[Gllug] Internet connection through mobile phone

[Christopher Hunter]

On Thu, 2009-12-10 at 16:09 +0000, felix swart wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have moved into a flat which is not connected to the local exchange
> and am loathe to hand over roughly £120 to BT for the connection. 

Unfortunately, for any kind of halfway decent service, you're going to
have to swallow that cost.  However, BT do occasionally have "sales",
when they will install for almost nothing (I took advantage of one such
a few months ago).  It would be worth contacting them and seeing what
they offer.

> Does anyone have experience with mobile internet used for a home
> connection; no streaming or downloading distro images, just general
> surfing.

Forget it.  It's seriously expensive, unreliable, slow, capped, filtered
and generally crap.  You will save the full cost of the BT installation
in just a few months if you go with one of the cheaper ISP via ADSL
offerings, rather than waste your hard-earned on mobile "broadband"!

> Related to that: Has anyone played with the Nokia N900? 

As a phone, it's relatively big and clunky, and pretty expensive (you
have to remember that the service providers always recoup the cost of
the phone off you some way or other!).  As a modem, it's slow - just
because it's trying to use a mobile phone network for an unintended
purpose.  Don't believe the hype about 3G, EDGE, GPRS and all the rest -
it really is just marketing BS, and you will NEVER achieve anything like
the rates they advertise.  Of course they'll tell you that you're in a
poor area, or you're using "unsupported" software or any other of a
thousand excuses!

> Any comments on its suitability as a mobile internet modem?

See the rant above!  

C.


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