Can i use my mobile.......

[flashy]

Can i use the internet usage on my mobile as a kind of internet dongle on my laptop?

Ok that might not have made sense...can i plug my mobile into my laptop and use it to go online through my laptop?

[blazey]

Originally Posted by flashy

Can i use the internet usage on my mobile as a kind of internet dongle on my laptop?

Ok that might not have made sense...can i plug my mobile into my laptop and use it to go online through my laptop?

I don't think there is a way to do that. I've never heard anyone doing it anyway. I think you might find that you would use your internet usage on your phone up pretty quickly doing that anyway because when you access the internet on a phone you usually see 'light' versions of pages to keep the usage down. Even 'unlimited' internet on a phone contract often has a fair share policy and I think even that could be used up quickly on a laptop depending on what you are doing?

[Neil]

Yes you can if your phone supports it but you need to check if your mobile company allow you to on your package. I am not supposed to do it on mine but I do at times.

Its called tethering, try a google for your phone model and tethering to see if you can.
If you can be careful not to go over your allowance or it gets expensive.

[blazey]

Originally Posted by Neil

Yes you can if your phone supports it but you need to check if your mobile company allow you to on your package. I am not supposed to do it on mine but I do at times.

Its called tethering, try a google for your phone model and tethering to see if you can.
If you can be careful not to go over your allowance or it gets expensive.

Pfft.

I suppose you learn something new every day.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by blazey

Pfft.

I suppose you learn something new every day.

What phone have you got?

Many allow you to tether using your phones wifi so it acts like a wireless router and you connect your laptop to it like its a wifi router.

Androids have been doing it natively since 2.2, with 2.1 you needed to use a usb cable. I think you can do it with a iphone but I am not into them so can't say for definite.

[Studio25]

Originally Posted by Neil

...Androids have been doing it natively since 2.2, with 2.1 you needed to use a usb cable. I think you can do it with a iphone but I am not into them so can't say for definite.

If you have an android phone with a data cap, you should also download something like 3G Watchdog (there are plenty of alternatives). It gives you a running total of usage, and zeroes every month if you tell it the day your mobile provider resets their counter.

Unless something has changed with IOS 5 - you can't natively tether a PC (or mac or ipad) to an iPhone's data connection.

[entwisi]

Been doing it for years, very useful when on call.
How much data do you get on your package? Usually its only 500 meg so you would easily use that if you ran windows updates etc. basic browsing is fine, dont try to use iplayer or youtube much as these really east your data allowance.

As neil says, android from 2.2 support s it, nokia symbian s60 via joikuspot, iphones can as well (might need to be jail broken). Not sure about blackberry.

[flashy]

Just 500 meg Ian, i only wanted to know for when i travel long distances on the train and take my laptop with me, its not gonna be used like that all the time

[entwisi]

As long as you avoid youtube/iplayer you should be ok. I use my phone on "full" websites at the caravan on a 500 meg limit and its only when we are there for a fortnight that I end up going over and pay for another 500. Check with your network what happens if you get near and/or want to go over. On mine it just costs another fiver for that month. Other networks vary. I also get a text at 450 to warn me I am getting close

[entwisi]

One other thought, if you do use it make sure you secure it so the spotty youth two seats back doesn't piggy back on your connection and sits downloading naughty pictures on your allowance. You may also find the coverage varies as you jump network cells....

Some trains have wifi anyway dont they?(can you tell I dont do trains that often? )

[Neil]

Virgin trains use T mobile I think.

Is 3 no good signal wise for you Ian, look into their unlimited all you can eat data

[entwisi]

At work only vodafone have a decent network for data. We can get decent voice signal across most networks but only voda have reliable data throughput, probably due to the 4 masts on our building as all corporate mobiles/ blackberries/ipads etc.are all on voda

I'm on O2 currently, I was a little pee'd of as I'd asked the lads on the team before signing up and they still said they had 4 bars, as iphoneistas I assumed they knew what data was....... I've rung O2 and they refuse to look into the mast as its not reporting any errors.. Grrrrr

[Neil]

Thats a shame, all you can eat data is hard to beat. Your not supposed to tether with it I dont think but many will do

[Studio25]

Originally Posted by entwisi

...they still said they had 4 bars, as iphoneistas I assumed they knew what data was...

So the phone signal isn't a good indicator of how good the data connection will be?

[entwisi]

nope, only a measure of the connection strength to the local mast. in my case we have one mast for O2 serving a workplace with over 3.5K people on it. Unfortunately we have a lot of what i term "IT lite" people, those with a basic knowledge but interest in technology but they are also generally quite well paid so happily paid through the nose for iphones/ipads etc when they first come out( only on O2 if you remember back to iphone 2G ). hence at 7:00 am I can get some data but only at 2G speed but come 8:30 when they all rock up to work the poor mast is completely overloaded and data becomes unuseable.

O2 refuse to even look into it as its only a 2G mast but if you ring and ask what its like they will tell you its "good data coverage inside and out".