It's possible yes. You would need a phone capable of getting you on the net connected with your laptop.
From what limited knowledge I have about it, it's fairly slow and costly unless you're doing quick things such as checking mail but I really am out of my depth with it I'm afraid.
Can be done though.
P.S. Check your mail
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If your laptop has an old fashioned internal 56k modem (even if you dont use it at present) why not connect to a phone point and dial up on one of the pay as you go ISPs. If you are only checking email and the like the calls wouldnt be too long.
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Guys at work have a PCMCIA card which is a "mobile" modem - that is you don't need to plug it in anywhere. I want one but don't know what to ask for but it sounds like what you want to.
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There you go then. Things have moved on since my day ;-)
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Some phones have an infra red port - IRDA I think - and if you have a similar port on your laptop, you can use the phone as the data carrier. I think a friend had to buy a plug in IRDA card for his laptop. He used GPRS so the data transfer rates were slow i.e. similar to a dial up modem. I think you can do it with a GSM phone too, in which case you get something like 9.6 kbps or less.
Also all phones have a connector for a data cable, that can attach to a PC serial or USB port. I know this can be used for controlling the phone from the PC, because I've done it, but I'm not sure if you can run TCPIP over the cable i.e. get internet access. It might be worth checking out as the cable is cheap, and thus all you need is the right drivers for the PC! A serial port can give you up to about 100 kbps and a USB port can give you much more than that, so it's worth checking out. I suspect that the facility if it exists will be phone specific.
Your last option is 3G. A colleague has a Vodaphone 3G card - PCMCIA I think - that gives him broadband transfer rates. Price isn't too bad - a monthly rental roughly comparable to broadband at home - if he keeps within the limits ( 2GB per month IIRC), but he thinks that their billing is inaccurate, and they charge him a lot for exceeding the limits when he is sure that he has not. The card cost £100+.
Leif
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I have done it via the infra red port on the phone and the laptop, not too difficult to set up, Most mobile phone makers do a software suite to allow the connection (I know Nokia and Samsung do), But it is expensive to connect this way, you do not want to surf the net via this method!!! Data over gprs is about £2 per meg on many mobile tariffs, this page is just over a meg iirc with all the ads. The way to get round it is to load pages as text only versions, thats what I do on my XDA 2i, it cuts the data costs down dramatically. Or get a data tariff from your operator but again it is quite expensive, The 3G cards are supposed to be good if you are in a reception area, but that is still a bit flakey. Seems like the best bet is to use the modem and dialup ISP account method.
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Without doubt T/U & others are correct that the modem/dialup method is the best [cheapest]. However, you're probably going to find that either your phones at work are digital, or your bosses object to you using their phones or both.
So consider the following..
Buy yourself a bluetooth dongle for the laptop, they're about £25, and then dial out through your cell phone. As far as your cell phone is concerned its just a normal voice call so you'll pay whatever your calls normally cost. Provided you have the more usual ISP agreement then they won't care. If you use something like a BT charge back service which attempts to debit your telephone number retrospectively for usage then you may have problems. In fact the BT service will cope, but some of them don't.
If you're only doing e-mail its quite sufficient. Somewhat painful for browsing the internet though, and downright impossible for remote applications.
If you need more then you next consider getting your phone GPRS enabled. That's better, quite expensive if you do a lot of downloading, and still insufficient for remote applications.
I would say its unlikely that you need a 3G card, but that is the next option. 3G will default to 2G in the dead spots, so that typically is nto an issue. You need to look at the charge basis and see how that fits with your usage -I would suggest that you'll find it too expensive.
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Consider also that there are a huge number of unprotected home and office wireless networks out there. Wandering the half mile from my office to the "lunchtime office" each day my pda picks up over a dozen networks and 5 of these are totally unprotected/encrypted. And this is in a fairly quiet part of Bournemouth, a couple of miles from the town centre.
Guess when I update my email? Yup, on the back of these broadband connections.
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Guess when I update my email? Yup, on the back of these broadband connections.
Limited chance of being caught, and the owners may not object anyway, but AFAIK that is illegal.
It's amazing how many wireless routers are left unprotected. When I got my wifi laptop, I found that two of my neighbours had unsecured wifi. When I told them, they didn't see it as a problem ... until I said that this sounded like a good way for me to get some free extra bandwidth if needed.
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Worth bearing in mind that it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to intercept all the traffic on their "open" WiFi network, so be aware these may be honey traps.
Of course, you'd hope that anything in SSL (encrypted) is safe, but you'd be surprised what you can gain by scanning ordinary network traffic.
I'd be careful myself with this sort of thing, and especially in cities.
