Nicholas Clark writes: > It seems that my parents are finally cracking and amenable to the idea > of buying a device for the purpose of videoconferencing. My sister and > I suspect that the right thing is a tablet connected via 3G > > (my parents alternate between two locations in southern England, so > fixed line would mean 2 fixed lines, and two lots of fixed > infrastructure, which feels like a pain)
It has occurred to me that you might not need two fixed lines: BT Broadband includes use of BT wi-fi. So it's possible that fixed-line ADSL in one location plus wi-fi in the other would work, if at least one of the locations has BT wi-fi coverage. See: http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/broadband/free-wifi You can use any BT Openzone or Fon wi-fi hotspot. In practice, town centres tend to have good coverage, as do housing estates (if a neighbour is BT broadband customer, then their router is likely doubling as a Fon hotspot[*1]). I'm not claiming this is a superior option for you versus 3G, merely pointing it out as a possible alternative. Smylers [*1] Weirdly, if your ADSL plan has a data quota, the quota only applies to usage through your own fixed line, not any through BT wi-fi hotspots. The router BT send you provides a Fon hotspot. Anybody spot the loophole here? -- http://twitter.com/Smylers2