7 posts tagged “wifi”

UK mobile operator 3 are looking at spreading the HSDPA (3.5G) love all around your home with a special wireless router.  I like this idea, I like this idea a lot.  Right now I'm on 3's mobile broadband in an abode that doesn't have ADSL or cable.  Only the laptop I'm typing this on can use the connection and that is a bit of a pain.  I've tried setting up an ad-hoc network using the Windows' Vista networking wizard and despite connecting, there's no connection (ie the other devices see this laptop but can't use its connection).

A company called DOVADO advertise a mobile broadband router here and it even supports the E169G that 3mobilebuzz supplied me with.  That's kinda handy as the E169G can't be used on my Eee PC without a lot of hoops to be jumped through (more than this blogger thinks he can manage!)

See also: UK Gadgeteer and Electricpig

I set up a Boingo Mobile account a month ago tomorrow.  Boingo Mobile, for those that don't know, is a cheap WiFi provider/service for accessing the internet on WiFi capable phones.  I found them via the N95 8GB's 'Download' folder and figured I may as well try the free trial - what did I have to lose?  Time, as it turned out and if I can't cancel it by tomorrow, money!

Those of you that know me (and/or read about my WiFi experiences in NY) have probably figured out that I never managed to get it working!  Was that Boingo's fault or the result of complex and numerous different WLAN settings Nokia offer on the handset?  Maybe this user just wasn't clever enough, who knows?!  I eventually fired off an email to Boingo and eventually got a reply, and to say it was less than useful would be an understatement of grand proportions!  I gave up and figured when I got back I could cancel it (oh, I forgot to say that even though it was a free trial they, like many companies, still wanted billing details) and then I forgot about it...

Today I got a 'newsletter' from them and it dawned on me, I set this thing up a month ago tomorrow - I need to cancel it pronto! (I believe it was a month trial but can't say for sure, I'm through with scowering websites for such details - I just want to cancel. Now!  Which is what I was about to do but I have no idea what my username or password are and Boingo don't do the usual type-in-your-email-address-and-we're-email-it-to-you thing!  All they offer as a 1-800 number!  Argh, that's no good to me I'm in the UK!

So, why have they chosen a 1-800 number for a service that one can sign up to in the UK (and presumably much of the western world)?  Can they not just email me the username and password like most other companies manage to do?  If not, can't they have a geographical number or a UK number?

What a complete and utter pain in the rear!  I wish I'd gone nowhere near Boingo!

Paying for it at the hotel

I've learnt a lot of valuable lessons recently.  One that I'm going to share now is WiFi and er, paying for it.  Whilst in New York I paid for it twice (WiFi that is) and didn't get anywhere near my money's worth.

When looking at accommodation one of my main criteria (other than not having rats or cockroaches) was that I had access to WiFi and that it was included in the price.  I must've messed up as the place I stayed at charged quite a hefty sum for it.  Oh well, I thought, I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and pay for it.

Wrong, wrong decision!  It barely worked.  Some days it didn't work at all.  Was it any help asking at reception?  No, they wouldn't have a clue and that would waste more time.

The worst thing was I found on the last day, just before I headed to airport, that at the front of the lobby there was a free WiFi spot (possibly a neighbouring business).  There was a few outlets, a comfy sofa and views on to the street (not great but okay for people watching!).  Had I realised that at the beginning of my stay I sure as hell wouldn't have paid for a service that didn't work.

The moral of the story?  Sometimes FREE is better.  We're led to believe that paying a premium for something ensures us a better service but, you know what? That's simply not the case!

Paying for it on the street

Whilst out and about I wanted data capability as well.  I investigated my cellular options and I, er, didn't have any (well not realistic ones!)  So what next?  Well I was looking for something like either The Cloud or BT Openzone (two WiFi providers in the UK.)  Could I find anything like that?  No, nearest I could find was T-Mobile's which seemed to have far less coverage than in the UK.

I bit the bullet (again!) and went with T-Mobile.  You'd think that would be as easy as popping in to the nearest T-Mobile shop.  You'd be wrong!  Not all T-Mobile stores can set you up.  Why?  Who knows!  I eventually tracked down one that did but they only had one assistant that could set this up and so I queued.  More wasted time as it turned out...

When I was eventually seen I was fortunately talked out of going with the 7 day option and was sold the 24 hour one instead.  Very fortunate as it turned out.  Why?  Well I was never able to connect.  I followed the procedure on T-Mobile's site to the letter and each time it came up with an error at the end of the process.