-- Lee .. A festivus for the rest of us.
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Worth bearing in mind that it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to intercept all the traffic on their "open" WiFi network, so be aware these may be honey traps. Of course, you'd hope that anything in SSL (encrypted) is safe, but you'd be surprised what you can gain by scanning ordinary network traffic. I'd be careful myself with this sort of thing, and especially in cities.
I've got a get-out-of-jail card. The pda defaults to wi-fi if available but will divert to gprs if no network is available. Ooops your honour, I was under the impression I had connected via gprs as I usually do when away from my office or home networks.
As for them picking up my email account details, I'm not bothered. It's an account purely for personal stuff and nothing sensitive goes through it. I have different accounts for online purchases and for business and only connect to those by more secure means.
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Limited chance of being caught, and the owners may not object anyway, but AFAIK that is illegal.
B-b-b-bad to the b-b-b-bone, that's me. I'm a rufty, tufty, rowdy rebel and I don't care who I take down with on my journey of self-destructive anarchy.
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Limited chance of being caught, and the owners may not object anyway, but AFAIK that is illegal.
>>
yes, as this man found out to his cost:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4721723.stm
.. a West London man fined £500 and sentenced to 12 months' conditional discharge for hijacking a wireless broadband connection, has repercussions for almost every user of wi-fi networks ..
"Gaining unauthorised access to someone else's network is an offence and people have to take responsibility for their actions. Some people might argue that taking a joy-ride in someone else's car is not an offence either," he said.
Gaining unauthorised access to a computer is an offence covered by the Computer Misuse Act. In Straszkiewcz's case, he was prosecuted under the Communications Act and found guilty of dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service. ....
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>> Limited chance of being caught, and the owners may not object >> anyway, but AFAIK that is illegal. >> yes, as this man found out to his cost: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4721723.stm
::Yawn::
I'll take my chances.
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Mind you, this guy was, to put it mildly, a bit of a plonker. For 3 months this chap regulalry sits in a car in the middle of West London tapping away on his laptop, always in the same location. Duh!
Whereas one bloke wandering along the street to the pub each lunchtime with a PDA in his pocket..... I don't see the Police helicopter pursuing me on that one.
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I don't see the Police helicopter pursuing me on that one.
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same thought process as used by the shoplifters in the high street. the stuff is there, no security, so they are fully justified in taking advantage. after all, the shops make enough profit and can afford to lose a few pennies, can't they. no one loses. everyone gains.
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>> I don't see the Police helicopter pursuing me on that one. >> same thought process as used by the shoplifters in the high street. the stuff is there, no security, so they are fully justified in taking advantage. after all, the shops make enough profit and can afford to lose a few pennies, can't they. no one loses. everyone gains.
It is more like the fare jumper's argument 'well the train was going anyway so no one has lost out' however if the BB customer has a bandwidth cap then they might well lose out by others high jacking their bandwidth.
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>> I don't see the Police helicopter pursuing me on that one. >> same thought process as used by the shoplifters in the high street. the stuff is there, no security, so they are fully justified in taking advantage. after all, the shops make enough profit and can afford to lose a few pennies, can't they. no one loses. everyone gains.
Yes, I'm a thief and should be hung by my ankles from the nearest cctv camera mast.
Ah, the virtuous world some of us live in. Life must be so simple in black and white, with never a shade of grey. All Google's work in producing their multi-coloured corporate image must be lost on these poor souls.
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Yes, I'm a thief and should be hung by my ankles from the nearest cctv camera mast.
We couls suggest that you do community service as a speed bump, but you might not meet the required profile ;-)
Ah, the virtuous world some of us live in. Life must be so simple in black and white, with never a shade of grey.
So if I found your car keys, and took your car for a wee spin, what shade of grey would that be? (OK, probably a metallic one ...)
Seriously, though, I think that while this one is clearcut legally, it is a bit grey morally. If the owner of the wifi has a bandwidth limit or pays per MB, then your usage would incur a direct cost, so it'd be like eating someone's lunch. But most broadband connections are flat-fee, and most users are well below their bandwidth quotas, so there is no cost to the owner from your use. The thing that would really concern me if my wifi was used would be illicit activity on my connection, such as emailing illegal pictures.
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Buy yourself a bluetooth dongle for the laptop, they're about £25,
Way too expensive. £9.95 + p&p is what I paid for mine.
www.mobilefun.co.uk/product/1412.htm
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Clearly there are some unencrypted wireless networks out there though most are not running DHCP so to make use of them you need to establish yourself an IP on the network and find things like the DNS server addresses etc. Otherwise it is common to come across the SSID of an encrypted network that is not 'hidden'.
