to look like a great offer with no strings attached (makes me somewhat suspicious): Orange Dongle Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue, but I hope we'll be fine (some of us have EU passports). Anybody having experience with these things, or even a better suggestion? Thanks for your advice Philipp
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
They are great. I'm using one to write this. It is my only access to t'interwebs. Mine is T-Mobile though. Look out for data caps though, often hidden in the small print (my current contract is 3GB per month upload/download total). I believe that a lot of the more recent ones are 10GB which should be enough.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
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Tom Deketelaere wrote:
Drive around looking for an unsecured wireless??
...which would probably be close to a pub, resulting in costs of 50 pounds per online session, paid in beer ;)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
See nothing but advantages ;P
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Hello UK-CPians Me and a few colleagues will be spending a while in the UK, and being able to get online with the notebook is rather essential (for the first two weeks, we'll have an appartment in Clacton-on-Sea near Colchester and I'll be working part time from there). I thought of buying one of those USB sticks with a months worth of online time. With Orange, this would add up to 50 pounds, which seems to look like a great offer with no strings attached (makes me somewhat suspicious): Orange Dongle Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue, but I hope we'll be fine (some of us have EU passports). Anybody having experience with these things, or even a better suggestion? Thanks for your advice Philipp
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
Use and abuse the system, Visit McDonalds regularly for a coffee and free WiFi access ;)
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Hello UK-CPians Me and a few colleagues will be spending a while in the UK, and being able to get online with the notebook is rather essential (for the first two weeks, we'll have an appartment in Clacton-on-Sea near Colchester and I'll be working part time from there). I thought of buying one of those USB sticks with a months worth of online time. With Orange, this would add up to 50 pounds, which seems to look like a great offer with no strings attached (makes me somewhat suspicious): Orange Dongle Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue, but I hope we'll be fine (some of us have EU passports). Anybody having experience with these things, or even a better suggestion? Thanks for your advice Philipp
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
I'm using O2 and it's working fine so far...
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Hello UK-CPians Me and a few colleagues will be spending a while in the UK, and being able to get online with the notebook is rather essential (for the first two weeks, we'll have an appartment in Clacton-on-Sea near Colchester and I'll be working part time from there). I thought of buying one of those USB sticks with a months worth of online time. With Orange, this would add up to 50 pounds, which seems to look like a great offer with no strings attached (makes me somewhat suspicious): Orange Dongle Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue, but I hope we'll be fine (some of us have EU passports). Anybody having experience with these things, or even a better suggestion? Thanks for your advice Philipp
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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Use and abuse the system, Visit McDonalds regularly for a coffee and free WiFi access ;)
We'll have a nice appartment at the coast, so there's probably no McD around (although I have no idea about the fast food density in the UK). But nice knowing - we'll sure hit a few citites along the way :)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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Hello UK-CPians Me and a few colleagues will be spending a while in the UK, and being able to get online with the notebook is rather essential (for the first two weeks, we'll have an appartment in Clacton-on-Sea near Colchester and I'll be working part time from there). I thought of buying one of those USB sticks with a months worth of online time. With Orange, this would add up to 50 pounds, which seems to look like a great offer with no strings attached (makes me somewhat suspicious): Orange Dongle Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue, but I hope we'll be fine (some of us have EU passports). Anybody having experience with these things, or even a better suggestion? Thanks for your advice Philipp
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
Only know one person with a mobile USB thing, with Vodafone, and he says it sucks, mightily. I guess it depends where you are going, if it's a city, use free WiFi, if you're going to a more rural area it might be worth it.
I hope you realise that hamsters are very creative when it comes to revenge. - Elaine
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They are great. I'm using one to write this. It is my only access to t'interwebs. Mine is T-Mobile though. Look out for data caps though, often hidden in the small print (my current contract is 3GB per month upload/download total). I believe that a lot of the more recent ones are 10GB which should be enough.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
Thanks, Henry Orange offers upgrade plans, which aren't too expensive. I'll have to consider that one (or make sure that my mates don't download too much pr0n through my connection) ;)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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Only know one person with a mobile USB thing, with Vodafone, and he says it sucks, mightily. I guess it depends where you are going, if it's a city, use free WiFi, if you're going to a more rural area it might be worth it.
I hope you realise that hamsters are very creative when it comes to revenge. - Elaine
It's the latter, and we have an appartment without access to the interwebs, so we'll just have to hope it'll work. Otherwise, I'll have to live in the nearest Starbucks.
