Using a laptop for overseas internet access

While abroad recently I had the need to access the internet on several
occasions, and had to visit an internet cafe to do so. Now back home,
I'm just looking into how to make this process a bit simpler and easier
in the future but am unable to find much advice.

I have a notebook computer and GSM mobile phone (various models in the
family in fact) and an O2 contract; presumably in principle I could buy
a lead to connect the two, and surf using the laptop? But where and how
to dial up to? Would I have to dial up a UK ISP at international voice
rates? Or are there international PAYG local options? I know the
mobile can make data calls using its own built-in browser; can I have
the laptop tap in to that? (I don't want to be restricted to using the
mobile's browser, by the way; ie I want net access via a PC).

I'm not after an expensive solution; this is for occasional use only
(couple of times per year?) so I don't want something where I'm goping
to have to pay a monthly fee, for example.

As is probably evident I don't know enough about the technology involved
so any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks
David

---

› See More: Using a laptop for overseas internet access

Lobster wrote:
> I have a notebook computer and GSM mobile phone (various models in the
> family in fact) and an O2 contract; presumably in principle I could buy
> a lead to connect the two, and surf using the laptop? But where and how

You can use Infrared or Bluetooth rather than using a cable.

> to dial up to? Would I have to dial up a UK ISP at international voice
> rates? Or are there international PAYG local options? I know the
> mobile can make data calls using its own built-in browser; can I have
> the laptop tap in to that? (I don't want to be restricted to using the
> mobile's browser, by the way; ie I want net access via a PC).

Even if GSM works, it is painfully slow. GPRS is somewhat faster, and
works fine internationally. Just tell Dial Up Networking to dial *99#.
Very expensive though, TBH you'd probably be better off visiting the
'net cafe.

> I'm not after an expensive solution; this is for occasional use only

I do not think "cheap" when considering the international use of mobiles
is possible...

Chris Howells wrote:
> Lobster wrote:
>> I have a notebook computer and GSM mobile phone (various models in the
>> family in fact) and an O2 contract; presumably in principle I could
>> buy a lead to connect the two, and surf using the laptop? But where
>> and how
>
> You can use Infrared or Bluetooth rather than using a cable.
>
>> to dial up to? Would I have to dial up a UK ISP at international
>> voice rates? Or are there international PAYG local options? I know
>> the mobile can make data calls using its own built-in browser; can I
>> have the laptop tap in to that? (I don't want to be restricted to
>> using the mobile's browser, by the way; ie I want net access via a PC).
>
> Even if GSM works, it is painfully slow. GPRS is somewhat faster, and
> works fine internationally. Just tell Dial Up Networking to dial *99#.
> Very expensive though, TBH you'd probably be better off visiting the
> 'net cafe.

Although if you get a Virgin PAYG SIM card then you can use that to
access international GPRS at 0.5p/KB (£5.12/megabyte) - see:

http://www.virginmobile.com/mobile/s...f_coverage.jsp

This is the SAME as their data rate in the UK. This makes it slightly
more expensive in the UK (e.g., Orange charge £4/meg) but much better
for when abroad (e.g., Orange charge £10/meg in France and £20/meg in
the USA!).

Cheers

Alan

Alan J Robertson <[email protected]> wrote:
: This is the SAME as their data rate in the UK. This makes it slightly
: more expensive in the UK (e.g., Orange charge £4/meg) but much better
: for when abroad (e.g., Orange charge £10/meg in France and £20/meg in
: the USA!).

In the UK while Orange may charge £4/Mb for PAYG data (£3 for contract) this
falls to £1/Mb or less by buying a "data bundle" or even £1/day for
UNLIMITED data access on PAYG - so saying Virgin are "slightly" more
expensive for the UK is misleading!

Brian McIlwrath wrote:
> Alan J Robertson <[email protected]> wrote:
> : This is the SAME as their data rate in the UK. This makes it slightly
> : more expensive in the UK (e.g., Orange charge £4/meg) but much better
> : for when abroad (e.g., Orange charge £10/meg in France and £20/meg in
> : the USA!).
>
> In the UK while Orange may charge £4/Mb for PAYG data (£3 for contract) this
> falls to £1/Mb or less by buying a "data bundle" or even £1/day for
> UNLIMITED data access on PAYG - so saying Virgin are "slightly" more
> expensive for the UK is misleading!

