Internet In Europe

[biggirafe]

This is starting to make sense casting my mind back, when I first went full time.

When I had a house I had bt broadband, But because I no longer owned a land line I had to terminate the service.( cost me a lot of money too)

So in your case,futureintentions, if you donate the box to someone trustworthy, and offer their address for all intents and purposes as your new residence. ( for example I use a parental address for bank accounts insurance etc) there is no reason why you couldnt use the fon network.

You in effect provide them with free broadband, they pay for calls outside the monthly allowance.So two for one as if were.

£25 -£30 per month assuming no hidden roaming ? charges, Sounds aperfect solution to me.

In my case I still think it is the dongle idea.

Channa

As barry says for me it will cost nothing more than buying the FON box you don't have to have a BT broadband connection you can just buy the box on a one off £39 and plug it onto any connection

When we go away I'll plug it into my dads network at his house. No monthly charge for me at all.

 

[maingate]

Patience barryd, all will be revealed.

 

[biggirafe]

Well thats not an issue for me as I live in the middle of nowhere so would gladly share full bandwidth as nobody will want to use it and when I am away I always leave the aDSL line on and connected anyway. If I full time I will just register or give the box to my sister (she wont know what it is anyway).

Bit worrying about the signal being crap but only testing with the wifi antenna will show if it works. BT Openzone I have picked up. Are you saying if your a FON member you will be able to login and use it? Are there any others in say France you can log into. I remember picking one up all the time in France in most towns but I cant for the life of me remember the network. There may be loads of options for subscription wifi. Just needs a bit more exploring.

Not sure how to mount the repeatIT unit. I think it will work inside the van but clearly would be better pole mounted outside. You couldnt really drive with it though. Ideally I would like it mounted so I can turn it from inside the van and point it in the general direction of say a town a mile away. Dont really want to be hanging wires out of the window. Problem is I can sort out IT solutions but I am crap at drilling holes and stuff.

BD

Yes from what i read BT Open Zone and FON can use each others networks
News article - News - BT Openzone

I'm not sure what FON would show up as in Europe and that bit I'm trying to check but they are definatley there as they are a spanish company and also BT Openzone has a pretty big presence as well. I can see me spending money before this day is out but I want tocheck out some French users before I spend any money

Yep same here I'm not happy drilling anymore holes, it took me 2 weeks to pluck up the courage to drill the hole for the Solar Panel. I'm looking at mounting an internal arial inside the wardrobe as high as possible. I don't think your better half would be happy with a 14 element arial hanging from the ceiling on a rotating base

 

[Nolly]

Braved the snow today to try and find the best solution for an internet connection for tourists in France.
Carrfour were the most helpful where you can buy a cle internet 3G+ Sans engagement for 69€ with a 40€ refund from SFR. 3hrs connection is included in the price. Then you buy as you surf. 1hr 7€, 3hrs 16€, 8hrs 26€,15hrs, 39€ Each one is valid for 15 days. Or you can buy 1 day (24hrs) for 9€ which will be only valid for the day.
A French address is not needed.
Hope this helps

 

[biggirafe]

Braved the snow today to try and find the best solution for an internet connection for tourists in France.
Carrfour were the most helpful where you can buy a cle internet 3G+ Sans engagement for 69€ with a 40€ refund from SFR. 3hrs connection is included in the price. Then you buy as you surf. 1hr 7€, 3hrs 16€, 8hrs 26€,15hrs, 39€ Each one is valid for 15 days. Or you can buy 1 day (24hrs) for 9€ which will be only valid for the day.
A French address is not needed.
Hope this helps

Very helpful, thanks for the reply, looks useful please let me know how you get on with finding 3g connections in France

 

[maingate]

I do not know if it will be suitable, some time ago I came across an aerial that clips on to the wing mirror. It was not that expensive either.

You will need to google it to check.

 

[Channa]

Braved the snow today to try and find the best solution for an internet connection for tourists in France.
Carrfour were the most helpful where you can buy a cle internet 3G+ Sans engagement for 69€ with a 40€ refund from SFR. 3hrs connection is included in the price. Then you buy as you surf. 1hr 7€, 3hrs 16€, 8hrs 26€,15hrs, 39€ Each one is valid for 15 days. Or you can buy 1 day (24hrs) for 9€ which will be only valid for the day.
A French address is not needed.
Hope this helps

Very helpful, but a tad expensive compared to dongles here...I think

Channa

 

[barryd]

My thoughts as well Channa

7 Euro for 1 hour!! Why is it so expensive in France? I get 3GB on my Vodafone dongle which is tons and tons of usage in the van for £15 per month. Unlimited usage on my mobile as part of the contract as well. I would be more than happy to pay double that for EU use but nobodys listenting!

Either mobile broadband is not popular over there or people are paying through the nose for it. I suspect the former as from my experience the French we met arnt exactly wealthy and dont like wasting money.

BD

 

[Channa]

I certainly think if the hi gain antenna mentioned and the fon system is as good as it seems....the way to go !

I think I may too part with money and get my Mum and Dad to fit the box, On their system.


Channa

 

[barryd]

Lets keep the post going and share our findings. I will definatly get the RepeatIT antenna and report on its performance and probably the FON thingy too

 

[Nolly]

I agree, and as a resident in France if i was going down this road I would opt for the unlimited internet use by sighning up for 24 months with orange or SFR @ 29.90€ per month.
For this a French address and French bank account are needed. Not much use for tourists I guess.
We,ve had good feedback from people of all nationalities who holiday on the French canals about the free wifi conections available and they have a limited scope being confined to the waterways.
We hope to head down to the med as soon as the weather breaks and we will be trying this out.

