Dongle to use with laptop - UK and France - help please

Poignard

Poignard

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I need a dongle so that I can use my laptop on board between now and the end of October 2011. My sailing area is UK South Coast, Channel Islands and France. I mostly need it to look up documents (mostly in .pdf format) and send/receive a few emails a week. I don't need to download movies etc.

I will be wanting to do the same next year.

What do I need? Pay as you go or monthly contract?

Any one able to suggest a reliable provider?
 
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Since I first posted, I had an on-line 'chat' with a rep from Three. All seemed clear and precise until I made it clear that I wanted to use it in France and the Channel Islands as well as the UK. Then I was referred to their roaming tariff page, which is difficult to make sense of when you have no idea how many megabytes you are likely to download each month. It all seems very 'open-ended' and I suspect roaming is likely to cost a good deal more than you bargained for.
 
I have used a 3 dongle roaming in France and Spain as an emergency means of getting weater forecasts. It is expensive, 3-5 pounds for forecasts through Passage Weather and GRIB. Not only that whilst top ups can be done you need a good signal and that is not always available.

UK dongles are fine as an emergency back up. French dongle last year were 2 to 3 times the price they are in the UK (they often have cash back offers to bring the costs down but you need a froggy address and bank account). In general in most places and almost all major marinas wifi was available at reasonable prices or the marina staff would direct you to a free wifi cafe.
 
Thanks for that. No wonder people inadvertently run up huge bills whilst abroad.

I was hoping to have something I could use when anchored but it looks as if I'll have to store up my internetting until I am in a marina.

I thought the EU Commission was intending to put a stop to these cross-border ripoffs but it doesn't look like they have achieved anything so far.
 
parsifal said:
Thanks for that. No wonder people inadvertently run up huge bills whilst abroad.

I was hoping to have something I could use when anchored but it looks as if I'll have to store up my internetting until I am in a marina.

I thought the EU Commission was intending to put a stop to these cross-border ripoffs but it doesn't look like they have achieved anything so far.
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They have apparently in a report I read today if you are outside the EU and you use your dongle you may need a second mortgage.

It is also well worth getting a wifi booster and antenna, I have a cheepo one from fleebay ans that gives me several hundred meters range instead of the usual 20 or so.
 
alternative?

This may not be much use unless you can borrow one, or were thinking of buying one anyway - but I have used my Amazon Kindle very successfully throughout Europe, for free.

The 3G version allows you free internet access wherever there is a phone signal. Thats a lot of coast, I've found.

Advantages -

it doesn't cost you anything once you've bought the Kindle (£152)
It seems to pick up any old 3G signal irrespective of provider (may be wrong here but it's difficult to tell as no provider is ever shown)
It has WIFI as well so you could use hotspots if you didn't have your laptop
It's small, light and fits in a pocket
The battery life is about ten days with wireless/3G turned on
You can read books on it (Really?)
Never run out of 'credit'

Disadvantages:
You need to shell out a bit of a wedge at the outset
The browser IS a bit clunky but you get used to it
Its a black and white screen, but perfectly good for synoptics, passageweather, xcweather etc
It won't download directly - you have to send the PDF (or whatever) to your Amazon account, then download from there. That DOES cost, but it's minimal

I've used it quite a bit and if it's just weather or basic 'net you want it works well.

Oh and you can send/receive emails easily too - just get a Gmail account, free. I don't think its very good for webmail, even the very basic Squirrelmail, for example.
 
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concentrik said:
This may not be much use unless you can borrow one, or were thinking of buying one anyway - but I have used my Amazon Kindle very successfully throughout Europe, for free.

The 3G version allows you free internet access wherever there is a phone signal. Thats a lot of coast, I've found.

Advantages -

it doesn't cost you anything once you've bought the Kindle (£152)
It seems to pick up any old 3G signal irrespective of provider (may be wrong here but it's difficult to tell as no provider is ever shown)
It has WIFI as well so you could use hotspots if you didn't have your laptop
It's small, light and fits in a pocket
The battery life is about ten days with wireless/3G turned on
You can read books on it (Really?)
Never run out of 'credit'

Disadvantages:
You need to shell out a bit of a wedge at the outset
The browser IS a bit clunky but you get used to it
Its a black and white screen, but perfectly good for synoptics, passageweather, xcweather etc
It won't download directly - you have to send the PDF (or whatever) to your Amazon account, then download from there. That DOES cost, but it's minimal

I've used it quite a bit and if it's just weather or basic 'net you want it works well.

Oh and you can send/receive emails easily too - just get a Gmail account, free. I don't think its very good for webmail, even the very basic Squirrelmail, for example.
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hi-i really like the sound of this ! my wife reads a lot so carries quite a few books , also print size can be a problem - can you enlarge the font ? also is it back lit ?
our son has used some model kindle for last yr in japan and it seems to have been fine - haven't seen him yet ! i'm not that technologically minded so could you explain about the browser (is this something else we need to buy) and webmail and squirrel mail ?
we usually go off for 5 wks or so in the summer-were talking of getting dongle for ugrib/passage weather - this sounds like it could kill a few birds with one stone ??
thanks very much for that - and are there any other considerations you think we would need to make ?
 
Yes you can enlarge the font to a ridiculous size.

They are not backlit, you can get little LED lights for reading under the blankets.....

In normal use no need for backlight - readability is BETTER the more light you put on it (yes better)

The simple browser is part of the kindle functionality - no need to buy.

Squirrelmail is a proprietory webmail client - it is provided by domain hosting services so you can get your email via the web. You have to have your own domain name like seascape.co.uk (I think - others will correct me)

You can search this forum for several threads on Kindle use aboard, mainly dealing with the book reader aspect but also touching on the other functions (like being able to 'Tweet' from it- horror - or update your Facebook page... you DO have a facebook page don't you???!!!)
 
facebook -dare not. the offspring would be horrified !!!!
how's the screen size when viewing grib files , pressure charts etc ?
 
I would just add one thing to what concentric has offered. Yes it is true that the browser is a bit "clunky" but if you set up web pages that you will access frequently as bookmarks much of the "clunkiness" is overcome.

As a matter of interest (to me) I just timed how long it took from switching on the Kindle to downloading the Inshore Waters forecast. It was 1 minute 40 seconds. Now to my mind that is pretty good. Plus, as concentric says, it is free and I do not have to worry about exceeding a monthly allowance of data MBs etc.

So I have set up bookmarks for the Inshore Waters Forecast, Easy Tide, and Bramblemet and it covers most of my sailing data needs.
 
concentrik said:
It won't download directly - you have to send the PDF (or whatever) to your Amazon account, then download from there. That DOES cost, but it's minimal
Click to expand...

If you are on wifi at the time, documents emailed to <your_account>@free.kindle.com are free

concentrik said:
Oh and you can send/receive emails easily too - just get a Gmail account, free. I don't think its very good for webmail, even the very basic Squirrelmail, for example.
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I don't have a problem using it for webmail. The biggest nuisance is having to use the <sym> key for special characters.

I've even posted to this forum from mine :)

When travelling, I tend to use the Kindle to see if I have any mail to collect. if I need any more than a basic response I use a laptop with an unlocked Huawei 3G dongle and a local prepay SIM card. If the dongle isn't to hand I'll connect to my phone using bluetooth and use the phone as a modem. All my SIMs can be swapped around between phone and dongle depending on what's cheapest or the best reception.
 
Dongle to use in France

Your best bet could be to take a look at the Abroadband website for a dongle to use for emails when you're in France

Best wishes

Clive Edwards
Station Manager, NCI Lyme Bay
 
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