parttime crackhead
Bluelighter
Cheers for the replies. For some reason it just works now. There's been quite a few software updates since I last tried it so I'm assuming they sorted it.
Don't assume dongles are faster than phone tethering, they're the same technology, if you have a reasonably modern phone (let us know your phone model, that can help us understand what your options are).
My ADSL broadband was disconnected on Friday, a "mistake" by a wholesale supplier, apparently. I'm getting online now through BT's Open WiFi* system. I'm also able to use vodafone mobile broadband, by tethering my mobile phone.
The speed of the mobile broadband is really impressive! It's much quicker than than this WiFi connection to a BT line :D And more reliable.
Only problem is it's limited to 500MB per month and after that it's £1/25MB. That can ramp up quick.
*I paid £18 for 5 days service, I'm essentially tapping in to someone's BT broadband service in my street over wireless. This is not a great way to live as it seems BT are filtering and decrypting all SSL connections![]()
My phone is several years old now and only runs Android 2.1.
I was debating whether to update my phone but a laptop will allow me to do things I can't with a phone.
I only get 500mb a month for £10 payg but I think there is now a new sim that allows 1GB for £10.
I can't afford to upgrade my phone and buy a laptop so do you know if it is possible to buy a dongle and put the mobile phone sim card in it for the data allowance?
My phone is several years old now and only runs Android 2.1.
I was debating whether to update my phone but a laptop will allow me to do things I can't with a phone.
I only get 500mb a month for £10 payg but I think there is now a new sim that allows 1GB for £10.
I can't afford to upgrade my phone and buy a laptop so do you know if it is possible to buy a dongle and put the mobile phone sim card in it for the data allowance?
Well, turns out I was right. His smartphone supports up to HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA at 5.76 Mbps. Especially the d/l speed is nothing to write home about.
I'll take a guess, I haven't used ad-hoc wifi much, maybe once many years ago... if you connect to your house network the router is responsible for dishing out IP addresses (via DHCP) and will ensure every device gets a good IP address - one on the same network as every one else. So if your home network is 192.168.0.0/24 (that means the allocatable IP address range is 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.0.254, less the address the router has taken) the router will ensure every device gets an IP address in that range. In an ad-hoc network I'm not sure who's responsible for allocating IP addresses, it's probably you, so you might need to make sure the devices have IP addresses on the same network. So if your iPod has IP address 192.168.0.45 and your laptop has IP address 192.168.1.2, they won't be able to talk to each other, because 192.168.1.0/24 is a different network to 192.168.0.0/24. The /24 says "24 bits of the available 32 bits in the address space are used to identify the network". What that means is that the first 3 octets (octet.octet.octet.octet) define the network. That's also known as a "class C" network. In a class C network, only the last octet is used to identify a device on a network. You still have to include the first three octets when you utter a class C address, but they never change.
The four octets in an IPv4 address are called octets because they comprise 8 bits each - so they only go up to 255. In the class C network 192.168.0.0/24, 192.168.0.0 and 192.168.0.255 are reserved addresses that cannot be assigned to actual devices, so don't try it. In binary, the represent an all-zero octet and an all-1 octet respectively - 0 base 10 = 00000000 base 2, and 255 base 10 = 11111111 base 2. In class C, 192.168.0.0 is a network address (not used except to refer to the network itself) and 192.168.0.255 is a broadcast address (all network devices receive packets sent to that address) and they are only used by the systems themselves for special purposes.
If you understand that, well done!
maxalfie, I really don't know what different packages are available, but you say you don't get 3G in your flat, just 2G. Maybe it's worth looking to see who has proper 3G provision in your location. Network operators provide coverage maps so you can put your post code in and see if there is service where you are.
vodafone
o2
I don't even know who all the main operators are. I've managed to cut most adverts out of my life, this has it's downside in that I'm pretty ignorant of the market. And I like it that way!