Wireless Internet Access Options in the UK

[Commuter]

I just wanted to put this up for those who travel quite a lot to the UK.

You could use international roaming services such as iPass Connect or roam on NextG for instance, but as we all know, it gets pretty horribly expensive. Hotel wireless can also be very expensive.

So I have been looking into various 'local' options and came up with a few.

Option 1. T-Mobile Web'n'Walk. If you get a T-Mobile prepaid service with W'n'W option, and your mobile phone has Bluetooth, you should be able to access the Internet on your PC through your mobile for £1 per day (PC connects via Bluetooth Personal Area Network). I have tried this option using a prepaid Sony Ericsson that I bought from T-Mobile UK and used it with their service successfully. Not the fastest thing in the world and some of the web pages turn into a mobile phone/low speed mode (not sure of the correct expression to describe it) but it is workable and there does not appear to be any download limit.

Option 2. BT OpenZone. A wireless internet connection. £40 option gives you 30 days' (I think) access and there are a lot of WiFi zones (they let you connect to some WiFi zones provided by other networks as well - I think i's Cloud and T-Mobile?). Disadvantage is that it's quite expensive and you need to be in the WiFi zone.

Option 3. 3 prepaid wireless broadband. £10 / 30 days for 1GB, prepaid. Requires a 3 USB modem which is available from 3 for £99. I have not tested my Australian 3 USB to see if it would work with UK 3, but I will try it out when I get a chance. I have not used it so I cannot comment on the speed etc, but at £10 / 30 days for 1GB, this may represent the best value depending on your usage pattern.

 

[futaris]

For other european cities, there are a few more options. See this site.

 

[Commuter]

Thanks very much Futaris. That's very useful because I seem to end up in different countries in Europe rather frequently.

 

[Commuter]

Option 3. 3 prepaid wireless broadband. £10 / 30 days for 1GB, prepaid. Requires a 3 USB modem which is available from 3 for £99. I have not tested my Australian 3 USB to see if it would work with UK 3, but I will try it out when I get a chance. I have not used it so I cannot comment on the speed etc, but at £10 / 30 days for 1GB, this may represent the best value depending on your usage pattern.

Further to this post, I am currently on 3 prepaid wireless broadband connected through Nokia PC Suite for Nokia 6210 (X-series compatible, bought from 3 Australia - not network locked).

I walked into a 3 Store, bought a SIM card and some credit (£10 is the minimum as it costs you £10 for 30 days for 1GB). They do not charge for the SIM when you pay for charge at the same time. They activated the number for me, and also activated the 'add on' (which is what the mobile broadband is referred to) for £10 for 30 days for 1GB of usage. In all, once I walked into the 3 Store, it took me about 5 minutes to get the service going.

Once I got back to my laptop, set-up the connection using Nokia 6210 was very smooth, particularly because the Internet settings on the Nokia PC Suite already had the UK 3 preloaded.

It took me about 3 minutes to connect including connecting the phone through a USB cable and starting the PC Suite.

So, if you have a compatible mobile phone (compatible phone list are on the UK 3 website, but appears to include most X-Series phones), USB cable and a PC suite to access the Internet through your mobile, connecting to 3 prepaid Mobile Internet is a very straight-forward affair.

The speed is better than T-Mobile W'n'W accessed through Bluetooth and set-up using the cable is easier, although T-Mobile access was straightforward enough even for me who cannot claim to be too technically savvy.

By the way, data roaming on 3 Australia mobile broadband SIM on 3 network overseas is not too badly priced at 50c per MB, if you just want to quickly check your emails. However, on non-3 networks the charges are around $20 per MB: Three - Business - Why 3 for my Business - Coverage & speed - International Data Roaming




Postscript:
The USB modem from 3 Australia appears to be network locked, as it did not recognise the UK 3 SIM. I guess this can be sorted out with a phone call and possibly parting with some money, so if I choose to get this issue addressed, I shall report back to you.

 

[nlagalle]

Three also has a service called "3 like home"

3 like Home=

But is a bit pricey for data at 50c per mb. however compare that to Next G which is about $15 per mb.

I've set people up travelling there before to use the hotspots. Both BT and T-Mobile. I think BT has more coverage for WiFi. Pretty much every phone booth has an access point in it.

Nick

Edit: Just saw your last post about Three.

 

[Commuter]

BT wirelss hotspots (BT OpenZone) lets you use Cloud and T-Mobile hotspots as well as its own, I think. Some of the BT OpenZone 'plans' (not sure about the prepaid, however) let you roam in some European hot spots as well.

Note: BA Lounges have BT OpenZone.

 

[nlagalle]

I'm also pretty sure if you have a bigpond account (dial up, ADSL cable) etc and you have turned on the hotspot feature, you can use that overseas. We have a corporate account for dial up and all the user accounts can access the wireless hotspots.

I've only read about it, not had the chance to test it overseas.

 

[ozscot]

Hi All,

BT also have regular subscription plans such as £10 / month for 500 minutes. This lets you roam on other UK hotspots. The Cloud have an even better deal at £6.99 / month for a single device or £10 / month for multiple devices. both plans with unlimited access. Not sure about roaming.

I have a BT account through our UK office and it works well with plenty of hotspots and roaming access. Performance is usually good and I find it more convenient to have integrated access from the laptop and phone rather than using an external modem.

Cheers,
Steve.