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Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 8:00 am Post subject: Mobile Internet Access

Is there such a thing as mobile internet access without using a dial-up modem? I'm going to Europe (mostly France and Germany) in july and will be bringing my laptop along. I'd like to be able to go online from anywhere I am. The modem on my laptop doesn't work under Linux, but I have two network cards (wired & wireless). There must be something available. Also, I am planning on buying a mobile phone while over there. Would it be possible to connect the phone to the laptop and use the phone's internet service from the laptop? Is there something else? Better? And as stated above my laptop is running Linux, nothing else.

Thanks.

Posted: Sat May 24, 2003 2:09 pm Post subject: Re: Mobile Internet Access

gronenmeyer wrote:
Is there such a thing as mobile internet access without using a dial-up modem? I'm going to Europe (mostly France and Germany) in july and will be bringing my laptop along. I'd like to be able to go online from anywhere I am. The modem on my laptop doesn't work under Linux, but I have two network cards (wired & wireless). There must be something available. Also, I am planning on buying a mobile phone while over there. Would it be possible to connect the phone to the laptop and use the phone's internet service from the laptop? Is there something else? Better? And as stated above my laptop is running Linux, nothing else.

Thanks.

It mainly depends on the technology that is available in your location...Depending on that technology you may be able to pick up something like Nextell has:
http://www.nextel.com/phones_plans/datadevices/im1100.shtml

The price of that is mainly due to the wireless feature. But most phones now have a "data cable" you can use to connect to the internet, some phones also have infared ports. Here in the US it is 14.4k, but there are more expensive speeds that reach dsl speeds of 1.5mb down 128 up.

It would be best to look at phone providers and see thier prices/feature options in the area you are planning on visiting.

Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 2:42 am Post subject:

GPRS is pretty extensively deployed in Europe, and most tri band phones can utilize at least 3 channels of it which gets you 38k/s or so. My Bluetooth enabled Sony Ericsson T68 can manage 4 channels of GPRS to get me 56k most of the time. I am on Orange, which is probably the most extensive GPRS network, and my UK based phone has got me onto the Internet in Barcelona, much of France, and Germany (and of course much of the UK as well). Roaming with GPRS may or may not cost you, because not all of the tariffs have been agreed. In general it's around £5 for the first 10mb downloaded and £1 per meg thereafter. If you travel by train you should be able to use GPRS on the train, the high speed trains TGV and the German trains you have some issues with changing cells every 30 seconds or so, but it can be managed with patience. Stationary locations like hotel rooms are easy so long as you are in a city with coverage; the side of a mountain in Greece probably doesn't even have mobile coverage let along GPRS. HSCSD is available as well if you've got a Nokia phone that supports it, on at least 3 of the major networks.

Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 2:44 am Post subject:

I should also add the WLAN hot spots are appearing all over most large cities and airports. If I were you I'd keep ipchains running whilst using one.