Sure, I know there are plenty of bundles about - the £1 unlimited Orange
World is particularly good - I was just trying to highlight the vast
difference in data costs abroad. The best setup would be to use Orange
£1/day PAYG whilst in the UK and Virgin £5/meg whilst abroad.

Alan

Chris Howells wrote:
> Lobster wrote:
>
>> I have a notebook computer and GSM mobile phone (various models in the
>> family in fact) and an O2 contract; presumably in principle I could
>> buy a lead to connect the two, and surf using the laptop? But where
>> and how
>
> You can use Infrared or Bluetooth rather than using a cable.

Ah OK that's useful to know as we already have a bluetooth phone in the
house which talks to a PC via a dongle. Would that throttle the
internet connection speed over a mobile, compared with using a cable?

> Even if GSM works, it is painfully slow. GPRS is somewhat faster, and
> works fine internationally. Just tell Dial Up Networking to dial *99#.
> Very expensive though, TBH you'd probably be better off visiting the
> 'net cafe.

Yes, have GPRS actually. Will have to give it a whirl, thanks.

> I do not think "cheap" when considering the international use of mobiles
> is possible...

I'm sure you're right :-(

David

Alan J Robertson wrote:

> Although if you get a Virgin PAYG SIM card then you can use that to
> access international GPRS at 0.5p/KB (£5.12/megabyte) - see:
>
> http://www.virginmobile.com/mobile/s...f_coverage.jsp

Thanks... OK, so if you have your mobile hooked up to a laptop for
internet surfing, roughtly how much data are you likely to be
downloading? I know it's going to be very variable, but if, say, you
block your browser from downloading images, what would be a ball-park
figure for the size of a web page? And how much is downloaded during
the act of logging on?

Furthermore: could I configure and use Outlook on the laptop for
downloading email from a POP3 account? If so, I'm thinking that if I
blocked emails with attachments, I'd only be looking at about 5p per
standard email which is fairly reasonable; is that correct or am I
missing something?

Thanks
David

Lobster wrote:

> Ah OK that's useful to know as we already have a bluetooth phone in the
> house which talks to a PC via a dongle. Would that throttle the
> internet connection speed over a mobile, compared with using a cable?

No, bluetooth should be easily fast enough for any 2.5G data stuff.

Lobster wrote:

> Thanks... OK, so if you have your mobile hooked up to a laptop for
> internet surfing, roughtly how much data are you likely to be
> downloading? I know it's going to be very variable, but if, say, you
> block your browser from downloading images, what would be a ball-park

Maybe 1/10th of a MB for a web page. It adds up to high cost very
quickly. Checking e-mail might be OK. Even MSN Messenger runs up the
bills quickly (IRC is somewhat better).

> figure for the size of a web page? And how much is downloaded during
> the act of logging on?

Not too much.

> Furthermore: could I configure and use Outlook on the laptop for
> downloading email from a POP3 account? If so, I'm thinking that if I

Yes, it will work like any other internet connection -- well apart from
the very high cost, terrible latency and high costs

Orange's GPRS is just a massive NAT network, so all requests appear to
come from the gateway future-is.orange.co.uk.

On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 13:29:22 GMT, Lobster
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I know it's going to be very variable, but if, say, you
>block your browser from downloading images, what would be a ball-park
>figure for the size of a web page?

Between 20kB and 200kB, typically.

>And how much is downloaded during
>the act of logging on?

Very little.

--

Iain
the out-of-date hairydog guide to mobile phones
http://www.hairydog.co.uk/cell1.html
Browse now while stocks last!

On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:12:43 +0000, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 13:29:22 GMT, Lobster
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>I know it's going to be very variable, but if, say, you
>>block your browser from downloading images, what would be a ball-park
>>figure for the size of a web page?
>
>Between 20kB and 200kB, typically.
>
>>And how much is downloaded during
>>the act of logging on?
>
>Very little.

....unless Windows Update decides to have a look-in...

