WiFi enabled phone (3 Viewers)

[Randonneur]

Thinking of buying a PayGo Wifi enabled mobile phone. Can anyone tell me that when using the Wifi on a free connection is there a charge on the credit of the phone. When I connect my laptop to a Free WiFi connection there is no charge, is it the same with these mobile phones.

 

[bazfergy]

Apple iphone has free web browsing,I know you said pay and go,but some of the monthly tarriffs are pretty good :thumb:

 

[hilldweller]

Thinking of buying a PayGo Wifi enabled mobile phone. Can anyone tell me that when using the Wifi on a free connection is there a charge on the credit of the phone. When I connect my laptop to a Free WiFi connection there is no charge, is it the same with these mobile phones.

Yes it's free but be careful that you are using WiFi by turning the phone side off otherwise you might get an internet link via the phone and cost yourself a fortune.

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[GregM]

The phone should detect any available wifi automatically and if it can use it it will if not it will revert to going through the phone which as hilldweller has said will cost a fortune.

 

[tofo]

Can't use my I phone to connect(dongl type way)
laptop with the Internet
unless I pay extra £15,00 per mnth

but I can use it as a standalone access
either wifi or 3g

In another thread today I posted my
telephone wire along with about 2000
others has been stolen
tried using I phone to surf
wouldn't connect had to turn wifi off
as my witless router was telling
I phone it had access
turned off wifi on the phone 3gconnected straight away
if out I do get offered Bt/openzone
but the price is horrendous
in my book hope this helps

 

[tofo]

I phone payg at 02 comes with a Internet sim
which is free for 12mnths believe its£10,00a mnth

plus top ups for calls

I bought a 30day rolling contract sim
which gave me a bolt on Internet
but not to enable use as a dongle
without further charge
all up £20. Per mnth

you can use thephone as a micro computer
I even used to search and by some special socks
and they was delivered

You cN also set it up to read your emails
and right them
this was sent from the iPhone
I don't get the lappy out as much now

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[Randonneur]

WiFi Mobile Phone

Many thanks for your posts but unfortunately monthly tarifs are very expensive here in France, that is why I have a PayGo.

 

[hilldweller]

Many thanks for your posts but unfortunately monthly tarifs are very expensive here in France, that is why I have a PayGo.

Another thought - I wonder if a 2 gadget solution might be easier ? Conventional phone and some form of cheap WiFi tablet. Haven't I seen things like portable Playstation, Archos, Sony all doing internet WiFi ?

I love my HTC phone which does do all this but it's a pain due to limited screen size.

 

[barryd]

Browsing the internet on a phone. I just dont get it. I have had an iphone for about a month now and I can honestly say its the most over rated pile of cr*p I have ever used. The only thing its good for is checking emails. Half the sites you visit dont display properly if they use Flash and unless you can point me in the direction of an acutal useful application then I see no advantage over my old Nokia N95. Actually the Nokia was better. Better camera, easy to download and transfer stuff without using crappy itunes and you could use it as a modem.

As far as surfing the net is concerned, get a laptop I reckon.

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[hilldweller]

Another thought - I wonder if a 2 gadget solution might be easier ? Conventional phone and some form of cheap WiFi tablet. Haven't I seen things like portable Playstation, Archos, Sony all doing internet WiFi ?

I love my HTC phone which does do all this but it's a pain due to limited screen size.

Spooky - just received this in an email. It's WinCE so same OS as some mobile phones, decent sized screen and CHEAP.

Link Removed

 

[Spacerunner]

Following on from Hilldweller's post. iPod touch has WiFi capability and the screen is surprisingly clear to read with easy zoom control.

Its also very discreet and you can get a free 'app' to trace wifi hotspots and sort out free and paid for connection.

 

[1948]

Many thanks for your posts but unfortunately monthly tarifs are very expensive here in France, that is why I have a PayGo.

my nokio N95 can pick up wiifi from places like macdonald/ starbucks but very slow upload Its free

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[Randonneur]

WiFi Mobile Phone

Again, many thanks for your replies. I do have a laptop which we take away with us, but all I want is when we are on foot is to be able to access emails not surf the net. We came back recently from a month in Portugal and went by train a lot of the time so the laptop is inconvenient to lug about. The Wifi on the site we stayed at was not very stable so it was off more days than it was on, so unless we took the laptop out with us for the day on the train we were unable to receive our emails.

 

[pendy]

I have a Sony Ericsson W995 excellent for picking up Wifi hotspots, but xmas the mrs bought me a Samsung nc-10 notebook ,great for the van and for £30.00 I bought a 9hr battery off e-bay, so 12 hrs battery life total, and only a couple of kilo to move around in a normal daysack.

