jo scott Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 Hi - we are off for another jaunt - destination undecided but probably northern italy then back clockwise through france - or may just keep going down through italy to greece. wherever, we need good internet access as i manage a number of websites for various people. I've plodded through the threads posted in October on this subject, but am not sure anyone came up with a definitive for mainland europe, as opposd to UK usage. www.usonthebus.com use roadpros alden netmaster but at £3K that's beyond me! i've stumbled across JiWire Hotspot Helper as an identifier of public hotspots but as i would prefer to be wild camping and not lugging a laptop through cities and towns, has anyone found a reliable and not prohibitively espensive way off being on-line , out of town? The odd campsite wouldn't be a problem - are european sites more up to speed with wifi than UK? Penchelli campsite had brilliant free wi-fi, windermere C&CC £6 for 24 hours - bit steep that one! All advise welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 Someone mentioned 3G in a previous thread but I don't think it works here in France. I think you would be surprised at how many people here with WiFi don't have it secured. They don't seem as internet security aware as in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 yeah 3g is good but not in France.. shame, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo scott Posted January 15, 2008 Author Share Posted January 15, 2008 I've come across the phrase 3G before but don't really understand what that means Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 jo scott - 2008-01-15 1:06 PM I've come across the phrase 3G before but don't really understand what that means I believe you will find it is shorthand for 'Third Generation Network' ('3G' get it) mobile phones, i.e. the origional analogue phones were the first network, digital were the second and 3G is the newest. Though one company was clever enough to actually call themselves that, most of the network operators have a 3G service. It is supposedly quicker and is better at handling data though the coverage may not be as good as the standard network. Had lots of promise but IMO it has not lived up to the hype. Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsandywhite Posted January 15, 2008 Share Posted January 15, 2008 B-) You could always try Mobile Broadband, I know of at least one that is using it in Italy:- http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miami Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 johnsandywhite - 2008-01-15 6:09 PM B-) You could always try Mobile Broadband, I know of at least one that is using it in Italy:- http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/[/quote] _________________________________________________You can use this in Italy Ireland and one or two other countries without paying any more than the rental costs.Works well here but is slower than Broadband. There is a lot of info on this on this site and others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo scott Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 you've all been brilliant - and i love this site.! we were used to using Lonely Planet Thorn Tree when we were doing long-distance travelling - which we no longer do for environmental reasons - and never imagined we;d find even better support in the motorhome world. Thanx :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo scott Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 I;ve been chatting to 3 this morning using the link you guys provided. Upshot is that I'd nee dto tie into a minumum of 18 mmonth contract to get the free usb, and then for Italy for example, the charges would be £3 per MB. In the words of the salesperson - I'd keeping searching for an alternative solution! I guess I'm going back to the hotsposts idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsandywhite Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 B-) Hi jo scott. If you already have Broadband at home? You might consider joining FON. http://www.fon.com/en/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 3 also offer pay as you go on mobile broadband where you buy the USB modem for £100 and can pay for between 1GB and 7GB (between £10 and £25). This might be a more suitable option depending on your usage. www.three.co.uk/personal/products_services_/mobile_broadband_/index.omp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo scott Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 both good recommendations - i'm going to go away n calculate hw large my bill could be on pay-s-you-go - - - but certainly we're getting closer to a workable solution. . . . how long do we think it will be b4 satelitte internet becomes affordable?? oh, and that bit doesn't need a reply! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 In France, you could always park in a McDonald's car park and get wi-fi for free!