A few weeks ago I was reading the popular finance magazine Moneyweek, and saw they had a section on choosing a cost effective broadband internet supplier. They concluded that the cheapest and most convenient way to get online was to use an internet cafe. This is absolute rubbish. In my opinion the cheapest and best ways to get online are 1) The local library 2) A broadband dongle 3) Landline internet.
Local library:
Many libraries allow you to make an advance booking to use the internet for 2 hours a day. It's absolutely free, but you have to be a member of the library. It's got all the facilities of an internet cafe with the ability to download files onto your own memory sticks. I was very impressed. The drawback is that library opening times may not suit you, and you only have limited time to use the internet.
Broadband dongle:
This is a small USB stick which plugs into the side of your laptop or computer. The company "3" are currently doing £15 per month for 15GB of internet usage on their USB "dongle". There's no hidden charges and its nice and portable, so you can use the internet anywhere. This is the one I'm going to get next. Downside is the 15GB limit, but its highly unlike;y anybody will ever approach this. I am a very heavy internet user and I only get through 2GB per month. I currently use a dongle from T-Mobile, and have had no problems with it. I am more impressed with it every day, and it even plays Xbox360 games over the internet with no problems at all. I had my doubts at first, but now I love dongles.
Landline internet:
You can get some very good deals here, and the cheapest prices by far, but I find them a hassle due to initial connection problems and also the fact that its not portable. Yes, you can get wireless transmitters, but you can use a dongle with a laptop in the park if you want to. I have had big problems in the past with British Telecom and the ISPs that rent out their phone lines to provide internet connections. Landlines are nice and cheap, the cheapest and best option by far, but the portability factor of an internet dongle is more tantalising to me.
Internet cafe:
The price varies. I looked around and found one cafe in a street charging 50p per hour, with most charging £1 per hour. On the same street, I even found one charging £2 per hour, yet it was packed with customers, proving that people are too lazy to go bargain hunting. The most expensive cafe was 4 times more expensive than the cheapest cafe. Downsides are the opening and closing times, and worrying about data security. The price is very expensive; if you only used 1 hour per day, paying £1 per time, this works out to around £30 per month. How the hell is that a good deal? That's why I prefer dongles.
Mobile phone internet:
Mobile phone internet is currently very slow and plagued with problems, as many internet pages don't display properly and there is a slow connection speed. They are also very expensive with exorbitant internet connection fees. The power on these phone do not last for very long. I'm talking about the top of the range phones such as the iPhone. An absolute and utter joke for the internet, but like the emperors new clothes, people are still praising it.
CONCLUSION:
I was shocked at Moneyweeks claim that internet cafes are the best. If you want to get online for free, go to the library. For everything else, there's an internet dongle.
Local library:
Many libraries allow you to make an advance booking to use the internet for 2 hours a day. It's absolutely free, but you have to be a member of the library. It's got all the facilities of an internet cafe with the ability to download files onto your own memory sticks. I was very impressed. The drawback is that library opening times may not suit you, and you only have limited time to use the internet.
Broadband dongle:
This is a small USB stick which plugs into the side of your laptop or computer. The company "3" are currently doing £15 per month for 15GB of internet usage on their USB "dongle". There's no hidden charges and its nice and portable, so you can use the internet anywhere. This is the one I'm going to get next. Downside is the 15GB limit, but its highly unlike;y anybody will ever approach this. I am a very heavy internet user and I only get through 2GB per month. I currently use a dongle from T-Mobile, and have had no problems with it. I am more impressed with it every day, and it even plays Xbox360 games over the internet with no problems at all. I had my doubts at first, but now I love dongles.
Landline internet:
You can get some very good deals here, and the cheapest prices by far, but I find them a hassle due to initial connection problems and also the fact that its not portable. Yes, you can get wireless transmitters, but you can use a dongle with a laptop in the park if you want to. I have had big problems in the past with British Telecom and the ISPs that rent out their phone lines to provide internet connections. Landlines are nice and cheap, the cheapest and best option by far, but the portability factor of an internet dongle is more tantalising to me.
Internet cafe:
The price varies. I looked around and found one cafe in a street charging 50p per hour, with most charging £1 per hour. On the same street, I even found one charging £2 per hour, yet it was packed with customers, proving that people are too lazy to go bargain hunting. The most expensive cafe was 4 times more expensive than the cheapest cafe. Downsides are the opening and closing times, and worrying about data security. The price is very expensive; if you only used 1 hour per day, paying £1 per time, this works out to around £30 per month. How the hell is that a good deal? That's why I prefer dongles.
Mobile phone internet:
Mobile phone internet is currently very slow and plagued with problems, as many internet pages don't display properly and there is a slow connection speed. They are also very expensive with exorbitant internet connection fees. The power on these phone do not last for very long. I'm talking about the top of the range phones such as the iPhone. An absolute and utter joke for the internet, but like the emperors new clothes, people are still praising it.
CONCLUSION:
I was shocked at Moneyweeks claim that internet cafes are the best. If you want to get online for free, go to the library. For everything else, there's an internet dongle.
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