 

[jaygee]

I also bought small cer notebook whick I carried around in my bag when we travelled Vietnam for month of November - invaluable and didn't weigh much. I have even taken it out once in my handbag so friends could book theatre tickets online when we got together!

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[hilldweller]

Spooky - just received this in an email. It's WinCE so same OS as some mobile phones, decent sized screen and CHEAP.

Link Removed

Just ordered one......
Link Removed

This might be all I need on holiday and takes up no room at all, worth a try at this price.

 

[wkdtroll]

Hi

I have read this thread with great interest - as I too have been searching for 'The Holy Grail' or cheap WiFi, particularly abroad.

Here's something that may help and probably be of interest to all world travelling funsters.

Try this link: Link Removed

Basically UW (or Telecom Plus as they used to be known) provide a mobile service (actually through T Mobile) which for £24 per month you get a SIM only which is a data SIM - ie. it receives Internet and EMail - but here's the hit:

IT IS FREE ROAMING ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!!!!:thumb::thumb::thumb:

You pay for your calls and texts(8p per minute I think - dearer abroad so get a SIM for the country you are visiting for cheaper calls).

You need an unlocked handset (iPhone, Blackberry etc) and all you do is pop the SIM in the handset log onto the TMobile site to set up your email (it works with POP3 mailboxes too) and off you go.

I used my Blackberry in the middle of the Masi Mara and was browsing the BBC News website (whilst impressing the locals with the African News!)

I rue the day that I sold my Blackberry handset and gave up the SIM (financial reasons) as it has cost me an arm and a leg in roaming charges when I ventured abroad!!)

Hope this helps....and NO I have do not have any connection to UW!!

 

[barryd]

Hi

I have read this thread with great interest - as I too have been searching for 'The Holy Grail' or cheap WiFi, particularly abroad.

Here's something that may help and probably be of interest to all world travelling funsters.

Try this link: Link Removed

Basically UW (or Telecom Plus as they used to be known) provide a mobile service (actually through T Mobile) which for £24 per month you get a SIM only which is a data SIM - ie. it receives Internet and EMail - but here's the hit:

IT IS FREE ROAMING ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!!!!!:thumb::thumb::thumb:

You pay for your calls and texts(8p per minute I think - dearer abroad so get a SIM for the country you are visiting for cheaper calls).

You need an unlocked handset (iPhone, Blackberry etc) and all you do is pop the SIM in the handset log onto the TMobile site to set up your email (it works with POP3 mailboxes too) and off you go.

I used my Blackberry in the middle of the Masi Mara and was browsing the BBC News website (whilst impressing the locals with the African News!)

I rue the day that I sold my Blackberry handset and gave up the SIM (financial reasons) as it has cost me an arm and a leg in roaming charges when I ventured abroad!!)

Hope this helps....and NO I have do not have any connection to UW!!

Thanks for the link.

Maybe Im being thick but I cant see where it says free roaming. I can see that it allows you 50MB per month and then £2.75 per MB after which is no use to man nor beast for anything more than checking your mail on your phone (not browsing).

What we really needs is a fixed tarrif for data anywhere in Europe up to say 3GB or even 1GB would do but I dont think it will happen. If we had that you could put your sim in a dongle, plug it into the laptop, throw the useless Blackberry or iphone out of the van window and surf the net on your laptop.

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[wkdtroll]

They don't actually promote it much cos they want you to get a handset from them. If you ask them for a 'data enabled' SIM Valuecall Blackberry SIM only (@ £23 pm) this certainly used to provide free worldwide roaming. Worth ringing them to check.

I am certainly looking at taking this up again particularly as the new blackberry and smart phones enable you to connect to a PC and use the phone as a modem (something my old blackberry wouldn't do). Or as you say simply put the SIM in an unlocked dongle.

 

[Randonneur]

WiFi phone

Many thanks for everybody's help. I have just ordered an unlocked Dual Sim WiFi Touch Screen Phone that will, hopefully, allow me to use my French PayGo Sim and also the UK T Mobile PayGo sim we have(we only use this when we visit the UK) or a Portugese PayGo sim that we intend to purchase. This will mean that when we are out and about we only have to take one phone and get our emails without taking the laptop. We will then use the laptop when it is more convenient. I am hoping that this will work for us but we can only try. Most of the year we are in France but we intend spending 2 months in the Winter in Portugal.

 

[wireman]

I will be upgrading mine phone to the HTC HD2 soon, much better screen size.

