Re: OT mobile and online

Well, if you were in Oz, Mark, you'd just buy a wireless modem and connect to
the wireless internet providers as a wireless broadband connection. No need
to use your GSM phone etc.

Does the UK have anything similar to http://www.unwired.com.au/

Ron Beckett
Emu Plains, Australia
1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8

"Mr.Nice." <mr.nice@*nospam*clara.co.uk> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> ok, here's a question that I am sure can be answered here.
> What do I need to have mobile access to the internet whilst out and
> about?
> I'm thinking laptop based via a mobile phone network somehow.
> I have no idea how this works, so an idiots guide please folks.
>

"The Becketts" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Well, if you were in Oz, Mark, you'd just buy a wireless modem and connect
to
> the wireless internet providers as a wireless broadband connection. No
need
> to use your GSM phone etc.
>
> Does the UK have anything similar to http://www.unwired.com.au/
>
> Ron Beckett
> Emu Plains, Australia
> 1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8
<Snip>

Ron,

Looking at http://www.unwired.com.au/availability/index.php, that wireless
network only covers Sydney and would be of no use if you were deep in the
outback. Generally speaking, the UK does not have wireless networks covering
as large an area as this.

In the UK, most towns and cities have ADSL broadband available via the
standard telephone wiring or via a cable television network. In outlying
areas provision is much more patchy, depending on the distance to the
closest telephone exchange.

Broadband is available, to the whole of the UK, via satellite (?SP), but
this is either 1-way (you need dial-up for traffic from your end to ISP) or
extremely expensive for 2-way (I've read horror stories about the
reliability of both).

Some areas do use wireless networks similar to the Unwired.com idea, but
this is usually a community lead project. There are also wireless hot-spots
provided by some consumer chains (McDonalds (?SP), Costa Coffee, etc.) but,
as I understand, you have to pay for these as you use them.

For outside use, the most recent developement is a PC-Card that provides 3G
network, if available. If not, it will fall back to GPRS. It will also
function as a wireless network card. It has the advantage that it leaves
your phone free for calls.

Foxy.

On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 00:12:34 +1100, "The Becketts"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Well, if you were in Oz, Mark, you'd just buy a wireless modem and connect to
>the wireless internet providers as a wireless broadband connection. No need
>to use your GSM phone etc.
>
>Does the UK have anything similar to http://www.unwired.com.au/
>
>Ron Beckett
>Emu Plains, Australia
>1995 P38A Range Rover HSE 4.6 Litre V8
>

No, we only have 802.11b networks in localised areas such as airports,
department stores, social venues etc. It's sometimes free, sometimes
pay per use. The range of 802.11b is too short for the sort of
coverage Unwired provides. I'm not sure what frequencies it is using
- the key issue may simply be that this frequency is not available
unlicensed in the UK.

There are wide area networks in place throughout the UK (e.g. for
position tracking etc), but to my knowledge nothing with sort of
bandwidth described by Unwired.


--

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'77 101FC Ambulance aka "Burrt"
'03 Volvo V70

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