connecting a laptop to a mobile

jister

I hope this is the correct forum. I have a fairly new Dell laptop which is Bluetooth enabled etc. I want to use the internet via my mobile phone but I have no idea how these things are priced or how it works.

I am due an upgrade phone from 02 and I need to know which is the best to buy, Nokia hopefully?

How much does it cost, if I set up my browser to dial my ISP via the mobile number does it get charged the same as a standard mobile to landline call?

MunsterCycling

jister wrote:

I hope this is the correct forum. I have a fairly new Dell laptop which is Bluetooth enabled etc. I want to use the internet via my mobile phone but I have no idea how these things are priced or how it works.

I am due an upgrade phone from 02 and I need to know which is the best to buy, Nokia hopefully?

How much does it cost, if I set up my browser to dial my ISP via the mobile number does it get charged the same as a standard mobile to landline call?

I'm a Vodafone customer so I'm not too familiar with O2 pricing but have used my 6630 on 3G and while it works great (providing of course you are in 3G coverage) and is easy enough to configure the cost of surfing this way is prohibitive. Vodafone do offer a data add-on though which gives you so many megabytes a month included which can be a way of capping cost.

Would definatly recommend any of the new smartphones from Nokia but I think O2 use iMode as their 3G technology and not sure if this is available from Nokia???

The calls are charged as data calls on Voda 3G although back when I had a 7110 (the 'Matrix' phone) you could use your bundle minutes to ring the ISP and not get charged extra. (Sighs and remarks to self about the good old days!!!):rolleyes:

Not sure about the bluetooth connection, I seem to remember reading somewhere the data rate of blutooth isn't high enough to use for net connection, anyone? There also seems to be issues with bluetooth and XP SP2.

Anyhow let us know what you go with and how its working out.

jister

MunsterCycling wrote:

The calls are charged as data calls on Voda 3G although back when I had a 7110 (the 'Matrix' phone) you could use your bundle minutes to ring the ISP and not get charged extra. (Sighs and remarks to self about the good old days!!!):rolleyes:

I think this is what I am looking for, so I can just increase my bundled minutes by say 60 minutes a month and that will do, of course 90% of the time I will have access via a landline, internet Cafe etc but which (Nokia hopefully) phone suits this the best?

I've heard using IR is slow so I need a phone that plugs into the laptop via a cable.

This Nokia phone appears to be what I am looking for but I don't know?
http://www.nokia.ie/nokia/0,,73837,00.html

Tom Dunne

MunsterCycling wrote:

Not sure about the bluetooth connection, I seem to remember reading somewhere the data rate of blutooth isn't high enough to use for net connection, anyone? There also seems to be issues with bluetooth and XP SP2.

The speeds which you will get on a 2.5G phone will be comparable to dial-up with a landline (i.e. in the region of 45kbps) so bluetooth will be able to handle that. Not sure about 3G, though.

Jister wrote:

This Nokia phone appears to be what I am looking for but I don't know?

No, that phone doesn't appear to have bluetooth.

There are 3 types of mobile phone connectivity you can have - gprs (extortion taken to the extreme), HSD (sometimes called HSCD) and 3G.

GPRS is incredibly expensive, unless you have money to burn, forget it. Someone here on boards recalled how they downloaded the boards.ie home page and it cost something incredible like 12 Euro (not sure how true that is). GPRS is like your broadband connection - it can be always on and they charge by the amount of data transferred.

HSD/HSCD is just like dial-up on a laptop/PC with a landline. You enter an ISP number and username/password and are charged for the length of the call. This is probably the most cost effective, but only Vodafone offer this service at speeds greater than 14.4kbps (46kbps, AFAIR). So it is incredibly slow.

I haven't used 3G at all, but you get the general idea from MunsterCycling.

In all three cases, you can connect your phone to your laptop either via bluetooth or cable. Once you have the connection established, you can then choose which connection to the mobile phone network you want.

jister

tom dunne wrote:

HSD/HSCD is just like dial-up on a laptop/PC with a landline. You enter an ISP number and username/password and are charged for the length of the call. This is probably the most cost effective, but only Vodafone offer this service at speeds greater than 14.4kbps (46kbps, AFAIR). So it is incredibly slow.

Thanks Tom and Munster, I appear to be getting somewhere. The above option appears to be what I want, are you saying (Tom) that 14.4kbps is slow or that 46kbps is still slow?

If I buy an 087 ready to phone it should work fine? bluetooth is not necessay its just an option.

An 087 phone with a cable connection to the PC should do the job (I heard IR is very slow, but don't know) so which 087 ready to go phone should I go with does anybody know?

Tom Dunne

jister wrote:

are you saying (Tom) that 14.4kbps is slow or that 46kbps is still slow?

14.4kbps is incredibly slow, 46kbps is bareable.

jister wrote:

If I buy an 087 ready to phone it should work fine? bluetooth is not necessay its just an option.

Sorry, I thought you wanted bluetooth since the laptop has bluetooth. Not all ready to go phones will allow you to connect to a laptop and surf the net - it depends on the model. Look for phones that are data compatible, and have HSD/HSCD.

jister wrote:

I heard IR is very slow, but don't know

IR can do speeds much faster than 46kbps. The only problem is that the phone/laptop need to be pointint at each other at very short distances (couple of inches). Move one and you lose connection.

You might get better info over on the Mobiles/PDA forum, especially a recommendation for a specific 087 phone - it's been a while since I looked at this stuff.