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 jo scott - 2008-01-16 5:27 PM both good recommendations - i'm going to go away n calculate hw large my bill could be on pay-s-you-go - - - but certainly we're getting closer to a workable solution. . . . how long do we think it will be b4 satelitte internet becomes affordable?? oh, and that bit doesn't need a reply! JoI tried looking at 3's rates a while back and, although they are favourable for use in UK, the roaming rate for data, whether on payg, or contract, is fairly prohibitive. You're OK in Italy, and a couple of other countries, because they allow access at the same data rates as UK. However, data access rates in most other countries in the world are per Mb, and, even for occasional access, would soon rack up to more than I would want to pay. For commercial users the rates may be acceptable (though I doubt it!), but for "recreational" use I just couldn't justify the cost.Bear in mind also that once you are away from the relatively few 3G locations around Europe, the connection speed drops sharply (2G/2.5G) and in many areas will be about as fast as dial-up! Big downloads will be very slow, and badly designed websites will take forever to open.For what it's worth, my conclusion was that presently there is no economical alternative to wi-fi hot-spot spotting. Is this pastime set to become the new bingo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo scott Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 House! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Thought so! Clickety click. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 For nearly five years, I've used a Blackberry and the T-Mobile contract has provided for unlimited emails whilst in the UK. The handset has also provided internet access, which has been pretty crap really, but it's been better than nothing when I'm in the middle of town and need to know whether prices on the internet are much different to an item in my local Currys. Anyway, until recently we had a house in France and frequently spent time over there. T-mobile charges £7.50 per megabyte of data whilst abroad, but charges according to kilobytes used (so, it's very exact). I've never had a big bill from overseas use, and I've just been through old ones to see what was what. A basic text email - although often vital to receive - costs but pennies. If someone attaches anything to the mail, the Blackberry (assuming it can) doesn't have to open the attachment, so the cost is restricted to just the email text. Even if the text happens to be very long, it's pushed to the device piecemeal, with the user deciding how many chunks of text to be pushed and read. So, again, there's a level of control as to costs with email on the Blackberry when used abroad. However, if I use the internet on the Blackberry, I'm immediately at the mercy of the site in question. I've turned off pictures, so only text is downloaded, but the cost of browsing is much greater than that of email. Still on the internet theme, I recently bought my son an iPod Touch, which is a phenomenal piece of kit, and its wi-fi is a sharp tool indeed. With my wife driving through a built up area, I can see at a glance the name of every wireless network within range - and, whether or not they're secured. The beauty of the iPod Touch is that it's not a phone, so there's no airtime or any other type of contract. Shaun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventoux Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 derek500 - 2008-01-16 8:37 PM In France, you could always park in a McDonald's car park and get wi-fi for free!!! I could not get the Wi-fi to work at McDonalds in Grenoble. Either it didnt' work or was credit card payment, can't remember. In fact the Office du Tourism gave me a list of about 12 Wi-fi spots in the city and after trying 6-7 of them none were free or didnt even work. I registered with one in Clermont Ferrand and it cut off when I tried to upload a photo, then caused some software problem on laptop that involved an email and phone call to to provider who called me back. Can't remember all the deatils, I may have been a bit technophobic but in 7 months I think I only got free Wi-fi on my laptop once. I would love to know about a reasonably priced mobile (France, Belgium Italy) internet facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Ventoux - 2008-01-17 9:27 PM I would love to know about a reasonably priced mobile (France, Belgium Italy) internet facility. I have a French Orange "Pay N Go" which appears to be very cheap to run. I also use this when I am in the UK and never seem to run out of calltime. The only snag with French Pay N Go is that whichever recharge card you use (I use 35 euros and get 45 euros in calltime - an extra 10) there is a limit on how long the card will last. It is a bit awkward to explain but here is the gist of it: recharge 10 euros and you get 1 month to use it recharge 20 euros and you get 2 months to use it recharge 35 euros and you get 3 months to use it Whatever balance you have after the time is up you lose unless you recharge the calltime, that is why I recharge every 3 months. If you do not recharge after the allotted time you can keep the mobile number for 6 months, after that time the number ceases and you have to buy another sim card. I have a Vodaphone UK sim card on which there is no time limit on the calltime or number but I found that using it in France was very expensive (wrong number call to me was 75p) you only need a few of them and your credit has gone. I hope that you can understand my explanation, obviously there are more recharge cards available for larger amounts so therefore more calltime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 However, referring back