[Gllug] Internet connection through mobile phone

[general_email at technicalbloke.com]

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

Hi Felix,

I have a T-mobile stick and it works OK for light surfing. The problem I
have with it is it's very choosy about connecting to the 3G network &
when it can't it drops back to 2G (gprs) which is very slow. Basically
it doesn't much like walls and will only pickup 3G in my kitchen and
garden. This makes no odds as I only have it as an emergency backup in
case my landline broadband dies and occasional travel use.

Given that you can get the sticks for £10 (they're on a half price offer
at the moment) and you can get a months credit  for £15 (currently
discounted to £2 on offer!) I'd say try it and see how good the
receptionis in your flat. If you can get 3G it may be all you ever need
(it's definitely fast enough for web surfing), if not then you've got a
handy backup/mobile connection for about 20 squids.

One caveat though, I've only tried it on XP, not Linux so I can't tell
you how hard/easy it is to get it working. The lass on their service
desk said although they didn't support it per se she knew of people who
were using them successfully. Apparently the first wave of them were
distributed with linux netbooks a couple of years back by the carphone
warehouse.

Roger.

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