In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Karen assuming you are not in position to have a land line fitted because of cost or distance , a option would be to purchase (Ebay) an unlocked USB dongle , you could use this plugged into your desktop and if fitted , with for an example a TIM data sim would give you mobile braoadband at reasonable cost , wether it would be quisk enough for the application you are running is another question . I do now that if you had an English Vodafone Data account and used that in Italy the cost would be tremendous , i am not aware what the cost would be to have an Italian Vodafone data account .I have just purchased a USB unit for the next visit to Italy so will have a better idea of speed then . The last time i was in Italy i used a TIM sim installed in a unlocked PCMCIA card but this only fits a laptop , Geoff .
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
The member that might be able to help you is Tuesdaysue. Maybe you could drop her a pm.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Thank you all for your very prompt and helpful replies.
Pigro,
My PC is running XP professional so should be "new" enough.
I will confirm with my IT chap in UK the minimum upload and download I require. I just remember at the time him saying fastest available was best, however have only just upgraded to 7.2meg, started with 4 meg. I do need to both download and upload quickly.
I will talk to my local Vodafone store re availablility.
Again; thanks for the advice.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
How long/often do you need the connection? The "cheap" TIM connection is off peak 5pm to 9am and weekends. If you need other then that the programs are all based on data transfered and can get quite expensive.
No idea how much the USB modems are selling for on Ebay but TIM has various offers on the modems or phones.
Speed? Best thing is to open your TIM phone and see what sort of signal you get. They seem to be upgrading the systems but you'll find it varies alot. FWIW with an E connection here I get about 180kb but it can and does vary. Rarely it doesn't work at all.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Nick,
I "work" for about 20 - 25 hours per week, although I generally leave the connection open for English office hours so that my UK office can communicate and pass work/information to me as required. My work has a 48 hour turnaround/deadline so I don't need to stay connected all day I could just, for example, work every other day and let the work build up, thus reducing online time. Working evenings and weekends is not ideal, but if much cheaper is not out of the question.
Thanks for your help.
Karen
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
The strong Vodafone signal is not necessarily a good indication that mobile broadband will work (unless you have a 3G phone, which you don't mention, so I guess you don't). As pigro says above, you need 3G or HSDPA, and even that will give you 3.6meg at best.
Telecom Italia is very active in the 3G broadband market, and Alice is a subsidiary, so you might get some info by following up with your current supplier.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
The off peak TIM service is 25 Euros a month for 9gig of data transfer. Problem is the cost during 9-5pm. If you can avoid the 9-5 range then I think it's a good deal. Faster then dialup. You can use the best service in your area. HSPDA on down or even wi-fi if there is a local access point.
Hi. I can't offer specific advice on the Italian options but in general:
1) ask someone at your UK employer whether you need the high bandwith (7.2MBit/s is quite high) - you may do, if you are contnually downloadign gigabytes of data to tight deadlines, but other than an extreme scenario, a reliable 2MBit/s connection would usually suffice, and would be much easier to obtain in a rural area - most urban dwellers would still see7.2M as a 'fast' connection. Also ask them whether the high DOWNLOAD is the important part or if a high UPLOAD is also used in your applications (i.e. do you send large voulmes of data as well as receive). If so, you need to find your current upload speed and bear that in mind too when looking at alternatives.
2) Got to the local vodafone shop and ask them whether your country area has 3G or HSDPA coverage. 3G is quite fast and supports "almost broadband" bandwidth. HSDPA is the next evolution, which goes up to around 3.2MBit/s. It's pretty unlikely that you'll have HSDPA, but you may have 3G - if not, you're barking up the wrong tree with mobile broadband. Note that havign an excellnt Vodafone signal for voice calls in an area doesn't mean thatthere is neccesarily going to be ANY 3G coverage ... 3G is rolledout in densely populated areas as thats where you can hit the max number of subscribers with minimum transmission network. It's much less common in rural areas for that reason. It will roll out gradually, but the more rural, the longer/less likely. If they say that you only have GPRS, that would rule it out for serious data use.
3) if the s/w you require to use is pre-installed (and you can't re-install yourself on another PC) you need to check your current PC spec to ensure it would be OK for a mobile broadband solution - i.e. hopefully its Windows XP or above, and it has a free USB port or PC card slot. Basically, if the PC doesn't have enough oomph, or lacks an appropriate connector to put your mobile device into, you're barking up the wrong tree.
4) Note that any published figures for mobile broadband speeds are 'up to' - just like the fixed line ones - but in the caso mobilthrisa much greater likelihood that your position, the environmental conditions, and other users on thesame network may reduce the headline rate very substantially
Hpe that helps