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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Hello UK-CPians Me and a few colleagues will be spending a while in the UK, and being able to get online with the notebook is rather essential (for the first two weeks, we'll have an appartment in Clacton-on-Sea near Colchester and I'll be working part time from there). I thought of buying one of those USB sticks with a months worth of online time. With Orange, this would add up to 50 pounds, which seems to look like a great offer with no strings attached (makes me somewhat suspicious): Orange Dongle Whether I'll be able to just walk into an Orange shop, get me the thing and walk out of there is another issue, but I hope we'll be fine (some of us have EU passports). Anybody having experience with these things, or even a better suggestion? Thanks for your advice Philipp
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
Make sure you're getting a Pay as you Go offer, not a contract, as they might be funny about a non-british citizen taking out a contract without having a UK address. (That even applies to the 30 day rolling contracts, sadly) They'll need to do credit checks and see proof of identity / residence if you take out a contract, whereas you can usually just go in and buy a pay as you go phone/dongle. There's a list of pay as you go offers here: http://mobile.broadbandgenie.co.uk/3g-broadband/pay-as-you-go[^] Your best bet would be to head to one of the many "independent" shops (Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4 U) - you'll find those on any UK highstreet and they should be able to talk you through what's appropriate (but bear in mind they'll be somewhat pushy, and try and make you spend more than you want, so have a really good idea of how much bandwidth you'll want to use!) As other people have pointed out, though, if you're going to be in cities, you'll find there'll always be a pub/bar/mcdonalds offering free wifi, and other places (like starbucks) that charge you for an hour's connection, so really it's down to how often you'll need to be connected. If you're going to be out in the middle of nowhere, then you might find you can't get a 3G signal either, so the dongle will be next to useless, too!
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!
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Not cheap but you could look here http://btopenzone.hotspot-directory.com/[^]
Thanks for the link, Richard. There's only two hotels in the area that offer a hotspot, so I'll have to pass on that one. That's the nice thing with the dongle - in theory, it should work pretty much anywhere on the island.
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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We'll have a nice appartment at the coast, so there's probably no McD around (although I have no idea about the fast food density in the UK). But nice knowing - we'll sure hit a few citites along the way :)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
There are LOADS of places that do Wifi. Most Pubs, Hotels etc, plus plenty of freebies around if you look. But I have a Dongle I pay £25 p/m for and get a netbook for free. Look around and you will be able to get a cheaper deal.
------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC
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Thanks, Henry Orange offers upgrade plans, which aren't too expensive. I'll have to consider that one (or make sure that my mates don't download too much pr0n through my connection) ;)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
As benjymous points out further down you might want to check out what 3G reception is like where you will be staying. Most of the provider's sites have a link to a signal strength finder application, you'll just need the post-code for where you'll be staying.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
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Make sure you're getting a Pay as you Go offer, not a contract, as they might be funny about a non-british citizen taking out a contract without having a UK address. (That even applies to the 30 day rolling contracts, sadly) They'll need to do credit checks and see proof of identity / residence if you take out a contract, whereas you can usually just go in and buy a pay as you go phone/dongle. There's a list of pay as you go offers here: http://mobile.broadbandgenie.co.uk/3g-broadband/pay-as-you-go[^] Your best bet would be to head to one of the many "independent" shops (Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4 U) - you'll find those on any UK highstreet and they should be able to talk you through what's appropriate (but bear in mind they'll be somewhat pushy, and try and make you spend more than you want, so have a really good idea of how much bandwidth you'll want to use!) As other people have pointed out, though, if you're going to be in cities, you'll find there'll always be a pub/bar/mcdonalds offering free wifi, and other places (like starbucks) that charge you for an hour's connection, so really it's down to how often you'll need to be connected. If you're going to be out in the middle of nowhere, then you might find you can't get a 3G signal either, so the dongle will be next to useless, too!
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!
Thanks for the tips and the link! :) Buying the thing online is not an option anyway, at least for Orange: They require you to have had a resident address in the UK for three years - that's about three years too much. I guess we'll do as your telling and just look for one of those shops. We'll be spending the first two weeks in Clacton on Sea near Colchester. It's not exactly a metropole down there, but I hope we'll be fine :)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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Thanks for the tips and the link! :) Buying the thing online is not an option anyway, at least for Orange: They require you to have had a resident address in the UK for three years - that's about three years too much. I guess we'll do as your telling and just look for one of those shops. We'll be spending the first two weeks in Clacton on Sea near Colchester. It's not exactly a metropole down there, but I hope we'll be fine :)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
You might find this useful too: http://www.compare3gmobilebroadband.co.uk/3g-coverage-uk.htm[^] But the various shops will be able to tell you if you're in an area with decent signal. UK law imposes a 14 day cancellation period, so it's not in their interest to lie to you!
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!
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We'll have a nice appartment at the coast, so there's probably no McD around (although I have no idea about the fast food density in the UK). But nice knowing - we'll sure hit a few citites along the way :)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
Depending on what coast you might be surprised. If its somewhere off the beaten track you might not have ANYTHING around for miles. However, if its a larger area (Brighton, Bornmouth, Blackpool) there will be 2 MaccyD's per street. edit: I didnt intentionally pick all coastal areas beginning with a 'B' :laugh:
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You might find this useful too: http://www.compare3gmobilebroadband.co.uk/3g-coverage-uk.htm[^] But the various shops will be able to tell you if you're in an area with decent signal. UK law imposes a 14 day cancellation period, so it's not in their interest to lie to you!
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!
You're a big help - thanks again :)
NetDrives - Open Source Network Share Management Awesomeness
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Depending on what coast you might be surprised. If its somewhere off the beaten track you might not have ANYTHING around for miles. However, if its a larger area (Brighton, Bornmouth, Blackpool) there will be 2 MaccyD's per street. edit: I didnt intentionally pick all coastal areas beginning with a 'B' :laugh:
We're in Clacton-on-Sea which looks quite crowded. I looked at the coverage tests of some of the providers - fortunately, we'll be fine. Cheers!
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