Broadband without a telephone line

[Alan Medic]

Just wondering if there is anything out there to suit students who don't want a landline but do want internet? Anyone know? Cost is important. Thanks in advance.

[Jeremy]

3G dongle - maybe something like ?20 a month for a decent data allowance.

[mockney piers]

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/compare/cable_broadband/?gclid=COuHtvb0n6sCFQULfAodfUCxiw

Cable broadband deals from 7 quid upwards.

[nashoi]

I pay Virgin ?21 a month for this and although you can get a BT line and broadband for less don't forget to factor in the cost of installation (?120 for BT I think). If you're not going to be there long that makes the BT option more expensive.

[womanofdulwich]

let us know what you decide as we have been wondering about this too,

[Voyageur]

I use a Three mifi device - ?18:99 per month for 15 GB. I chose it because it meant I could ditch a phone line (with all its associated line rental expense) and have a device that I could use at home or when travelling/at work. Other people/devices can use it simultaneously if you give them the pin code thingy.

http://threestore.three.co.uk/mifi/mifiPlans.aspx?phonecode=HE586WIFI3

It works fine for me - but I don't do any heavy gaming etc. I use it mainly for browsing internet and downloading books/films etc. Only trouble is is that it is quite wee - match box size - so potentially easy to mislay.

[tomlinsons]

I used Virgin Fibre Optic broadband for 2 years and was very happy with it. Have since had to have a landline fitted and changed broadband to TalkTalk, which is much slower & will often not work for no reason.

[XXDECORATORXX]

check your mobile phone provider, if you have unlimited internet plan or you can pay ?5.00 a month for internet by text or something, you can connect your mobile phone to the pc/laptop you need the utility disc that comes with phone as that is what connects you.

i use to use this method worked out fine its not super fast but does the job ok.

[Barry Road Barbers]

I got a dongle for my laptop in the shop from my mobile phone provider, and because i`ve been with them a while i got it half price (?7.50 a month unlimited usage). Then i discover that it only works when i am close to the front window as the back half of the shop is in a black spot(no signal area).After a lot of research the answer seemed to be, if you want to use your computer stand by the window (no effin way was i doing that). Then a client told me get a 3G wireless router. Went to pc world and they told me,no such thing get back in your space ship. Went to Maplin and you wont belive it,i was told to put my dongle in a plastic bag so it dont get wet and put it on the roof and run a usb cable from dongle to laptop,i know i`m Irish but... Got a 3G wireless router online (?40). So i put the router near the window and shoved my dongle into the router which then sends the internet to my laptop wirelessley.If you still have connection problems you can plug an ariel into the dongle and run it outside.(ideal for basement flats).Plus i think up to 4 people can connect at any given time.So Alan down to cost, if i was your student, 3 friends in the house giving me ?3 a month i make ?1.50 a month profit.problem solved. By the way it took me 1 hour 10 mins. to type this so dont ask me too many ?. Every one is welcome to pop in and see the setup.

[ianr]

> Went to Maplin and you wont belive it, i was told to put my dongle in a plastic bag so it dont get wet and put it on the roof

> and run a usb cable from dongle to laptop,i know i`m Irish but...

The maximum recommended length for a plain USB 2.0 cable is only 5 metres, so maybe not very sensible. But for within your shop, maybe not such a bad suggestion. You can get 5 metre repeater cables, at ?10ish a time, that you can link together up to about 25 metres, but that sounds awfully precarious to me.

[Alan Medic]

Thanks everyone for your contributions especially BRB. One question though BRB (and there's no rush), how much are you paying your mobile provider in the first place as that's the initial cost apart from the dongle?

[Barry Road Barbers]

i`ve got my line rental down to ?6.50 a month because when it comes to upgrade i dont take a new phone so they (t-mobile)

drop my rental instead.At the moment i`ve got 300 min 300 texts 60 international mins and unlimited internet for ?6.50.

most times it works out cheaper to buy your own phone.so phone and dongle ?14 a month.

And i`ve just been told by a friend that i wont need the dongle any more because the new android phone i recently bought can plug into my laptop and i can use the net that way.Its called usb tethering. if this works i can cancel the dongle as my 18 month contract is just up and it wont affect my line rental because they are seprate contracts.I have been with t-mobile since year dot

[tog_in_sox]

AM, issue with using dongles or tethering to phones is that they all come "unlimited" subject to a fair usage policy that can be limited to anything from 500MB to 2GB per month on the major 4 networks (3 offer higher limits but their coverage is notoriously patchy) In all cases of course you'd need to check to see just how good the reception was from the property concerned. Also, barring black spots of coverage, the different networks have significantly different performance levels. A recent poll showed that O2 came out top with around 2Mbps connection whereas T-Mobile not much better that 1Mbps.

My personal experience with T-Mobile is borderline acceptable for one user. Forget about more than one person trying to stream any media content.

If you haven't already considered it, think about the likely usage demands the connection will be required to serve. If they're a collection of law-abiding, absteemious literates who forswear recorded music and video then you're fine. If they're a bunch of Facebook and YouTube addicts with needs for both iPlayer and peer-to-peer pirated material then they're going to need a fixed line (phone or cable) connection with a high monthly quota, which won't be cheap.

I'm guessing that they're likely the latter in which case something like a Virgin Cable XXL-type package would be necessary. If the home is only a short connection from the local phone exchange then your options broaden to all the 20+ Mbps landline offerings from the likes of O2, Be, etc. Check all for their fair usage limits, traffic shaping hours (slow downs) and if you're particularly concerned the likelihood that they will conform to Government plans to monitor and report all usage that traffics pirated material. Also I believe BT are still being pressured to block all sites identified as sources of pirated material. Given that this would be upstream from whichever landline provider you might choose you may be better advised to go for cable (unless they too comply).

Gotta love all this civil liberties, censorship, corporate interests malarkey. Vive la Revolution!

[maxxi]

You can always get a dongle on a payg basis -

3G is ?10/month for 1G, ?15/month for 3G and ?25/month for 7G - you can even buy just a day's worth at ?2.99 for 500MB - amounts are valid for 30 days.

I have used 3G payg on laptop - switching to free wireless connection whenever in suitable surroundings - and found the coverage fine.

[Alan Medic]

I think they are going for one of these.

[womanofdulwich]

apparently my son tells me its best to do nothing until you check if your neighbours have locked their wireless or not....( seems to work In Reading anyway!!)