Options for no landline connection.

A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
to connect to the internet.
They have two problems -
1. They have no land line.
2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!

Yes, I have tried to explain but ... ... :-(

Anyway, a next door neighbour has "kindly" offered to let them use their
wireless network for a small payment - £7 a week! Yes, that's not a
misprint - a week!
I think this is a 'bit' excessive considering the user is a total newbie and
wouldn't know how to download a torrent even if they knew what a torrent
was.

Has anyone a better suggestion as how a poor newbie could connect to the
world?

TIA
Slatts

"Sla#s" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:itvt94$pau$(E-Mail Removed)...
>A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
>20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
>to connect to the internet.
> They have two problems -
> 1. They have no land line.
> 2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!
>
> Yes, I have tried to explain but ... ... :-(
>
> Anyway, a next door neighbour has "kindly" offered to let them use their
> wireless network for a small payment - £7 a week! Yes, that's not a
> misprint - a week!
> I think this is a 'bit' excessive considering the user is a total newbie
> and wouldn't know how to download a torrent even if they knew what a
> torrent was.
>
> Has anyone a better suggestion as how a poor newbie could connect to the
> world?


They can get a new line installed along with broadband for less! Shop around
for the deals.

Peter Crosland

In article <itvt94$pau$(E-Mail Removed)>, Sla#s
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
>20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
>to connect to the internet.

Well done them!

>They have two problems -
>1. They have no land line.
>2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!
>
Do they live in a town/city or are they out in the sticks?

If they're in a reasonable population centre then they may be able to
get mobile broadband. To get this you most commonly buy a 3G mobile
internet dongle for about 20quid then pay about 15quid a month for
between 1 and 3GB worth of data per month depending on the provider.

To check whether this is an option for them you will need to check 3G
coverage at their house. Go to each of the mobile providers' websites
and look at their mobile broadband coverage maps. If it says 'excellent'
then they may be ok, anything less and they will need to be lucky.

Most basic is plugging the dongle into the laptop usb port which is ok
in a good signal area. There are solutions for poorer signal areas such
as mounting the dongle remotely via an extension cable or plugging it
into a dedicated wireless access point which is very neat but really you
need to check their 3G coverage before taking this any further. Find out
this and report back for further advice.

Good luck.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's bollocks

"fred" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> In article <itvt94$pau$(E-Mail Removed)>, Sla#s
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
>>20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
>>to connect to the internet.
>
> Well done them!
>
>>They have two problems -
>>1. They have no land line.
>>2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!
>>
> Do they live in a town/city or are they out in the sticks?
>
> If they're in a reasonable population centre then they may be able to get
> mobile broadband. To get this you most commonly buy a 3G mobile internet
> dongle for about 20quid then pay about 15quid a month for between 1 and
> 3GB worth of data per month depending on the provider.


For such a user I would recommend a PAYG "contract". He may find that it
doesn't suit and have to get a LL/BB instead. He doesn't want to be stuck
with a 12 (or 18) month 3G contract if this happens

In reply to "Sla#s" who wrote the following:

> A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
> 20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
> to connect to the internet.
> They have two problems
> 1. They have no land line.
> 2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!
>
> Yes, I have tried to explain but ... ... :-(
>
> Anyway, a next door neighbour has "kindly" offered to let them use their
> wireless network for a small payment - £7 a week! Yes, that's not
> misprint - a week!
> I think this is a 'bit' excessive considering the user is a total newbie and
> wouldn't know how to download a torrent even if they knew what a torrent
> was.
>
> Has anyone a better suggestion as how a poor newbie could connect to the
> world?
>
> TIA
> Slatts

You can get a landline (50GB usage, £2 more gets you 75GB) + phone for as little
as £27 per month via Xilo, your exchange must be TalkTalk enabled, Xilo resells
the service, they only use TalkTalk's equipment, not support or backhaul (which
is their own) so the service is excellant (30 day contract but £48 ceasation fee
within 12 months, afterwards drops to £30).

3G is also a very good option albeit quite unreliable sometimes, to find
coverage I recommend getting a free SIM and an unlocked phone/dongle so you can
check for yourself. Three (Coverage+Price), Vodafone (Speed+Network Quality) are
the only viable providers I have found. You can get a 3G wireless router as well
so no need for dongle/phone tether, both providers provide mini-3G-routers as
well.

As they are poor they might like Three's £15.99 for 15GB (24 Month contract)
package (select the Everyday Dongle, Premium is £2.04 per month more and will
only reall benefit them if they live in a city.