 

[Nolly]

My thoughts as well Channa

7 Euro for 1 hour!! Why is it so expensive in France? I get 3GB on my Vodafone dongle which is tons and tons of usage in the van for £15 per month. Unlimited usage on my mobile as part of the contract as well. I would be more than happy to pay double that for EU use but nobodys listenting!

Either mobile broadband is not popular over there or people are paying through the nose for it. I suspect the former as from my experience the French we met arnt exactly wealthy and dont like wasting money.

BD

Sorry guys you asked the question so i thought I would get the answere straight from the horses mouth. I think the free wifi connection is the way to go, Hope to give you some feedback in a week or 2.

 

[biggirafe]

Sorry guys you asked the question so i thought I would get the answere straight from the horses mouth. I think the free wifi connection is the way to go, Hope to give you some feedback in a week or 2.

Actually I don't think its a bad way to go as an emergency back up, spending 7E every 15 days to ensure you have access when you can't get onto a wifi connection is not that bad a deal. You can do a lot of surfing in 1 hour and also can top up again if needed.

From memory if you fail to topup a prepay dongle thats not a problem as when you try to connect they will take you to payment web page where you can then top up. Can anyone confirm that?

I agree with the guys that as an everyday connection it would work out expensive if all you do is email and upload a few photos to a blog each day.

Do you know Nolly can the sim be put into a phone and used to make standard calls if needed?

 

[barryd]

Actually I don't think its a bad way to go as an emergency back up, spending 7E every 15 days to ensure you have access when you can't get onto a wifi connection is not that bad a deal. You can do a lot of surfing in 1 hour and also can top up again if needed.

From memory if you fail to topup a prepay dongle thats not a problem as when you try to connect they will take you to payment web page where you can then top up. Can anyone confirm that?

I agree with the guys that as an everyday connection it would work out expensive if all you do is email and upload a few photos to a blog each day.

Do you know Nolly can the sim be put into a phone and used to make standard calls if needed?

But bear in mind Mark that if you havent got a 3G connection you can spend ages on a 2G trying to find the info you need. On this trip our connection has always worked but is crap and slow most of the time (Thanks for the 3G tip by the way it works here). Just compiling a list of CL's or wild spots for the next part of the trip can take a couple of hours. Still ok as a backup though I suppose. It would be so much better if you could buy say 3GB of usage for say 30 euros. That would easily last a month or so. much better than time allocated units.

Thanks Nolly for your info its greatly appreciated to have someone actually in France giving us info from the Horses mouth as you say.

 

[Nolly]

Actually I don't think its a bad way to go as an emergency back up, spending 7E every 15 days to ensure you have access when you can't get onto a wifi connection is not that bad a deal. You can do a lot of surfing in 1 hour and also can top up again if needed.

From memory if you fail to topup a prepay dongle thats not a problem as when you try to connect they will take you to payment web page where you can then top up. Can anyone confirm that?

I agree with the guys that as an everyday connection it would work out expensive if all you do is email and upload a few photos to a blog each day.

Do you know Nolly can the sim be put into a phone and used to make standard calls if needed?

Thanks for that bit of positive response, you obviously realise that with a short or no contract its difficult to get a competitive tarrif. I dont think its such a bad deal short term as you can also juggle it with the free wifi conections avaiable. Also remember you have 3hrs conection with the purchase.
In answere to your question I am not sure but will find out for you.
Cheers.

 

[biggirafe]

But bear in mind Mark that if you havent got a 3G connection you can spend ages on a 2G trying to find the info you need. On this trip our connection has always worked but is crap and slow most of the time

It would be so much better if you could buy say 3GB of usage for say 30 euros. That would easily last a month or so. much better than time allocated units.

Agreed paying for 3g and then only getting a grps connection is bloody annoying expecially when you can see other 3g networks are available but can't connect. I wonder if unlocking the dongle allows you to do that Hmmmm

Yep your right about gb's

 

[Channa]

. It would be so much better if you could buy say 3GB of usage for say 30 euros. That would easily last a month or so. much better than time allocated units.

Thanks Nolly for your info its greatly appreciated to have someone actually in France giving us info from the Horses mouth as you say.

I agree thanks Nolly from our correspondant in France.

Here I pay, £15 for 3gb, on a 3G dongle, it seems on face value the French tarriffs differ significantly.

Channa

 

[Nolly]

I have just googled "free wifi in France." Found "JIwire global wifi finder".
They say that there are 26272 free wifi sites in France alone. Just click onto the region and then the towns for the location of each site. Could be useful me thinks.

 

[Nosha]

BT Home hub - FREE wi-fi

I've just changed from Orange to BT with their free Home up, if you then open up the free port on your hub, this then gives you 250mins of FREE wi-fi a month through anyone elses hub.

It's linked in with FON network which covers Europe, I checked the map of France and there's quite a bit of coverage, certainly it will cover where we are going later this year.

Take a look via BT: broadband, TV, phone, home & business and the FON network coverage.

 

[maingate]

Hi Biggirafe,

If you go to Motorhome Facts, there is a big thread on Long range WiFi Aerials. You might pick up some useful info.