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Thread: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

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    Zzzzzzz sleepyhead's Avatar
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    Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    After suggestions of who to look at for 1 month broadband contracts. Cheap as possible without sacrificing quality or heavily restricted nor try and catch me out with a one time installation fee..

    I need broadband for a month maybe two at max at my mum's flat where I am temporarily located whilst I sort out Japan/failing Japan, landing a new job.

    Speed isn't a huge issue, anything like 2mbps is fine (apparently the flat can get 6.5mbps) for download but I may need something flexible or reasonable for traffic limit - I may have to do course and if so, need to download the required learning documents to prepare for the exam.

    I've seen them as cheap as £9.99 a month but that came with a a high set up fee.

    BeThere is available but they only go down as far as 3 months for just over £20 a month but with a £24 setup fee...and with no job = no income, that's a little on the "ouch" side for me.

    Oh I am looking at ADSL24 (who I was with whilst up near work) however they have a £47 setup fee...

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    Senior Member burble's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    I doubt you'll find a one month contract with no installation fees as the ISP will have to pay Openreach to do the setup and over a single months rental they'll end up making a loss.

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    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Buy a pay as you go 3G dongle, so long as you are in an area with 3G coverage. T-mobile do one, although it has a 3G/mo FUP (better than everyone else though).
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Does she have sky?

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    Zzzzzzz sleepyhead's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Hmm ok so I guess I just have to take a hit on the connection fee...

    Nope, my mum doesn't have sky.

    3G coverage is..well..not really. Dongle was a good idea though, I was thinking of maybe tethering my phone and do it that way - though I dont know how to on Android 2.1 and not had 2.2 pushed out to me via the air waves (Nexus One user).

    So with BeThere, I can be up and running in 2 weeks and have a total outlay of £80 something for the 3 months useage.

    Any other ISPs you guys can recommend?

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    Moderator DavidM's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    I'd second Steve's suggestion - as BT take a long time to reconnect, I'll probably use this method when I next move.

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    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Tethering on 2.1 is easy - just connect it and tell it to share its network connection. On Linux it just appears as a USB ethernet adapter. On windows I think you need to install a driver for it (typical).

    To elaborate on my earlier recommendation: When I moved into the place I'm in now, it took about three weeks to get a phone line in and Internet online. I used a t-mobile PayG dongle attached to my draytek router during that time - worked great. But that said, I do live in a part of Bristol with good-ish 3G coverage.
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    I got one of those Three MiFi wifi-router-access-point things.

    Works pretty well, especially as its self powered and you can position it to get the best 3G signal.

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    Zzzzzzz sleepyhead's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve View Post
    Tethering on 2.1 is easy - just connect it and tell it to share its network connection. On Linux it just appears as a USB ethernet adapter. On windows I think you need to install a driver for it (typical).

    To elaborate on my earlier recommendation: When I moved into the place I'm in now, it took about three weeks to get a phone line in and Internet online. I used a t-mobile PayG dongle attached to my draytek router during that time - worked great. But that said, I do live in a part of Bristol with good-ish 3G coverage.
    Hmm! Any idea on where to look for a driver for windows to enable tethering? Alternatively I can just try and update my phone manually to 2.2 Just need to "man-up" and give it a go...

    There is no 3G reception however I wonder if 2G/EDGE is good enough? I'm patient enough to wait.

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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    The driver (if required) should come with the phone. I know you are looking at tethering a phone (essentially makes the phone look like a modem) but my Vodafone domgle (using one of the standard Huwaii chipsets) had a Windows app and driver withit (built into the dongle!) but the Linux driver was built in to trhe distro.

    Sounds similar story with the Android - did the phone come with a CD?
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    Zzzzzzz sleepyhead's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    The driver (if required) should come with the phone. I know you are looking at tethering a phone (essentially makes the phone look like a modem) but my Vodafone domgle (using one of the standard Huwaii chipsets) had a Windows app and driver withit (built into the dongle!) but the Linux driver was built in to trhe distro.

    Sounds similar story with the Android - did the phone come with a CD?
    Nope. No CD. Just the phone, and some ancillaries. I'll give it a whirl tonight to see if I can do anything with the phone other than copy stuff to the SD card...

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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    I'd third (or howeverth many) the 3G dongle suggestion if you can get any 3G reception. If you can't, talk to all the providers about GPRS / EDGE fallback, as a lot of dongles support it poorly, or will use a very bad 3G connection in preference. I believe some dongles can be forced to a 2G connection more easily than others. On the other hand, if you have some 3G reception but it's not great you may find that you get almost uncontended bandwidth. When I moved from Salford to South Manchester I didn't get any better signal, but my average bandwidth went up dramatically simply because there is far less 3G traffic out here...

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    Zzzzzzz sleepyhead's Avatar
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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Good call ScaryJim...3G is available round my mum's flat only it's so weak that it drops out 99% of the time. But, if what you say is true...then tethering my phone would work a treat. Seeing as I have unlimited internet (subject to FUP as per usual) I'll make good use of it instead of splashing out £100 or so just for temporary broadband.

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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    Might be worth looking at the Mifi units. Pretty much all the providers offer them now and of course you can place it for optimal reception. You might even find one that allows an external antenna so you can scrape a 3g service, or getting it high up and running a wifi connection to it might work too.

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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    On my desire when i plug it into computer via usb i get a popup on phone asking whether i want to share my phones internet connection - this is the way i do it for my laptop or you can do it over bluetooth.

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    Re: Short Term (1 month) ISP contracts

    I would say BeThere, but as you say it would probably end up costing 80 quid over the three months, which isn't awful considering. Just need to make sure it is available in your mums area. Remember the sooner you sign up the quicker the 3 months will last Try heading through quidco you might get it a bit cheaper too.

    Other option is plusnet, they let you sign up on a month by month basis, great if you live in a highly competitive area, but you have to pay upfront connection and router fee (should you need the router).
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