Internet connection from a laptop

[Nicky France]

Can anyone offer advice...

I would like to buy a laptop computer to enable me to work away from home.  I need to be able to connect to the internet about twice a day for about 5-10 minutes at a time to check e-mail and download text documents (Word etc).  I will be working in remote locations in France and will not have access to a Wi-Fi point or phone line so will have to connect to the internet using a mobile phone.  I have asked in various shops but the general consensus is that either it just isn't possible or that it will be prohibitively expensive.  I was advised in one mobile phone shop that I would have to first buy a "card" to plug into the computer at a cost of about 75 euros and then sign-up for an expensive contract and, on top of that, pay for the connection on a per-minute basis.

Is this an accurate reflection of reality or is there an easier and/or cheaper way to access the internet from a laptop?

Thanks, Nicky.

[Dick Smith]

Not without a phone line, I imagine.

Will you be within reach of Internet Cafés?

[Cassis]

Or public libraries?

[Ecossais]

Hi Nicky,

If you will not be near wi-fi hotspots / internet cafes etc, then you will best with a “3G mobile data card”.  This will allow you to connect to the internet at near broadband speed (in 3G coverage areas) or where there is no 3G coverage, at dial-up speeds using GPRS.

The card plugs into the side of your laptop in the same way as a wi-fi card.  I don’t think you can buy Pay As You Go datacards in France – Vodafone UK used to sell GPRS datacards for about £100.  If you want a 3G datacard you will need to enter a 12 month minimum term contract in the same way as you would with a contract mobile phone.

According to their website SFR charge €47 for the card and then €30 per month for 250mB download limit or €54 for 500mB download limit.

Remember “downloading” is just downloading file attachments etc but includes internet surfing.

Have a look at:  http://www.sfr.fr/utiliser/services/services_business/vmcc/

The other networks will probably offer something similar – it would be worthwhile comparing their 3G coverage in the areas you intend to travel.

 

[Bones]

You could always pull up next to an ADSL user's house and tap into his connection... Although that would be a tad naughty!

If you are in the Aude you knock on at my place and I'll gladly let you borrow a bit of bandwidth!

Otherwise, looks like you'll need to either bite the financial bullet or, as others point out, seek out an internet cafe: there are plenty around and they are cheap.

Good Luck.

[Btuckey]

Digging up the cable is a pain in the *ss though. [:D]  (Not everybody uses WiFi!)

Seriously though, if you do use WiFi you should encrypt through WEP settings etc.

Brian

[Eslier]

Mobile phone companies now offer "gprs" as a means to gain high speed web access via a mobile phone. If you get yourself a Motorola phone with gprs capability - something like the Razor V3i it comes with a lead to connect to your laptop and a cd with the necessary software to configure windows to connect to the internet via your mobile phone.  I've not got as far a checking out the charges made by the French mobile operators but, in the UK, charging is according to the kb of data downloaded.

I've just been looking into this myself in advance of a trip back to England at Christmas when it is essential I have regular access to my email. I would be very interested to hear from anyone, who has actually used this setup, if it is a good as it sounds.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

You could consider a handheld device like an up to date Palm Pilot. Mine is a T Mobile MDA Vario and runs Windows Mobile v5. You can connect to the internet for email or Web browsing and it includes 'mobile' versions of Word & Excel.

Most of the time I use its on-screen keyboard but it also has a real (but tiny) Querty keyboard that slides out from under the screen. I find this makes more sense when doing a lot of Excel work because there is more useful screen area.

If you want to you can also use it as a modem for a laptop and it has wifi & bluetooth, although I generally connect using a USB cable because that charges at the same time.

If you use Outlook on your desktop machine it will synchronise and store all your appointments, tasks & notes.

I normally carry it in a belt pouch, but it will fit in a shirt pocket with room to spare.

Finally, you can get it with a GPS add-on complete with maps & talking directions, but I haven't felt a need for that.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher -- use the phone finder with manufacturer = T mobile.

[Btuckey]

[quote user="Eslier"] I would be very interested to hear from anyone, who has actually used this setup, if it is a good as it sounds.
[/quote]

Hi Eslier,

Over the last four years I have used a variety of data connections in both France and the UK.  My experience is as follows (your mileage may vary):

Nokia + Palm + GSM = Slow and very expensive.

Dell laptop + Vodafone Datacard = pain in the *ss!

Sony Ericsson + iPAQ2210 + GPRS = Faster but still expensive, especially when ‘roaming’ (coverage almost everywhere).

Nokia N70 + WAP + 3G = Quite fast and not too expensive per KB.

If you intend to use data services a lot, buy a Blackberry or O2 X series (i-mode very good imho).  Otherwise most upper market handsets sold over the last two years or so will automatically swap between 2/2.5G GPRS and 3G WAP services.  The latter is not available everywhere.  You have to ask your service provider to enable though.

Brian