For landline reviews, check the Top50 list here:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top50.php





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On Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:54:03 -0500, NCO <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>In reply to "Sla#s" who wrote the following:
>
>> A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
>> 20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
>> to connect to the internet.
>> They have two problems
>> 1. They have no land line.
>> 2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!
>>
>> Yes, I have tried to explain but ... ... :-(
>>
>> Anyway, a next door neighbour has "kindly" offered to let them use their
>> wireless network for a small payment - £7 a week! Yes, that's not
>> misprint - a week!
>> I think this is a 'bit' excessive considering the user is a total newbie and
>> wouldn't know how to download a torrent even if they knew what a torrent
>> was.
>>
>> Has anyone a better suggestion as how a poor newbie could connect to the
>> world?
>>
>> TIA
>> Slatts
>
>You can get a landline (50GB usage, £2 more gets you 75GB) + phone for as little
>as £27 per month via Xilo, your exchange must be TalkTalk enabled, Xilo resells
>the service, they only use TalkTalk's equipment, not support or backhaul (which
>is their own) so the service is excellant (30 day contract but £48 ceasation fee
>within 12 months, afterwards drops to £30).

Would that include installation of the line? I can't make sense of
their website (which is not displaying correctly) but usually such
offers are conditional on their being an existing BT landline. OP
says they don't have a landline.

Would there be a cap on the cost? Otherwise, if a new customer lives
in a farm in the middle of nowhere Xilo would be stuck with installing
maybe two kilometres of cable plus telegraph poles etc for which
Openreach might charge thousands of pounds.

On 23/06/2011 18:31, Sla#s wrote:
>
> Anyway, a next door neighbour has "kindly" offered to let them use their
> wireless network for a small payment - £7 a week! Yes, that's not a
> misprint - a week!
>
> Has anyone a better suggestion as how a poor newbie could connect to the
> world?

Maybe 'send the boys round' next door and tell them not to be so bloody
greedy.

--
J B

Hardly likely, if next door already have a connection ...

On Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:26:55 +0100, Scott
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> Would there be a cap on the cost? Otherwise, if a new customer lives
> in a farm in the middle of nowhere Xilo would be stuck with installing
> maybe two kilometres of cable plus telegraph poles etc for which
> Openreach might charge thousands of pounds.
--
================================================== =======
Please always reply to ng as the email in this post's
header does not exist. Or use a contact address at:
http://www.macfh.co.uk/JavaJive/JavaJive.html
http://www.macfh.co.uk/Macfarlane/Macfarlane.html

Sla#s wrote:
> A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
> 20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
> to connect to the internet.
> They have two problems -
> 1. They have no land line.
> 2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!
>
> Yes, I have tried to explain but ... ... :-(
>
> Anyway, a next door neighbour has "kindly" offered to let them use their
> wireless network for a small payment - �7 a week! Yes, that's not a
> misprint - a week!
> I think this is a 'bit' excessive considering the user is a total newbie and
> wouldn't know how to download a torrent even if they knew what a torrent
> was.
>
> Has anyone a better suggestion as how a poor newbie could connect to the
> world?
>
> TIA
> Slatts
>
>
payg phone and broadband only £27 a month from IDNET. Line installation
is of course extra.


https://www.idnet.net/solutions/home/broadbandphone/

Scott wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:54:03 -0500, NCO <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> In reply to "Sla#s" who wrote the following:
>>
>>> A previously totally technophobic friend has decided they want to join the
>>> 20th century, they've bought themselves a second hand lap top and now want
>>> to connect to the internet.
>>> They have two problems
>>> 1. They have no land line.
>>> 2. They have no money (retired pensioner) to get one - but see below!
>>>
>>> Yes, I have tried to explain but ... ... :-(
>>>
>>> Anyway, a next door neighbour has "kindly" offered to let them use their
>>> wireless network for a small payment - £7 a week! Yes, that's not
>>> misprint - a week!
>>> I think this is a 'bit' excessive considering the user is a total newbie and
>>> wouldn't know how to download a torrent even if they knew what a torrent
>>> was.
>>>
>>> Has anyone a better suggestion as how a poor newbie could connect to the
>>> world?
>>>
>>> TIA
>>> Slatts
>> You can get a landline (50GB usage, £2 more gets you 75GB) + phone for as little
>> as £27 per month via Xilo, your exchange must be TalkTalk enabled, Xilo resells
>> the service, they only use TalkTalk's equipment, not support or backhaul (which
>> is their own) so the service is excellant (30 day contract but £48 ceasation fee
>> within 12 months, afterwards drops to £30).
>
> Would that include installation of the line? I can't make sense of
> their website (which is not displaying correctly) but usually such
> offers are conditional on their being an existing BT landline. OP
> says they don't have a landline.
>

idnet do the same deal. Its 90 quid in general to have a phone line put
in IIRC.

..
> Would there be a cap on the cost? Otherwise, if a new customer lives
> in a farm in the middle of nowhere Xilo would be stuck with installing
> maybe two kilometres of cable plus telegraph poles etc for which
> Openreach might charge thousands of pounds.

Ask for a quote on them and IDNET. my guess is they are reselling
identical services.