Does anyone know who is the best / cheapest provider of services like http://www.net2roam.com/ and http://www.dialer.net/ and others ???

I will be getting a laptop soon as I need to work from different locations. Usually in the UK but occasionally from abroad.

I would like to connect from home with broadband, but also from mobile whilst on the move.

Any comments / suggestions would be gratefully received.

wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2005 at 8:40am:

Does anyone know who is the best / cheapest provider of services like http://www.net2roam.com/ and http://www.dialer.net/ and others ??? I will be getting a laptop soon as I need to work from different locations. Usually in the UK but occasionally from abroad. I would like to connect from home with broadband, but also from mobile whilst on the move. Any comments / suggestions would be gratefully received.

Using a laptop on the move is only cheap if you can get access to an ordinary landline with a socket to plug a modem into.  If you can then www.fast4.net provide the cheapest unlimited internet access on any phone line deal using an 0808 number.

If you need to use a mobile its either a painfully slow and hopeless GSM connection using an adapater and your minutes or you get to pay megabucks for data at prices 1000 times higher than ADSL on GPRS and 3G.

Accessing the internet on the move with a laptop is a major hassle and the current business model always seems to assume you are a businessman who is quite prepared to be ripped off!  Who knows perhaps in 3 years time they will realise that students want to use the internet when they are on the move too.

Think about using Onspeed in conjunction with the dialup access as it will compress the data on average by a factor of 5, making it cheaper and faster.

wrote on May 22^nd, 2005 at 6:13pm:

Think about using Onspeed in conjunction with the dialup access as it will compress the data on average by a factor of 5, making it cheaper and faster.

I tried Onspeed before this exchange had broadband enabled and I had to ask for a refund it was so useless.

All it does is strip out the resolution of graphics content from websites to create the illusion of achieving a higher connection speed.

wrote on May 22^nd, 2005 at 6:15pm:

I tried Onspeed before this exchange had broadband enabled and I had to ask for a refund it was so useless. All it does is strip out the resolution of graphics content from websites to create the illusion of achieving a higher connection speed.

The old adage saying “If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is” used to spring to mind whenever I saw their ads.  Was I right then?

wrote on May 22^nd, 2005 at 6:29pm:

The old adage saying “If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is” used to spring to mind whenever I saw their ads.  Was I right then?

Yes you are right.

Also OnSpeed's business will soon be dead in the water given the way that broadband prices are set to fall below 0800 dialup price in the next 12 months whilst less than 1% of phone lines will soon also be without a capacity to connect to broadband.