Wireless LAN connection

ShigTA

Newbie
Messages
9
Likes
0
Hi there,
I'm thinking of buying a laptop with a Vodafone card in it so that I can sit in the garden or on the beach and trade instead of my stuffy office/bedroom. Can someone tell me if you are using a similar configuration and how you configured it :?:
 
No one would use this day to day. The calls will cost a fortune so unless you make £100,000's per annum then it's a non starter.

JonnyT
 
Yep the only cost effective way is to go via a proper wireless LAN, i.e. get yourself a wireless router and a PCMCIA card for that. Should give you access to the garden for trading although clearly not the beach :)

You could also use wireless hotspots with it which is pretty much limited to hotels, coffee bars and airports AFAIK and is also fairly pricey (but much cheaper that Vodaphone etc.).

Still won't get you on a beach though.

wysi
 
I know of someone looking into this...their concerns were bandwidth drop off but apparently there are no worries on that score provided that the laptop can handle whatever you're trying to run otherwise u might experience cut off...will let u know if they proceed/if I hear anymore
 
is there any technical wizzo on here who knows or has an opinion on when it might be possible to get a normally priced and 2 way satelite broadband + system unaffected by weather etc

is it years or decades away or with current technology - not even feasible

isn't BT or telewest running some sort of sat system in the SW of england as a test?
 
Hi Steve,

There is no such thing as Satellite that is unaffected by the weather. The problem is water droplets.

2 -Way Satellite is available now from around £50pcm but usually a whopping installation fee. There are many providers including BT.

I have installed 4 such systems for customers, two were mobile solutions with a grreat big dish mounted on a Van.

The experience cannot be compared to ADSL or even ISDN for normal use due to the latency of the link. Downloads will come down around 25K per sec (ADSL/Cable is 60K) but web pages have a delay of around 1-2 seconds (The best in theory is 750mS)

Overall I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole unless it really is the only option. I would take ISDN ahead of it.

Another alternative is Wireless Broadband. This is available in and around most big cities. Works pretty well and you really don't see a difference to the standard cabled ADSL.

JonnyT
 
"Yep the only cost effective way is to go via a proper wireless LAN, i.e. get yourself a wireless router and a PCMCIA card for that. Should give you access to the garden for trading although clearly not the beach :)

You could also use wireless hotspots with it which is pretty much limited to hotels, coffee bars and airports AFAIK and is also fairly pricey (but much cheaper that Vodaphone etc.).

Still won't get you on a beach though"



............Unless you buy a house on the beach of course!?
 
JonnyT

thx

but i am not that worried about wireless near a big city - more from any location not served with hard wired broadband

and dont want to deal with any latency issues or the affects of water droplets!

so is it fair to say - that latency and droplets are there for ever?

and so the only hope for wireless would be based on some sort of high bandwith system along the lines of mobile phones and with the same coverage as mobiles - is that possible with current technolgy? and by that i mean current technology so that prices could be brought down to normal broadband level if they chose to

mobiles in the US cost the same as normal phones so its cheaper to call a mobile in the US than to do a national call to a landline in the UK - so if the technology was there - no reason why the pricing could not be competitive - any thoughts?

and is mobile transmission afected by weather or water droplets in the satelite is?
 
Wireless broadband currently only covers major cities. It is proven technology.

However BT are trialling Hot Spots in Railway stations, Public places and some Phone booths. You have to sign up to there service like any other ISP.

If you want a beach then there is a Wireless Hotspot already set up by a group of Guys in Brighton. As far as I know it is currently the only beach you can surf the Internet from. It was free in the Summer.

Bear in mind the mobile networks are only low bandwidth so going with Vodaphone and GPRS might disappoint more than your wallet.

Eventually Wireless Broadband will cover more of the UK. In 5 years your requirements may be met but the battery for the laptop may not!!!

JonnyT
 
Thanks Guys,

It looks like I'll have to transport my family and I to Brighton, but it could get mighty cold in the next few months or so.
I wonder, do any of you clever techie people know of any Wi-Fi hotspots in the south of France or italy?
 
<i>and so the only hope for wireless would be based on some sort of high bandwith system along the lines of mobile phones and with the same coverage as mobiles - is that possible with current technolgy? and by that i mean current technology so that prices could be brought down to normal broadband level if they chose to</i>

Current 3G technology (as in the video phones) is actually pretty high bandwidth and presumably should be suitable. It does AFAIK have a shorter range than the old 2G system though, so the cost of building up a countrywide infrastructure is actually pretty big. Its also a fairly small market that they're aiming at so I doubt if costs are going to come down that much anytime soon.

I would have thought it is far more likely that wired connections will spread to all parts of the country than wireless will. Hotspots are definitely set to spread though as it is actually a pretty easy thing to set up.

wysi
 
How can I find out if wireless ADSL is available in my are - Edgware / London?

And are there any other advantages to it over normal ADSL?

Would it be more convenient for people with laptops so that they can use it anywhere in the vicinity of wireless ADSL availablity?

Where can I find out more about it?

Cheers,
 
<i>How can I find out if wireless ADSL is available in my are - Edgware / London?

And are there any other advantages to it over normal ADSL?

Would it be more convenient for people with laptops so that they can use it anywhere in the vicinity of wireless ADSL availablity?

Where can I find out more about it?</i>

Not sure if you actually know what you are talking about, so apologies if this is stuff you already know. "wireless ADSL" could be one of two things:

1) wi-fi hotspots - these are being rolled out in starbucks, coffe republic some hotels etc. It is pretty short range so you have to be pretty much in the buildings. It isn't a substitute for having a connection at home.

2) wi-fi at home - for this you just have an ordinary ADSL connection (wired) and then hook up a wireless access point of some description to it. Gives the benefit of wi-fi around your own home but beyond that is effectively the same as if you had the ADSL wired into your computer.

If you want to go the whole wireless way and use it outside your home you also need to sign up with an ISP who runs the hotspots you want to use. This means that at the moment you wouldn't have access to all hotspots unless you signed up with several, and it is pretty pricey.

wysi
 
wysi,

You missed one out.

3) Wireless Broadband. You need a line of sight to the transmitter but essentially you can be over 10 miles away.
Most major cities are covered.

Here is the link http://www.libertybroadband.co.uk/wireless/

The service works really well in the installations I have been involved in.

JonnyT
 
Wasn't sure if this was still around. I seem to think that either my Uni/Law School (or both?) had a shortish range microwave set up for their internet access which is what you're talking about isn't it?

What kind of price does this come in at though?

wysi
 
Top