Re: Mobile broadband
i recently bounced from o2 to t-mobile. o2 charge at 20p/meg over your monthly limit. t-mobile have a fair usage policy. hth, mart. 2008/12/19 Simon Cozens : > > I'm coming back to the UK in January and will be moving around a lot > until we buy a house in May. Some of the places we'll be going won't > have Internet access and I think I'll need it to work, (anyone know of > any telecommute Perl contracts then, please let me know...) so I'm > thinking about getting a mobile broadband thingy, partially for working > on the move and partially to avoid starting and stopping lots of DSL > contracts. Does this make sense? > > Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, > good deals, horror stories, don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, > etc.? > > Simon >
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 12:57:06PM +, Jonathan Stowe wrote: > 2008/12/19 Martin Robertson : > > any views on when 'wireless interwebs' will become considered > > 'core' infrastructure alongside refuse/roads/libraries? > Never. There are too many tinfoil-hat wearing nut jobs and too many > politicians concerned about the Daily Mail says. If you call it Magic Interwebs instead of wireless, they won't realise that it uses EVIL RADIO WAVES THAT COOK YOUR CHILDRENS BRANES WON'T YOU THINK OF THE CHILDREN. Oh, but then the Christian Institute and their ilk will say it should be banned because, like Harry Potter, it promotes witch-craft. Damn. -- David Cantrell | top google result for "topless karaoke murders" It wouldn't hurt to think like a serial killer every so often. Purely for purposes of prevention, of course.
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 07:40:26PM +0900, Simon Cozens wrote: > Another question: Bloody hell, people, what have your mobile phone > providers been doing for past five years? Crying themselves to sleep, only to have their dreams filled with images of the mountains of money they blew in the 3G spectrum auctions. -- David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire We found no search results for "crotchet". Did you mean "crotch"?
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 02:57:27PM +0900, Simon Cozens wrote: > > I'm coming back to the UK in January and will be moving around a lot > until we buy a house in May. Some of the places we'll be going won't > have Internet access and I think I'll need it to work, (anyone know of > any telecommute Perl contracts then, please let me know...) so I'm > thinking about getting a mobile broadband thingy, partially for working > on the move and partially to avoid starting and stopping lots of DSL > contracts. Does this make sense? > > Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, > good deals, horror stories, don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, > etc.? My experience of Voodoofone's 3G coverage was so bad that I dumped them, even though their voice coverage is excellent. I changed to T-mobile, whose data coverage is a bit better, but still not great (but at least it works in York city centre). I can't really recommend either of them at least for 3G. But do you really need 3G? In extremis, you can get 9.6k over the bog standard GSM voice connection, which will work just about everywhere on Vodafone. Modern phones might not like doing that, but I know the venerable Nokia 6310i does it just fine. 9.6k is sufficient for an ssh connection, if you can live without graphics most of the time. As for don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac, OS X.5 has better support for using mobile phones. At least, it works with my Treo, where X.4 wouldn't. -- David Cantrell | top google result for "internet beard fetish club" comparative and superlative explained: worse, worser, worsest, worsted, wasted
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 22:36 +, James Laver wrote: > I *have* had a call been unable to connect because O2's network was at full > capacity, but it only happened once and it was christmas... I'd never had a mobile call drop until I moved onto O2 a few months ago, now I've had it happen dozens of times. I've occasionally been unable to place a call in the first place with other networks, but mostly at busy times (NYE, for example). For this purpose, O2 seem to define busy times as 'days with a Y in'.