With regard to using a laptop in different places, I have a wireless card in my laptop and use a neat bit of software called netswitcher to change the TCPIP settings for each of two office locations and home, i.e. I have three TCPIP profiles which I switch between, this should really be a feature in Windows nowdays. It clearly helps having a wireless router in each location.
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Clearly there are some unencrypted wireless networks out there though most are not running DHCP so to make use of them you need to establish yourself an IP...................
Nope most ARE running DHCP, its just a simple matter of turn up, get given an IP and away you go.
From a certain location I visited last week, I had a choice of three, one of which was an outlet of a chain of DIY stores that happily gave me an IP address and I surfed the web.
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The lack of WiFi security awareness is really quite alarming. A friend owns a local bike shop and has a wireless network allowing him to have his server in the workshop whilst running a laptop at the front of the store. He can access all his work requirements and can get into his extensive library of mp3s to play in the shop via the laptop. He was moaning to me about the poor signal so I suggested he look at hardwiring or moving/upgrading the antennae on the router. Then a thought occurred to me.....
I fired up the PDA and found, to his horror, that I could not only access the net using his router, but could access all the mp3s on his server by selecting the "connects to work" option.
He wasn't very pleased......
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We have a neighbour who I have informed that their network is open,to the extent that even their router is accessible, and it shows the password to their broadband account, they still havent restricted it yet, even though I have offered to help, still means my skype calls on the PDA go through theirs and the same when I am out and about, why pay for a call home when nice kind people leave their system open to all the world.
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Nope most ARE running DHCP, its just a simple matter of turn up, get given an IP and away you go.
Many businesses assume that by running fixed IP's they do not need to worry about encryption. Clearly the worst cases are non encrypted DHCP systems though, it like leaving the door open, the lights on and a sign saying 'help yourself'.
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Clearly there are some unencrypted wireless networks out there though most are not running DHCP so to make use of them you need to establish yourself an IP on the network and find things like the DNS server addresses etc.
As RF says, most use DHCP by default. They also have default passwords such as Login: Netgear, Password: Password and many people don't bother changing them. There's plenty of fun to be had. Imagine all those calls to technical support about "Why won't my Internet work after 7pm?"
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Intel's UK division, to promote its Centrino processors, issued a booklet about wi-fi some 18 months or so ago that lists around a dozen websites detailing wif-fi "hot spots".
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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A hotspot is a pay-to-access WiFi node. Somewhat different from those with open networks who are doing the paying whilst others access.
Bless 'em all.
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But there are open "hot spots" available or about to be made so.
Starbucks has several of its outlets with the feature, some hotel groups now offer it, some train operators and even participating McDonald's outlets.
Some people are finding this device useful:
tinyurl.com/9nq43
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Yes but stuartli, Mcdonalds and Starbucks etc are PAY to use wifi nodes. You need a subscription or pay for a token at the outlet.
That tight, cider drinking, fat country bumpkin is talking about STEALING (damn his eyes) NOT PAYING for a wifi node.
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You need a subscription or pay for a token at the outlet.
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and there are some who allow wifi access without any payment with their full consent. the key point is a matter of "owner's consent".
so called "joyriding" is taking without owner's consent.
drive-offs at petrol stations without paying for the fuel.
sownloading and using "free" software or music, etc.
to a criminal mind these are all a matter of degree, all in the colours of the rainbow (i.e. parts of white) and nowhere near black. some people will even justify crimes of the extreme against persons where consent was not given on the basis that they had not taken precautions for their own safety and so were "asking for it".
end of discussion of this issue here on my part here. i shall now get back to some computer hacking.
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>>Yes but stuartli, Mcdonalds and Starbucks etc are PAY to use wifi nodes>>
tinyurl.com/csybd
tinyurl.com/887bv
www.wififreespot.com/europe.html
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Thanks for all your suggestions and the subsequent debate. Being honest with you, the cost looks slightly prohibitive for what i was going to use it for (in other words probably surfing this site whilst at work!)
Found the WiFi discussion very interesting though. AFAIK I have my home router set up with security and access only allowed for my desktop and laptop. However, is there an easy way to check if it is secure without chapping the doors and finding someone else with a wi-fi laptop or pda and inviting them over?
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You could turn off the security on the Laptop, then if it fails to connect, the network is secure(ish). I have mine filtered using the MAC address, which is supposed to be more secure then WEP etc.
Just as a side point, I was loading at a scrap yard one day last week and it was near a housing estate, I spent quite some time surfing the net and downloading emails via someones wifi network, my thanks goes out to them for leaving it accessible, stopped me getting too bored ;o)
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