Four months in the UK, how do I hook up to the Net?

[Redptc]

I'm trying to work out how I will run my laptop while in the UK for 4 months. I will be based in one spot but the flat doesn't have a telephone connection. I may be able to 'leech' a little wifi from hotels and libraries but I prefer to have my own secure connection.

Is wireless available throughout the country or is it confined to the big cities. Will I have to run off a mobile phone?

Any tips and help would be appreciated, thanks!

[joshdudeha]

While your their, you can goto one of the mobile phone shops like Carphone Warehouse or something and get a non-contract wireless internet set-up.
It's just a wireless modem dongle you put into your usb.
It costs about £15 a month though.
And some of them have small download limits.
The speed is quite good though.

[alphane]

Hi!

No cities I am aware of (I'm from Northern England) have public access WiFi set up for people to connect to, so outside of leeching open connections from your neighbours, or asking them (:)) then yes, I'd think your only other option would be to get one of the "mobile dongles" I've seen advertised from 3, VodaFone and the like, but I don't know how compatible these things are with Linux...

[joshdudeha]

There are places like restaurants and shopping centres that have wi-fi enabled inside.
It depends where you're going.
Where abouts are you going to be living?

[billgoldberg]

I'm trying to work out how I will run my laptop while in the UK for 4 months. I will be based in one spot but the flat doesn't have a telephone connection.

Over cable? Satellite?

[uberdonkey5]

interestingly Derry in N.Ireland has turned itself into a 'wireless city' which means within the old wall you can connect wirelessly (and without any infringement) to the internet for 1/2hr at a time. I'm hoping this will become more prevalent in other places.

Yep, you need to talk to the service provider to see if you can receive a mobile signal in your area, but is very likely. If so, connection with something like vodafone connect pen would be fine (and works fine with linux... ask me if you have probs or search here. You need to download a little bit of software). Basically they just use the same phone signal as a mobile (its got a little SIM card inside). I'm not saying vodafone is the cheapest though - have a look around.

[uberdonkey5]

PS another alternative, is to befriend someone at the local university and get the access codes for the wireless there.. but don't tell anyone I told you this.

[regomodo]

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[rolnics]

I'm in the south of england and i've only ever seen wifi at a few hotels like Premier Lodge for instance. Wifi here hasn't really caught on like other countries.

It really depends on where you are staying in the UK.

[WorldTripping]

Well, the cities i've been to have never found any open wifi spots. As far as i know, Starbucks (bleh) is the only answer. No idea about public libraries though.

Starbucks is one place, but there are plenty of others.

I don't eat there, but McDonalds have free WiFi, run by the Cloud.
http://www.mcdonalds.com/wireless.html

All Wetherspoons have free WiFi.
http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/pubs/our-pubs-your-pubs/discover-wetherspoon.php

I'm sure that there are other places too, I just like a pint with my surfing.

As I mentioned, you could joint the Cloud.
http://www.thecloud.net/About-us/

You pay about £7.00 a month, then you get unlimited use at any of their locations (I used them for a while and some hotspots were better than others).

[WorldTripping]

I'm in the south of england and i've only ever seen wifi at a few hotels like Premier Lodge for instance. Wifi here hasn't really caught on like other countries.

It really depends on where you are staying in the UK.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention.

The whole of the seafront between Brighton's two piers has free WiFi and has had for the last few years.

http://www.piertopier.net/

[regomodo]

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[ssam]

quite a lot of cafes in manchester have wifi. some free, some pay for.

there used to be a lot of open hotspots from peoples homes (i am not a lawyer. legality untested. its illegal to use computer/network resources without permission, but maybe a router broadcasting its essid and handing out dhcp info is implied permission). there are not so many now, as most of the ISPs give out wifi routers with WEP turned on.

i think internet through a phone will require a 12 month contract. i don't know what they would do if you left the country though?

[Redptc]

This sounds interesting and thanks for all the great ideas.

I will be staying in Lyndhurst, Hants and, at least on my last trip, the local library had wifi advertised but I didn't have a chance to use it.

Thanks for the tip re the 'vodaphone dongles' and 'Cloud' I will Google them and try to find out what they are all about.

Do you think it is possible to organise a short term landline hook-up for a reasonable price and in a reasonable length of time?

[Sealbhach]

Do you think it is possible to organise a short term landline hook-up for a reasonable price and in a reasonable length of time?

Most ISPs require a BT landline already installed and you would need to sign up for at least 12 months with BT and it costs £125 to get the BT engineer to install it - so... not so good.

A modem dongle would be a good solution but again they would not do a contract for less than 12 months, afaik.

I used the 3 modem, they provide a Huawei E220 modem which works with Ubuntu after a little coaxing.

.

[RedPandaFox]

You guys really don't have free WiFi?

Even in the small town I live in, the council set up a free WiFi network on our main St, and even my mate 3kms away on a hill, set up a pay TV satellite and is leaching off it.

I'm coming over to UK to live for a year or two also, what Internet plans are good over there, also are there and IT businesses anyone knows of looking for trainees?
(From Australia also)

[lisati]

Vodafone NZ is currently offering a package for a "home" phone with internet access that runs off their mobile network instead of through a landline. Maybe there's something similar available in the UK.

[wdaniels]

A modem dongle would be a good solution but again they would not do a contract for less than 12 months, afaik.

There are some pay-as-you-go ones, but you have to pay about £50 for the modem then plus £10 per gigabyte for transfer.

Unfortunately, for only 4 months it's going to cost you whichever way round you try to do things I think. But perhaps a dongle would have some resale/reuse value afterwards?

[Redptc]

I think there are Mobile Broadband plans that will do the job! From the info I got in this thread I was able to Google suitable plans that are not 'too pricey' considering what I have in mind. The hardware will not be wasted because the dongles can be used here and I will probably be visiting the UK again very shortly.

"The Cloud" may also be enough because it seems to be operating in my favorite and nearby pub.

I guess the next problem will be to get these things working with Ubuntu!

[regomodo]

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[joshdudeha]

Haha.. the above is very true (:

Also, the city .. Milton Keynes apparently has Free wifi in their shopping centre, which is quite a big centre.
But again, I dont' know where you're staying so yeah

[Redptc]

Welcome to England! Prepare to part with your cash.

It is the same whenever you travel, you feel everybody has their hands in your pockets! I guess that's why I asked the question. I got some good answers and because my stay is for 4 months I will need access to the net and yet, 4 months means i will likely have to pay more for this sort of thing.

It might be better if I was staying in London or one of the big cities. I am staying in Lyndhurst, Hampshire and while I think the library has WIFI I will probably need somthing 'on demand' so I guess one of these mobile units will do the job.

If anybody knows a provider with short term plans for sale I would appreciate you telling me about it.

Many thanks!

[mips]

Another option might be to see if your nighbours have broadband/wireless & maybe you can make a deal with them.