Re: Mobile broadband
On 2008-12-19 20:29, "Dave Hodgkinson" wrote: > > *fewest*! > > Least dropped means they don't drop them very far? > Or somehow they're dropped and then temporarily reconnected, with this network dropping it the fewest times per call? I *have* had a call been unable to connect because O2's network was at full capacity, but it only happened once and it was christmas... --James
Re: Mobile broadband
On 19 Dec 2008, at 17:49, Simon Wistow wrote: On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 07:40:26PM +0900, Simon Cozens said: Another question: Bloody hell, people, what have your mobile phone providers been doing for past five years? I'm used to getting 3G coverage on top of mountains, on the underground, and on an uninhabited island in the middle of a lake. Looking at coverage maps of the southwest, it looks like it's going to be a coin toss at best to get any kind of fast data connection. Hell, at least it's better than America where a Motorola Razr is still seen as a premium phone and services still run giant billboards touting that they have "the least dropped calls" *fewest*! Least dropped means they don't drop them very far? -- Dave HodgkinsonMSN: daveh...@hotmail.com Site: http://www.davehodgkinson.com UK: +44 7768 490620 Blog: http://davehodg.blogspot.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davehodg
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 07:40:26PM +0900, Simon Cozens said: > Another question: Bloody hell, people, what have your mobile phone > providers been doing for past five years? I'm used to getting 3G > coverage on top of mountains, on the underground, and on an uninhabited > island in the middle of a lake. Looking at coverage maps of the > southwest, it looks like it's going to be a coin toss at best to get any > kind of fast data connection. Hell, at least it's better than America where a Motorola Razr is still seen as a premium phone and services still run giant billboards touting that they have "the least dropped calls"
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, 19 Dec 2008, Simon Cozens wrote: Denny wrote: You wouldn't normally be using a mobile broadband dongle to access mobile websites. If they're going to meter my connection per byte, I want the most bang-per-byte I can get. t-mobile are pretty good at not caring unless you do insane amounts of traffic. A friend borrowed my t-mobile modem as her main internet connection at home for a few months, and they never batted an eyelid. They also don't print out the data usage reports they make available online, as I think one of them hit 1000 pages. If you're looking to buy a house in the SW, keep an eye out for where the mobile phone towers are, and consider a house with a line of sight. A friend has bad ADSL coverage living by a field in the hills a long way from civilisation/the exchange, but the local 3G mast is on the other side of the field, giving fast transfer rates from that. Sam -- Risks: If you never try anything new, you'll miss out on many of life's great disappointments
Re: Mobile broadband
Denny wrote: > You wouldn't normally be using a mobile broadband dongle to access > mobile websites. If they're going to meter my connection per byte, I want the most bang-per-byte I can get. -- "The elder gods went to Suggoth and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
Re: Mobile broadband
On 19 Dec 2008, at 12:33, Robert Shiels wrote: Denny wrote: On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 11:53 +, Jonathan Stowe wrote: 2008/12/19 Simon Wilcox : I have a t-mobile dongle thing which is OK but they have a trans- proxy on the web interface which compresses images and inserts javascript into the page to allow you to click them for the full resolution. You wouldn't normally be using a mobile broadband dongle to access mobile websites. They're generally aimed at people browsing directly from mobile devices, rather than people using a mobile connection with a full-fat device. I'm probably going to have to do some on-call work, and will likely get a dongle thing so that I can connect from my laptop to the office VPN when I'm out and about. Is this javascript thing something that might screw up my chances of a working connection? No. VPN works fine. I also have a sneaking suspicion it might not count towards your quote but this hypothesis needs better testing. -- Dave HodgkinsonMSN: daveh...@hotmail.com Site: http://www.davehodgkinson.com UK: +44 7768 490620 Blog: http://davehodg.blogspot.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davehodg
Re: Mobile broadband
2008/12/19 Martin Robertson : > > any views on when 'wireless interwebs' will become considered > 'core' infrastructure alongside refuse/roads/libraries? > Never. There are too many tinfoil-hat wearing nut jobs and too many politicians concerned about the Daily Mail says. /J\
Re: Mobile broadband
2008/12/19 Robert Shiels : > Denny wrote: >> >> On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 11:53 +, Jonathan Stowe wrote: >>> >>> 2008/12/19 Simon Wilcox : I have a t-mobile dongle thing which is OK but they have a trans-proxy on the web interface which compresses images and inserts javascript into the page to allow you to click them for the full resolution. >> >> You wouldn't normally be using a mobile broadband dongle to access >> mobile websites. They're generally aimed at people browsing directly >> from mobile devices, rather than people using a mobile connection with a >> full-fat device. > > I'm probably going to have to do some on-call work, and will likely get a > dongle thing so that I can connect from my laptop to the office VPN when I'm > out and about. Is this javascript thing something that might screw up my > chances of a working connection? > > I too seriously wonder about the crapness of our internet - I only get 1.5 > megabit download at my house with the wired broadband, and that's not likely > to change anytime soon. Can I have wimax or whatever now please? here, here - speaking for the heelans of Scottieland; wouldnt it be nice if the local authority offered wifi as part of your council tax bills & had a nice fat aerial running from the local exchange?! any views on when 'wireless interwebs' will become considered 'core' infrastructure alongside refuse/roads/libraries? cheers, mart.