As soon as I was able to I fired off an email to their support desk.  I got back an automated reply.  The automated reply was actually rather amusing.  Here it is...

We appreciate this opportunity to work with you regarding your request. We currently are responding to requests within 24 hours.

I'm glad they appreciated the opportunity, maybe I should've charge them for my services!

Next day I decided to go back to a T-Mobile store and was informed that I had to ring up T-Mobile to sort the problem out, it couldn't be resolved any other way.  I tried to explain that I was from abroad and the cost of the call on my cell phone would end up more than the money I'd spent on the 24 hour pass.  That was met with a shrug.  Ho hum...

A couple of days after I got a non-automated letter from T-Mobile.  Yaay!  But wait, what's this...
 

Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile regarding case 1452983.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. Please give us a call for us to try and assist you with this issue.

If you have any further questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact us at anytime at 1-877-822-7768.

T-Mobile, you've just told me to do what they told me to do in the store!  What's the point of a support desk if your advice is nothing more than what is listed on your website (when login fails) or in a T-Mobile store?

By the time I received this reply I did actually have a US PAYG phone so I guess the call wouldn't be too expensive but there was little point calling the number.  Why?  By the time I received this I had lost my laptop as well as the T-Mobile print-out that had my login details!

Conclusion time...

If you can get it for free, do so.  If you can't, think long and hard about whether it's worth paying for.  This experience has put me off paid WiFi for good.  Once I get a replacement laptop I will simply stick to 3G in the UK.  Far easier, far more flexible and it works!  It's everywhere in the UK and there isn't any painful setup procedure.

...and see if it's useful!

Click here to see what I'm upto.  I'll be in the Big Apple so it might be something exciting like seeing Conan O'Brien tomorrow night afternoon or checking out Nokia's Morph concept phone device at MoMA (check here and here).  Or it may be something dull like walking from A-to-B.

Now, what do I plump for: AT&T on pre-pay (PAYG) or WiFi?  If WiFi, do I go for free or pay?  Seems like a no-brainer that one but if my experience tells me anything the free WiFi will be patchy at best.

Here's part one of my (probably one part) series on things that should be easy but aren't.  I'm going to start off with the Eee PC (which is currently my drug of choice).

So, you have two Eee PCs and you want to send files between them - should be easy right?  They both have WiFi right?  There must be some way of using that wireless capability to not only make contact with the outside world at your local Starbucks but also with the friend joining you for an over-priced latte, right?

Ahmm, er, umm, I guess not!  Oh well, what about Bluetooth?  Nope, that was left out of the Eee PC to keep costs down.  You could buy a USB Bluetooth 'dongle' thing and go through a long drawn out process to get it working on both Eees - but that's hardly easy!

So what are we left with?  Well there's swapping an SD memory card back and forth, email and, I guess, a wired LAN connection (hardly an elegant solution and one I've yet to try).

Last night I stumbled upon the solution to a problem that's been plaguing many Eee PC users of late...

The problem?  When setting up WiFi the Eee complains about the format that the key is in (the hex/ASCII issue!)

The solution?  Ignore the Eee's complaint and then select '4' from the drop down menu to the right.  Connect/reconnect and all will hopefully be well.  Maybe it won't work for you, maybe it will - who knows?

I have no idea why it worked for me but it did.  Funny thing is I was able to connect to the same router before Xmas without any problems whatsoever.  Maybe something was added along the way that the Eee didn't like?

Practically all laptops these days have wireless LAN (aka WiFi) built-in as standard.  It makes sense as an ever increasingly amount of households have WiFi at home and hotspots are popping as quickly as new Starbucks (which is, incidentally, where you'll see a lot of laptops using WiFi...)

WiFi is good when you're stationary but isn't so great when you're not.  When out and about it can be a pain trying to find a hotspot you can use and then of course, there's often the rigmarole of connecting to  a hotspot if you're fortunate enough to find one.  That's where 3G comes to the rescue...

On the M1 motorway yesterday I was able to stay connected to the internet at 384kbps (in reality, actually a bit more like 350kbps) for over an hour without losing connection.  I was able to use my laptop as if I were at home or in a hotspot.  You just can't do this with WiFi.

I was using an Nokia N73 tethered to an Eee PC and using 3's 3G network.  Faster speeds are probably possible with an HSDPA handset/modem - although I'm not sure of the coverage on that part of that motorway.  With data plans getting cheaper and coverage increasing all the time, 3G/3.5G seems to make more sense than WiFi when out of the house.