--
-- Michael "Soruk" McConnell
Eridani Star System

MailStripper - http://mailstripper.eridani.co.uk/ - SMTP spam filter
Mail Me Anywhere - http://www.MailMeAnywhere.com/ - Mobile email

Lobster wrote:
.....
> Furthermore: could I configure and use Outlook on the laptop for
> downloading email from a POP3 account? If so, I'm thinking that if I
> blocked emails with attachments, I'd only be looking at about 5p per
> standard email which is fairly reasonable; is that correct or am I
> missing something?

If your phone has an email client, a simple way is to just to use your
phone to download the headers then select whichever emails you want to
read. As such emails (for me anyway) were generally about 3 to 5 Kb in
size and worked out at about 2p each and quite often less.

I've recently returned from holiday in Oz and New Zealand and just used
the phone (SE K700i on Virgin GPRS) for text emails. It was also great
for sending an email with a photograph attachment every day or so as a
travelogue to my friends and colleagues (about a dozen or so
addressees) for a cost of about 35p. Much better than sending
postcards, it was very popular and worked out at about roughly the same
cost overall as well.

I also used my phone's browser to google for info and a couple of
times used paid internet access at airports and hotels for more
heavyweight stuff.

So, it all depends why you want to lug around a laptop. If it is for
business use OK (but why not get a PDA from ebay?) If, however, you are
just sending and receiving emails from aunty Nelly and friends, don't
bother just use your phone.

Hope that helps

Regards
John

On 6 Feb 2006 07:48:58 -0800, "zacnici" <[email protected]> wrote:

>a simple way is to just to use your
>phone to download the headers then select whichever emails you want to
>read

Sometimes that makes very good sense, but if you end up downloading a
good proportion of the mail, the saving is outweighed by downloading
the headers, then downloading the bodies along with the headers all
over again.

--

Iain
the out-of-date hairydog guide to mobile phones
http://www.hairydog.co.uk/cell1.html
Browse now while stocks last!

[email protected] wrote:
> On 6 Feb 2006 07:48:58 -0800, "zacnici" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >a simple way is to just to use your
> >phone to download the headers then select whichever emails you want to
> >read
>
> Sometimes that makes very good sense, but if you end up downloading a
> good proportion of the mail, the saving is outweighed by downloading
> the headers, then downloading the bodies along with the headers all
> over again.

I presume that we are talking about POP email (I have never been able
to grasp the fascination people have for pure webmail as their day to
day address, but that's another topic).

I don't know about other phones but on the K700i you can set your email
client to download the headers only and furthermore set it up to search
for mail at set intervals from every 5 minutes upwards. Now that in
itself has got to be more convenient to have your phone do all the the
hard work and then give a little chime when it has received mail. The
alternative is to find a suitable place, boot up your laptop, establish
a connection with your phone then connect with your POP server to see
if there is any mail.

I am then presented with a list of emails and as they are headers only
this has never cost me more than 1p even when abroad using Virgin GPRS
(according to my billing). Next I highlight an email that I may want to
read, then look at the details which gives info on the size of the
email (this doesn't cost as the info is part of the header). So if
someone has decided to email War and Peace as an attachment to read on
holiday I may very well decide not to download that one on my phone but
go to a kiosk (I can also read my mail as webmail). Any SPAM etc I just
mark for deletion. An email that I do want to read and is of reasonable
size I just select VIEW and download the body, for a text email of say
10Kb that then costs 5p.

As I said before it depends what you want to use your collective
devices for. For bog standard emails why bother lugging a laptop all
over the place that can get damaged or stolen. A phone with an email
client is generally good enough for reading and sending plain text
emails, it even adds a signature and sends a copy of emails you send to
a designated address fro your own records. All you need to do is to get
a bit of practice in using the phone keypad instead of a keyboard. You
can even add a photo, try synching a laptop, camera and phone from the
top of Sydney harbour bridge.

If you really, really need greater functionality take along a PDA
enabled with Bluetooth and possibly WIFI that can handle Word, Excel
Powerpoint Access, PDF etc. This will do 90+ % of what you can do with
a laptop, about £150- £200 should do the job on ebay.

A question that pops into mind is what phones are available? Users of
those phones would then be best placed to advise on their capabilities.

Regards