Re: Mobile broadband
Denny wrote: On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 11:53 +, Jonathan Stowe wrote: 2008/12/19 Simon Wilcox : I have a t-mobile dongle thing which is OK but they have a trans-proxy on the web interface which compresses images and inserts javascript into the page to allow you to click them for the full resolution. You wouldn't normally be using a mobile broadband dongle to access mobile websites. They're generally aimed at people browsing directly from mobile devices, rather than people using a mobile connection with a full-fat device. I'm probably going to have to do some on-call work, and will likely get a dongle thing so that I can connect from my laptop to the office VPN when I'm out and about. Is this javascript thing something that might screw up my chances of a working connection? I too seriously wonder about the crapness of our internet - I only get 1.5 megabit download at my house with the wired broadband, and that's not likely to change anytime soon. Can I have wimax or whatever now please? /R
Re: Mobile broadband
2008/12/19 Denny : > On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 11:53 +, Jonathan Stowe wrote: >> 2008/12/19 Simon Wilcox : >> > I have a t-mobile dongle thing which is OK but they have a trans-proxy on >> > the web interface which compresses images and inserts javascript into the >> > page to allow you to click them for the full resolution. >> > >> > Unfortunately this f**ks up a good proportion of sites that make anything >> > more than cursory use of javascript. >> >> I seem to recall it fucks up a whole bunch of other things that makes >> mobile content providers very unhappy. Like device detection and GeoIP >> and stuff ... > > You wouldn't normally be using a mobile broadband dongle to access > mobile websites. They're generally aimed at people browsing directly > from mobile devices, rather than people using a mobile connection with a > full-fat device. Yeah but t-mobile use the same mechanism for dongles and phones
Re: Mobile broadband
Jonathan Stowe wrote: I seem to recall it fucks up a whole bunch of other things that makes mobile content providers very unhappy. Like device detection and GeoIP and stuff ... Don't get me started on mobile transcoders. Bane of my f'ing life they are. Bastards the lot of 'em. S.
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 11:53 +, Jonathan Stowe wrote: > 2008/12/19 Simon Wilcox : > > I have a t-mobile dongle thing which is OK but they have a trans-proxy on > > the web interface which compresses images and inserts javascript into the > > page to allow you to click them for the full resolution. > > > > Unfortunately this f**ks up a good proportion of sites that make anything > > more than cursory use of javascript. > > I seem to recall it fucks up a whole bunch of other things that makes > mobile content providers very unhappy. Like device detection and GeoIP > and stuff ... You wouldn't normally be using a mobile broadband dongle to access mobile websites. They're generally aimed at people browsing directly from mobile devices, rather than people using a mobile connection with a full-fat device. (Yes, I'm sure people can think of a half a dozen edge cases where this isn't true. It's still mostly true.) Mobile networks all tend to screw GeoIP anyway, with or without nasty javascript, as they NAT down to a fairly small range of real IPs.
Re: Mobile broadband
2008/12/19 Simon Wilcox : > Simon Cozens wrote: > >> Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, >> good deals, horror stories, don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, >> etc.? > > I have a t-mobile dongle thing which is OK but they have a trans-proxy on > the web interface which compresses images and inserts javascript into the > page to allow you to click them for the full resolution. > > Unfortunately this f**ks up a good proportion of sites that make anything > more than cursory use of javascript. I seem to recall it fucks up a whole bunch of other things that makes mobile content providers very unhappy. Like device detection and GeoIP and stuff ...