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[hilldweller]

Just ordered one......
Link Removed

This might be all I need on holiday and takes up no room at all, worth a try at this price.

Brilliant service - arrived today.

Now I am very sad. It's a little gem. A screen to die for and a keyboard good enough for real use. It connected to my WiFi. It connected to FUN. BUT as soon as I tried to post a comment right here it crashed. Every time.

Also it was terribly slow rendering a FUN page, 20 seconds, not good.

It was B Grade and must have been a return faulty they just shipped out again.

The other failing which I should have realised is that it has no way of backing up my photos on holiday which is essential to me.

This is going to cost me - the format is perfect - I just need this machine with more storage and conventional windows and this will not come cheap.

 

[hilldweller]

I will be upgrading mine phone to the HTC HD2 soon, much better screen size.

Green with envy - looks stunning.

 

[John The Foot]

Had an HTC HD2 now since Christmas, brilliant screen & works really well as a modem for my laptop so that I've got real keys to push. I find the HTC to sensitive to touch at the wrong times especially when trying to mesig,I have to keep going backwards to correct the spelling etc. After using Nokia for the last god only knows amount of years it is really awkward getting used to the functions,mainly communicators the last one being an E90 until I went to the 5800 which does nearly all that the HTC (Hard To Control) does apart from screen size and resolution obviously. My advice to any one considering one try it out first, mainly the qwerty touch screen, don't be fooled by the amazing screen. I suppose you could say I am quite disappointed.:Sad:

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[hilldweller]

Had an HTC HD2 now since Christmas,
I suppose you could say I am quite disappointed.:Sad:

Oh dear. Another dream gone.

Are you typing with fingers or stylus ? In fact does it even have a stylus ?

My old HTC is a bit small for fingers so I generally use a stylus, which is built in.

 

[JJ]

For what it is worth I have been a Nokia man for years... I used to have the communicators but now use a Nokia E61i.

For picking up and sending emails when you are in an unlocked wi-fi hotspot it is perfect. Yes it is slow to browse the web but it can. The speed depends on the connection as well as the phone.

Through my trusty E61i and its qwerty keyboard it sends and receives emails, texts and phone calls. It plays my music and films. It has posted stuff on my blog. I play my favourite games on it (Tetris, Backgammon and chess). It is an alarm clock, a diary, a notebook and I update my spread sheet on it. The camera takes stills and video. It has e-books on it and lots more stuff...

All of this (except the Tetris) (and naturally the calls and texts) cost me nothing... no payments to Itunes (I load the music from all normal sources)

But... as you all know there is always a but...



It is NOT TRENDY, it has NOT been backed by a huge marketing machine, I did not have to queue up around the corner to buy it and so when I use it people don't go "Wow... an E61, that is COOL"

JJ

Nokia ROOLS (along with Kipor and rear wheel drive...)

 

[Douglas]

Brilliant service - arrived today.

Now I am very sad. It's a little gem. A screen to die for and a keyboard good enough for real use. It connected to my WiFi. It connected to FUN. BUT as soon as I tried to post a comment right here it crashed. Every time.

Also it was terribly slow rendering a FUN page, 20 seconds, not good.

It was B Grade and must have been a return faulty they just shipped out again.

The other failing which I should have realised is that it has no way of backing up my photos on holiday which is essential to me.

This is going to cost me - the format is perfect - I just need this machine with more storage and conventional windows and this will not come cheap.

Oh Dear! sorry to hear that your purchase was not as you expected, could it be that you made a decision too quickly?

Doug...

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[hilldweller]

Oh Dear! sorry to hear that your purchase was not as you expected, could it be that you made a decision too quickly?
Doug...

I often do. Especially in this ebay world. But full marks to Maplin, immediate refund.

Got it right second time, the Toshiba NB100 exceeds all expectations. The 1024 x 600 screen beats any phone, which is how this thread started out.

 

[John The Foot]

Oh dear. Another dream gone.

Are you typing with fingers or stylus ? In fact does it even have a stylus ?

My old HTC is a bit small for fingers so I generally use a stylus, which is built in.

The HD2 screen is the same type as an I phone, works on capacitive touch system, the lightest touch with finger but no response from a stylus, which is a shame.

 

[hilldweller]

The HD2 screen is the same type as an I phone, works on capacitive touch system, the lightest touch with finger but no response from a stylus, which is a shame.

That's sounds a bit backwards. Windows mobile will do pretty good handwriting recognition using a stylus.

But on the other hand, the very light touch "gesturing" look a great selling point.

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