laptop and mobile internet, how does it work?

[misdee]

peter is wondering abut getting internet access in his room, how would it work? would it have to go through his mobile phone and how pricey is this likely to be?

You need a wireless internet router. You plug your internet connection into one side, any hard wire connections (say from your existing PC) into it, and the antenna transmits signals to wireless devices in your house.

It's easy to set up and the router can be bought for around £50. The laptop should just work, with little or no fiddling.

erm, he is is harefield hospital, sorry should've mentioned that.

I think it would have to go through his mobile phone - but can he use his mobile in his room? And yeah, it would be very expensive. Well, he could use it to "dial up" and send emails once in a while.

And if not, it would have to be regular wireless, which I suspect the hospital would be twitchy about? What with the whole hospital equipment thing.

I'll ask DH about the cheapest way to do it under these circumstances, if he can use his mobile in his room ... Oh, wouldn't the way forward be to have a blackberry or equivalent?

he can use his mobile in his room, he wants a laptop anyway to play games on, but he wants to know about mobile internet and the costs. looks like i'm off into town to find out more.

you can access the internet with a mobile phone, but it is quite pricey (or at least it was 3 years ago - I assume its similar now).

no, prices have come down

Gaming on laptops isn't great, unless the laptop is made for gaming - the graphics cards aren't generally for gaming. (If by gaming, you mean Doom III type stuff.)

The best, according to DH, is a 3G card for the laptop, he guesses £30/month. Broadband type speeds 256K . (search for pcmcia card 3g) Other option is to get digital calls enabled on your mobile, then connect it to the laptop via bluetooth, infrared or a wire. You'd get 9.6K, and you'd pay per call obviously.

There was a piece on this (internet access on the move using a laptop) on The Gadget Show last Monday. Slated GPRS mobile access; 3G was better but limited aailability; wi-fi was expensive in most places ad the best was satellite.

these are the links to the companies/places featured on the show.

well he sent me to pc world, i got him a compaq laptop and 3g, PAYG card as well. lets hope it works, he doesnt play doom III or anything like that, its more older games like championship manager, and sometimes divine dininity, he doesnt play them online, but he wants to ebay lol.

i have to phone up for the card, so will do that tomorrow, and he should be able to get online bu the end of next week.

That's the right solution, misdee.

Hmm, I don't know divine divinity or championship manager. If they have fancy graphics, his laptop may not work very well.

I'm glad he's getting sorted out with online, anyway, being without, and stuck in hospital, would really suck.

well i did something right then lol.

basic graphics for those games. he doesnt play the latest ones. so now i have to go hunting for his pc games lol. its 512 something or other.

Just check that your chosen 3G network provider has good 3G coverage in the hossie. One network might be stronger than another for some reason IYSWIM.

BTW - has he picked up a lot from a couple of weeks ago re: those infections etc. ?