Getting the right broadband for laptop

My niece has a laptop which she would like to around the village where she lives(Catterick Camp, N. Yorks) Plus Net was recommended but they have stated they don't cover this area for the type of service that she wants. Will she have to be totally mobile and are there any providers out there that are worth looking into. Thanks.

If she wants broadband access out of reach of a landline/phone line then she needs to look at mobile phone type broadband (3G).
All the mobile companies now have mobile broadband but coverage can be very patchy. Check their websites for coverage and also check out price plans and data allowances which tend to be low and have fair usage allowances.
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=mobilebroadband

A friend of mine is happy with 3.

He had access on his phone but that isn't very user-useful.

He had a very old computer that couldn't handle the internet, but recently got a used one that could, and he can connect the phone to it and use it as a modem.

He is really pleased, as he doesn't have or need a landline.

>A friend of mine is happy with 3.

An old work college of mine has done the same thing. Very occasional surfing but wanted it free of a land line as she travels about a bit.

She is in the �10pm PAYG Lite option I believe. Seems to work fine for what she wants but a quick look at 3's website suggests to be that if for some reason you go over your �10 without a top up it is then a �1 per MB so it needs keeping on top of if that is correct.

Not sure if there is any way the site has a meter so that she can check her usage, she tends to be a bit of a numpty on things like this.

She bought all the stuff laptop/dongle/printer on the advice of PC World, and good old Nortons at half price of course..

I've been looking at this as I'm very tempted by the usb dongle deals.

I think the �1 a MB is if you take a phone package and buy internet add ons or PAYG where you have to "convert" the add on on their website. Not sure how you can do that without access already or spending the add on though but there must be some way round it.

If you take a usb dongle contract the charge for over contracted amount is 10p per MB (which is still expensive but won't involve a second mortgage for a couple of YouTube clips excess)

From what I've seen mentioned (here and in a magazine review) 3 upstream is poor at about 60kbps but it does seem to have the best coverage and the PC Pro tests showed that in practice it gave the best overall downstream performance. I think the software that comes with the usb dongles keeps track of usage but obviously if used on multiple laptops that would be tricky to track.

Edited by kwikbreaks (Tue 15-Jul-08 10:31:05)

>I think the software that comes with the usb dongles keeps track of usage but obviously if used on multiple laptops that would be tricky to track.

Only one laptop so perhaps I will have a look next time she cries for help so thanks for that.

Tried to educate her to the joys of a "right click" and the adventures that can lead to..

I suppose it depends what you mean by "around the vilage"
You could go for any broadband product with a wireless router but coverage would be limited. Any broadband service being delivered down the phone line has this option.

If she needs to use it over a wide area then the best option would be to use a mobile phone type connection. the downside it is usually more costly and not as fast. try-
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/mobile-internet/on-your-phone/how-to-get-it/18-month/

Have you tried the mobile operators? They are usually pretty good for mobile broadband

If she does consider a 3G mobile broadband service then use http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/ to see if there are any 3G enabled base stations and the operator in the area(s) where broadband service is required.

The three site has an area where you can check usage on contract connections. Probably will work for payg as well (and is accessible from the phone handset as planet3).