Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | One more day til my internet's GONE!! Aaaaaaahhhhh!!

Nightmare!

Getting online should be pretty easy, though I'm not 100% sure about being able to get broadband without a landline - unless you have satellite (expensive) or install cable (probably also expensive) but there's some pretty cheap providers out there.

[[Dont' suppose any of you has an Orange contract phone? If you do they're doing free broadband at the minute to anyone with over a �30 monthly contract. Just a thought...]]

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Most providers that you register with will provide a router. All you need to get broadband is to have a landline, plug what's called a microfilter into it (it splits your phone plug into 2 - you plug your phone into one, and your router into the other). You can then connect computers to the router by either wires or wireless (e.g. our router allows 4 connected by wires, and up to 20 via wireless).

To have wireless you need either laptops with built in wireless, or buy a wireless card, which can either plug into your PCMCIA slot or a USB one. Both are pretty cheap now. (Even the good ones are sub �20 now)

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With regards to speed, it depends both on your provider and your equipment:
- The provider limits the speed that the information comes down your phone line - limits tend to be 1Gb, 2Gb or 8Gb, but 1Gb is more than enough unless you're all gonna be online at the same time, and even then still manageable (not like dial-up super slow or anything).
- Your equipment limits the speed at which your computer can receive information from the router. There are currently 3 versions of this at the minute in the UK:

** 802.11a - this is the original wireless, and is fine, but not the most popular for home use. (Just as a side note, 802.11a is what Apple laptops use and Apple wireless, if any one of you has that.) It's the most stable wireless version, but not the fastest.

**802.11b - this is the 'norm', or was at least until a few months ago. This is more than fast enough. You can also get 'turbo' versions, which claim to be up to 30% faster, tho I'm not sure you'd actually notice any difference...

**802.11g - this is the fastest currently available for at home, and is, for instance, the one we have here. Again you can also have 'turbo' versions, but the same caveat applies as above. And 802.11b really is sufficient - certainly don't pay more to upgrade to 802.11g.

Basically your network cards (either built into your laptop, or plugged in as explained above) AND your router will be one of the 3 standards above - bear in mind the network will only work as fast as the slowest part of the chain, so for instance if your laptop is 802.11g but your router is only 802.11b it will only go at the speed of 802.11b.

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Wow, that turned out far more complicated than I intended! If you need a hand let me know.

If I were you I would:

(a) call BT, and find out they status of the lines in your house, how much it would cost to turn them back on (I know it's just gone up, 'cause my mum works at BT - in fact if you give me your address my mum can check out what you'd need to do tomorrow) and also what your quarterly line rental would be - you'd have to pay that even if you didn't buy a phone or even use it (maybe worth having for parents to call you - cheaper for them than calling your mobiles?). Most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) really do need you to have a BT line)

(b) Have a look around all the ISPs - BT, Wannado, Tiscali, AOL etc. Each will charge you a monthly fee for having broadband, based on the speed of your line and your usage limit (I've never known anyone pass their limit, so whatever their lowest is **should** be ok).

Two of the cheapest I can see are Wannado/Orange, at 14.99 a month (1Gb download speed, 2Gb usage limit - plenty) and Tiscali, also 14.99.

I'll have a gander see if I can find anything cheaper...

Right, that's all you need to know!!

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