to Jo's original question, it seems her main requirement is internet access so that she can manage websites, rather than for e-mails. As mentioned above, it is the data transfer costs for internet access that are costly. There also seems a little confusion over e-mail versus texting. Texting is cheap using the normal SMS type transmissions over the phone network, as they do not register as data transmissions. However, the moment you fire up an e-mail service the transmission will be recognised, and charged, as data. Unless there is a need to attach other documents, therefore, there seems little point to paying roaming data rates for pure text e-mails, when an SMS text would be cheaper. If, on the other hand, the attachment is the point of the message, there is no advantage to leaving it "parked" on an e-mail server, so one would be more or less obliged to take the (expensive) download as well.The second problem, is that whereas French SIM cards may be more economical in France, they are not necessarily so in, for example, Italy. Unless we are to travel with SIM cards for every country visited, therefore, a mobile phone used for text messaging, and a wi-fi enabled laptop for web access or downloading any e-mails with attachments, seems the most economical compromise presently on offer.Smartphones? Well, until someone comes up with a device that combines a half usable keypad for writing, with a screen that can be seen without a microscope (or a 14 year old's eyes!), they seem to combine the worst of the above, which is a shame. Somehow, what seems to me to be needed, is a p.a.y.g. phone that can provide a full, Europe wide, roaming voice/text service, and also be used as a 3G modem - as and when required only - for odd data transmissions via computer in the absence of wi-fi, plus a compact, wi-fi enabled, laptop that will "do" the e-mail and internet stuff mainly using wi-fi, but can connect via the phone/modem where wi-fi is absent, all for about £500! The phone bit seems possible via 3's p.a.y.g. voice/data offerings, but compact laptops are too costly for me to want to risk one in a motorhome! Oh, and the laptop needs to be a Mac, or to run Windows. Linux is no good because there is no route planning (AutoRoute etc) software available for Linux. Any offers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventoux Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Randonneur - 2008-01-18 9:01 AM I have a French Orange "Pay N Go" which appears to be very cheap to run. I also use this when I am in the UK and never seem to run out of calltime. The only snag with French Pay N Go is that whichever recharge card you use (I use 35 euros and get 45 euros in calltime - an extra 10) there is a limit on how long the card will last. It is a bit awkward to explain but here is the gist of it: recharge 10 euros and you get 1 month to use it recharge 20 euros and you get 2 months to use it recharge 35 euros and you get 3 months to use it R How does this operate the internet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventoux Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Brian Kirby - 2008-01-18 11:38 AM The phone bit seems possible via 3's p.a.y.g. voice/data offerings, Brian Is this usable with a laptop? Is it like the expensive Vodaphone USB mobile modem thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Ventoux You can access the internet from a mobile but I have never used it. My Grandson has a Blackberry type thing when he was here in October he was able to get onto the internet just to show us but didn't have to use it because we have WiFi. I have used WiFi on my laptop in various hotspots over here and also outside a McDonalds on the outskirts of Gerona. I think it is a case of trial and error with hotspots here. If you email Vixter she will be able to give you more information due to Full-timing in France before buying a property, I know she used to use the internet on her laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Ventoux - 2008-01-17 8:27 PM I would love to know about a reasonably priced mobile (France, Belgium Italy) internet facility. I had not suggested this for the origional poster as I don't believe it suits their needs, but if your use is to just occasional surf and for e-mail retrieval I would suggest looking at the 'Datawind Pocketsurfer 2'. Although I have a reservation regarding the companies financial model, from reading reports in mags, and the effect it may have on future pricing of the package or the eventual failure of the package leaving you with a useless piece of kit the principle is brillant. The one off purchase cost with completely free use in the UK for one year and under £40 per year after and fairly reasonable costs abroad (it works in most of Europe and a lot of the World that a standard mobile signal is available), is good value. Having used one I am still tempted to get one despite my one reservation. See http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocket-Surfer-Wireless-Internet-Appliance/dp/B000YCRRZK/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1200742003&sr=8-3 And http://www.datawind.com/ Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 PocketSurfer 2 is being sold today on www.idealworld.tv Item No: 132726 Pocket Surfer 2 £169.99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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