Re: Mobile broadband
Simon Cozens wrote: Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, good deals, horror stories, don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, etc.? I have a t-mobile dongle thing which is OK but they have a trans-proxy on the web interface which compresses images and inserts javascript into the page to allow you to click them for the full resolution. Unfortunately this f**ks up a good proportion of sites that make anything more than cursory use of javascript. The solution seems to be to tunnel your web browsing across a vpn to your server and out from there. S.
Re: Mobile broadband
2008/12/19 Simon Cozens : > Sam Smith wrote: >> Or use a different one so you have different >> coverage chances; depending on how far into the middle of >> nowhere you'll be. > > Another question: Bloody hell, people, what have your mobile phone > providers been doing for past five years? I'm used to getting 3G > coverage on top of mountains, on the underground, and on an uninhabited > island in the middle of a lake. Looking at coverage maps of the > southwest, it looks like it's going to be a coin toss at best to get any > kind of fast data connection. > They blew all their money on the spectrum auctions and had to scale back their coverage ambitions.
Re: Mobile broadband
Sam Smith wrote: > Or use a different one so you have different > coverage chances; depending on how far into the middle of > nowhere you'll be. Another question: Bloody hell, people, what have your mobile phone providers been doing for past five years? I'm used to getting 3G coverage on top of mountains, on the underground, and on an uninhabited island in the middle of a lake. Looking at coverage maps of the southwest, it looks like it's going to be a coin toss at best to get any kind of fast data connection. -- Putting a square peg into a round hole can be worthwhile if you don't mind a few shavings. -- Larry Wall
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, 2008-12-19 at 14:57 +0900, Simon Cozens wrote: > Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, > good deals, horror stories, don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, > etc.? My girlfriend has a Vodafone contract, with a 5GB cap (I think the only people who offer higher than that are 3, who have a 7GB deal). The modem was free with the contract, I think the monthly fee is £30 but pricing tends to shift around a lot anyway. She says it's very fast, and up until this month she found the cap adequate if not brilliant. (This month she blew through it in the first 8 days, but I suspect Windows Update might be responsible for that, having re-enabled itself without permission.)
Re: Mobile broadband
On Fri, 19 Dec 2008, Simon Cozens wrote: Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, good deals, horror stories, don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, etc.? get one of the "new" (about 6 months old) memory stick style modems which plug straight into your mac's USB port - they come with mac drivers on them (rather than the oval ones with a usb cable where they come on a CD). As for network, figure out which mobile phone company you'll go with (or currently use), and it's usually cheaper to use the same one. Or use a different one so you have different coverage chances; depending on how far into the middle of nowhere you'll be. perl -M 'use HolyWar::Network::Mobile;' cheers Sam -- It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth. - A. J. Balfour
Re: Mobile broadband
On 19/12/2008, Dave Hodgkinson wrote: > On 19 Dec 2008, at 05:57, Simon Cozens wrote:> > > Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, > > good deals, horror stories, > don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, > > etc.? > > I have the Huwawei E220 dongle on Vodafone on a Mac. It works. I had the same dongle with voda for a bit: I suspect my dongle may have been faulty, as it only worked intermittently on Windows (sometimes didn't mount the auto-connect application correctly), barely worked on Linux with the hackish unsupported connect script voda semi-officially supply (I was too stupid to work out the wvdial incantations on my own). Also, it barely had any reception in the hills just above Gatwick airport. I did try it briefly on Mac (it didn't work, but tbh I didn't try very hard, sent it back to voda, and changed to a B&B that did free wifi instead). > I pay *mumble* a month for 5G. Sadly _Dave confirms that this isn't Yet Another mobile broadband standard but a data transfer limit. Er, unlimit. Or whatever. -- osf'
Re: Mobile broadband
On 19 Dec 2008, at 05:57, Simon Cozens wrote: Anyone got any experience of mobile broadband providers? Any good ones, good deals, horror stories, don't-use-this-if-you-have-a-Mac stories, etc.? I have the Huwawei E220 dongle on Vodafone on a Mac. It works. I pay *mumble* a month for 5G. You might consider something like a Nokia with Wifi that can be converted to an AP. Eats the phone battery though. -- Dave HodgkinsonMSN: daveh...@hotmail.com Site: http://www.davehodgkinson.com UK: +44 7768 490620 Blog: http://davehodg.blogspot.com Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davehodg
