Aibu to not know how to get internet on my computer?

[HopeFaithAndSkulduggery]

I have s small laptop. At home it connects to WiFi automatically. Sometimes I have long periods in my car where I could fancy answering emails etc. But I have no idea how to do that. I will not be near costas or whatever cafe does free WiFi. My phone does not have much mobile data anyway.

Aibu and out of touch with the modern world to not know this?

It doesn't sound like you will have a data source so you won't be able to do that.

You could tether it to your mobile (but doesn’t sound like you’ll do this) or buy a dongle.

You could get a plug in dongle, looks like a USB stick but provides data. It would be charged via a mobile network.

Eg
www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-and-sat-nav/broadband/mobile-broadband/three-pay-as-you-go-3g-usb-dongle-10008647-pdt.html?store=2463&&istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istItemId=wpmwqrmrl&istBid=t&srcid=198&cmpid=ppc~gg~0000%20(PLA)%20All%20Products~All%20Products~Exact&mctag=gg_goog_7904&kwid=GOOGLE&device=m&ds_kids=92700017216236313&PLA=1&tgtid=0000%20(PLA)%20All%20Products&gclid=CjwKCAjw85zdBRB6EiwAov3Rik_18xvKfHpLdsWk701LnGn9sW99CtywZBfBkyaksYSN1Fyp9RCjyRoCBSAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

You can buy portable hotspots - they are a bit like a cross between your phone and a router. They have a set amount of data per month (or I think you can get PAYG) and connect to a wee box or a USB device.

Ps, no I don't think you're out of touch, if you've never needed to do it why would you know?

You can make your phone a personal hotspot but you need to have plenty of mobile data. I do this with my daughter so she can use her iPad if we are on holiday or away from home for longer than a day (she can last a day without internet!!) but I have 20gb a month mobile internet.

You’d need to get mobile WiFi for your car. I only learned such witchcraft existed a few years ago when dd went away with her friend and parents for a weekend and they have it.
We are hiring a car on holiday in a couple of weeks and the hire has free mobile WiFi. Betting that’s the most exciting part of the dc holiday!

If you've got a smart phone you should be able to turn it into a hot spot and then connect your laptop to it. But if you don't have much data it will cost you a bomb.

You need to see if you have the option of WiFi . If it does - then come back and ask !

If it’s a fairly basic old one it
Might not

Sorry !

You need to get a dongle.Have a look www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/guides/mobile-broadband/dongles

If you have bt wifi at home you can connect to bt wifi and fon wifi for free while out and about. Just sign in to the bt or fon networks with your bt log in details.

Three options I can think of:

A dongle (no, really) like this
www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/what_is_a_mobile_dongle/

A mifi
www.carphonewarehouse.com/broadband/mobile-broadband.html

Or you may be able to connect your laptop to your phone ('tethering') and use your normal data allowance
www.uswitch.com/mobiles/guides/what-is-tethering/amp/

Easiest and cheapest way is to just tether via your mobile - look in settings for the tethering/portable hotspot setting.

If your current contract doesn't have much data, you could look at a new sim only contract. I pay £7 pm for 2.5 Gb 4G data pm from Plusnet, also get loads of calls and texts too.

Or your current contract might be fine - emails don't take much data, it's streaming music and videos that eat up data.