Hi,
The following is a overview on the availability of broadband from the UK's mobile phone networks with a slant for newly arrived immigrants to the UK. Up until now, getting a phone line and then an ISP has been tedious at best and a real nightmare at worst, especially when wanting the service in possibly rented accomodation or where previous tenants or setups can and often do cause immense stress and problems.
Recent changes in the UK mobile phone companies availibility for broadband provision via their networks means pricing and provision is improving all the time and is now well within the grasp of many people in a similar way to 'Pay as you Go' services for traditional mobile phones.
For newly arrived immigrants this can be an absolutely fantastic thing to allow rapid access and connections to the Internet - helping to get information, be in contact with friends and family very quickly, and possibly most important of all, get access to important job, visa, bills, council, financial and logistical needs when landing in a new country.
I've just been trialling the Pay as you Go mobile broadband service from '3' - and I'm very impressed with how quick and easy it was to get connected and surfing. The whole process from opening the pack to clicking onto my Yahoo homepage took around 5 minutes - compared to the weeks or even months it took in the past to get a phone line and then an ISP to get connected, this is awesome!
Currently, the '3' deal is £99 for the modem/pack and a minimum 'top up' of credit of £10. No need for any credit checks - again which ordinarily, new immigrants would be likely to fail - so just go to a store, pay and pickup a pack. This option would probably be most suitable for new immigrants with light to average broadband needs as it's capped at 1GB of data per month. Another restriction is the card/SIM needs to have credit applied at least once every 6 months to keep it 'active' (currently I can't remember if it's 3 months)
If you think you require more, you can always move up to more credit when you want it, or go on a monthly contract (once you've built up some UK credit history) which basically costs the same per month, but allows any 'overtime' on the traffic limit being charged a much lower rate than if you did the same on the Pay as you Go option.
Vodafone have announced similar deals within the past few days - they've cut the costs of their service to closer match '3' deals - only a few months ago, the cheapest they did mobile internet access for was £25/month and only on a contract, so much much better from them.
T Mobile also have a similar service - again, pricing is similar to the '3' deal.
The remaining networks Orange and O2 - I beleive are imminently going to announce restructures in this area - keep an eye out for them.
I've only had a chance to test out the service from '3' - No direct experience with the other provider's services. Not all of the UK has full speed access, and where not available - the service may automatically switch to a slower 3G connection and if that signal becomes weak to a GPRS connection. Seeing as some immigrants do indeed live further out in the sticks, these mobile solutions may not suffice. However, for the larger majority who do move to major cities and conurbations, the signal strength and thus high speed, broadband availibility should prove reliable and consistent as the networks are constantly improving.
for further information, visit the shops for each provider in your nearest town and check out their official websites.
For independant reviews and news, feedback and other more technically advanced options take a look at the following sites
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ - lots of advice here all things Internet service related. The forums have a specific section for Wireless internet providers.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/comms/ - UK based site, giving a lot of info on all things IT techy related as well as home based electronics & services etc.
Lastly, there are other more technical ways to use the above services - but for now I'll leave it at the more simpler and default ways as per the above networks advice/solutions
Note to Moderators - Please could this be made a sticky? I guess the electronics section is the best area, but possibly in Moving issues? I'll leave it up to you to decide!
Hope the above helps
Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!
