internet connection

Hi I am new here and looking for a bit of advice please.  I intend to spend the Summer months in Murica, I need to have internet connection to read my emails, and hopefully use sype to make call back home to the UK.

Can anyone tell me the best way to do this please.  I did read about buying a dongle at a Spanish Vodafone shop ?  Also considering buying an I Phone to solve the problem ??? help needed, thank you

I suspect that by buying a dongle is going to be your best bet.  Obviously you will need to know whether or not you can get coverage in your area.  We have just done the reverse on returning to the uk for 3 weeks and have got a pay as you go setup.  Just bought the dongle and £10.00 top up and when got home, just connected.  This gives us 1gb to use withing the month so is good enough for us.  I also suspect that you can get the same sort of package over there.  Good luck

thank you for that jimboffin, from what I have read it would be best to go into the vodafone shop in Spain so they can set it up, did you find it was easy to do ? meaning if you didn't speak Enlgish and had bought your dongle over here, would you have had problems setting up ? 

I have looked at the Spanish website (in English) but don't know if I will have to go into a big town such as Benidorm or Alicante to find one ?

All I got was the dongle and a separate sim card that needs to be inserted in the dongle.  You then just connect it to a USB port on your computer and follow the setup procedure (i.e. don't let windows do an installation for you) just follow the dongle setup and there you have it - as simple as that.  I suppose if you go to a larger town to purchase, you have a better chance of someone speaking English.

Good luck

Many thanks I will give it a go and if I don't get connected what's the worst that can happen, I loose contact with work and I don't get to pay my bills, sounds a bit like more rest and relaxtion to me !!!!

Hi

You can get the dongle in the Vodafone shop in Torriveija , they also speak English and will explain how to got about setting it up, it is very easy. 

Thank you gerkinsella, Torriveija would be much better for me to get too than Alicante or Benidorm so that's good news, I can enjoy a stroll along that very long prom, had to give up last time it went on and on and on !  Thank you

Hi Sholly

We, too, were wondering if buying a dongle would suit our needs. We are in Guardamar area. We went to IBER-TECH http://www.iber-tech.com/ in Quesada who are English. They were very knowledgeable but when I said I wanted to Skype they said it took a lot from your credit although accessing/sending emails was ok. We ended up having the internet installed at our property even though it cost a lot. At least then I had what I wanted.

We had to take my netbook there a few weeks ago as a virus shut it down  We'd rung around & most were 60€ for repairing but they charged a fixed fee of 40€ & we had it back in a few hours too. Great service & very friendly people.

Get in touch with them on their queries form http://www.iber-tech.com/index.php?pg=5

Hi Morerosado, yes I wanted to use it to call home using skype, so it would be a skype to skype call, i wonder if that still zaps your credit, this is all very confusing isn't it.  I will check out that link thank you

Wouldn't it be best just to take your laptop to an wifi cafe to Skype & send/receive emails, as we did for months? Luckily we have two within spitting distance with free wifi if you buy a coffee or a beer. Yes, a dongle gives you privacy I know. Inter-tech will advise anyway. Good luck.

just telephoned info tech (I am still in the UK) the guy was really helpful and yes he suggested using their cafe to connect, I am going to use a combination of a dongle (which I will purchase from him) and his internet cafe', he will set up the dongle for me he says.

 I will use the dongle connection in the evening to talk to my "beloved" at home in the UK, (earning the pennies) via skype.  He explained to me that yes the skype to sype call is free but I will be getting charged for the mega bites used (makes perfect sense now !) 

Well that is one little problem solved, no two, I have found a Church to attend and an internet connection I now just need to hire a car for 6 weeks, somehow that sounds like big buck to me

Just be careful with dongles.  You are essentially paying for sending and receiving data.

If you leave it on all the time, your PC and some software will check the internet and download updates.  Some of these can be very large files meaning they could use up your data quota quite quickly.

I would suggest turning auto updates off on your laptop and switch it back on when back home on a normal connection.

You also have to make sure there is a 3G signal in our area or else you will be stuck on the much slower GPRS type connection, which I don't think would work well for Skype.

Let us know how you get on.

Justin

So, Sholly, where will you ACTUALLY be whilst in the CB? You said Murcia.

Inter-tech is a shop, it has a carousel of six terminals, it is NOT an internet cafe. If you want an internet CAFE where you can access wifi (saving your dongle ) & have a beer/coffee etc I can suggest a few in the area of Iber-tech but you aren't in that area, or ARE you?

I'm glad you contacted Iber-tech. They got me onto Windows Live Mail so I can work offline (I don't obviously need to now as I'm connected at home) after I'd started having trouble using Googlemail offline. That was at the time Google had issues with China & they thought it could've been that as Google had added more security. Since I've been using WLM I've had no problems.

Hoping to be in Spain within the month, but definitely feel like a dinosaur over these internet connections!!  

If I take my laptop to one of these cafes do I need any special leads (apart from those supplied with the laptop) to hook up to their system, if I don't go down the dongle route?  Would hate to go to one of these cafes, only to be thwarted at the final hurdle!!

I think that I'm too embarrassed to ask my grand-daughter the above questions!!  I'd lose the reputation of being cool!!!

Most places  .. certainly Lo Marabu cafe by Laguna hotel, Rayz cafe on El Raso & Jenning's bar also on El Raso  .. give you a code to put into your laptop. When you initially go into a wifi location your laptop says it detects a wifi area & asks 'do you want to connect?' You click 'connect'  then it needs the code. Some places are UNsecured so no code needed. After the first time your laptop automatically accesses the wifi.

ALL those places allow you to plug in with your leads, nothing else needed, but you obviously NEED to be by a socket & these are limited. They only have one or two in Jennings & Rayz though Lo Marabu has a few more just don't go to Lo Marabu between 5 & 7pm as a pint of beer between 5 & 6pm is 1.50€ & between 6 & 7pm it's only 1€!! NOISY!! You MAY need to rely on your battery.

Note: These are free wifi LOCATIONS & not exactly INTERNET CAFES so they are more interested in selling you a coffee etc than you logging on.

Thanks for all the info - it will certainly stop me from getting "egg on my face"!!!

just love the confusion of the internet connections...... the more I know the less I can do !! lol

thanks Justin re leaving the pc on and auto updates, that's much appreciated advice.

Morerasado :-  I will be in the Corvera Golf Complex, I will have a car, just hired one today, still lying on the floor trying to get over the cost !!! So now I know where I am, am I way off the beat for a an Iber Tech shop, if I am, don't laugh................. on my status I put my interest as "Geography" !!

Sholly, you are MILES away!

On Iber-tech's website they gave you a , it was on the page where you contact them.

http://www.iber-tech.com/index.php?pg=5

So ........ BACK TO SQUARE ONE! Geography, lol.

Hi Sholly

You will be able to obtain usb internet dongle in Murcia city or Cartagena in one of the many mobile phone shops.

morerasado...... yep story of my life, only took me 20 years to find a Husband ! Square one is an understatement ! 

Thank you Roddy 1, do you know if any of them are English speaking as I will need them to set it up for me