[Westwales] internet access wireless/via mobile phone

[Colin Sauze]

TP Muller wrote:
> 
> Hi everybody,
> 
> hope you all had a good summer break.
> 
> I might soon have to move into a room (in Aberystwyth) where I don't have
> access to a telephone line. However, I do have a mobile and pay 1p/minute at
> night for all local numbers and 0845 numbers.
> 
> So, I'm wondering: what do I need in order to be able to use dial-up internet
> access via a mobile phone (via modem, not WAP or whatever it's called)? Do
> those solutions generally work with Linux? If not, are there any specific
> ones which do? Do they work without a laptop (ie. w/o PCMCIA slots)?
> 
> Alternatively, are there companies in Aber offering internet access via
> wireless network adaptors (I heard they've got something like that in the
> Cardiff area, so I guess it's worth asking)?
> 
> I'd be extremely grateful for any ideas.
> Thanks very much in advance.
> Cheers
> -Tim

There are plenty of mobiles supporting dialup through a data cable
and/or IR that work as if it where a normal modem (albeit a 9.6/14.4
one) so no special software is required. I know all the siemens c,m and
s range from the 35 series onwards can work like this, as can the nokia
9110, 6120/30 (and many others).
Some older phones like the nokia 5110 require specialist software on the
pc and so might not work with linux. You can also get pc cards that
either plug into a phone or provide dialup support directly, I've not
used any of these and can't say which work and which dont work with
linux.

You might also want to consider a GPRS phone, with these you pay per
kilo byte instead of per minute, although their probably only cheaper
for really low bandwidth stuff like irc and IMs. Vodafone are currently
charging .23p per kilo byte for no extra line rental on contracts and
.18p per kilobyte for £28.20 per month and 15 meg inclusive.

If you can get wireless access in aber you'll probably find it a lot
cheaper and faster, might even be worth paying a neigbhour to get ADSL
and then sharing it with them via wireless.