"Keith (Southend)G" wrote in message
oups.com...

one that can not be used for connecting a Laptop to the Internet when
abroad. My daughter has a Laptop, which at home I have a card that
plugs in to the wireless network I have running off my adsl router.

This is probably at bit off topic I know, but what exactly would I need
to buy to be able to connect her laptop while in Spain for example,
like Phil, to the internet?

Has the Laptop got to have something particular for this facility? How
do the two physically connect? Cable? IR?

Also you say 02 is 'free', I assume this isn't the call time though,
just the access, so the £5 for 5 minutes would still apply?

Any advice would be much appreciated as I'm wondering whether this is
worth doing.


Hi Keith,

I'd reply via e-mail but I am sure a few will find it interesting on the
newsgroup, so I will write here.

I assume the laptop has a spare USB port, into which you will need to place
a USB Data Cable from the port to the mobile phone. This is dependent on
mobile phone make and model but I picked mine up on EBay for less than £5
delivered - http://search.ebay.co.uk/usb-data-ca...fkrZ1QQfromZR8 You
can connect the mobile phone and the laptop via Bluetooth, if both are
enabled, but IIRC Mike T had problems with this as the connection kept
dropping.

I use my old Samsung S300 but any phone will work which has GPRS. Does
anyone in your family own a phone with this feature ?

The O2 SIM card was free, a promotion at the time which has currently ended
but will start up again no doubt. I have a spare SIM pack if needs be as I
ordered 6. No registering is required, nor any credit needed on the phone.
As an aside, I would not recommend O2 as a network for making calls, I had a
murderous time with them.

A dial-up account needs to be created on your computer, following the steps
on here -
http://www.o2.co.uk/business/product...leweb/setup_xp
A few tweaks are then made to your proxy settings and then all should work.
I can download between 6-10Kb/s which is faster than a 56K modem connection,
but all is dependent on network coverage. GPRS pricing depends on how much
is downloaded and uploaded, but with O2 PAYG everything is free ! I have
never had credit on my GPRS mobile and have downloaded huge amounts of data.

If you want any photos of my setup, or help with setting up, feel free to
email me. Mike T helped me hugely in setting mine up.

HTH, Joe