Pay as you go interweb??

[matthat]

My mate is a bit of a steptoe with technology (only had color tv 5 yrs) and parting with cash!! He's purchased a laptop so his partner can contact home abroad. What is the cheapest and easiest setup for internet for a low user It will get used mainly for e-mails and the occasional skype call. I doubt there will be much surfing at all and definitely no streaming and downloading.
I've started to set him up with a mobile dongle but it seems a faff i'm going to go round in a bit and try and get it going but with no internet at his and i bet it will need downloads straight away i can see it being another non starter. My thoughts are a payg landline broadband does it exist??

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Pay as you go broadband is generally considered to be 3g / 4g mobile services.
Cheap landline broadband services usually come as part of a deal including phone contract and landline rental so the companies can make money at some point.
Its worth remembering that exceptionally cheap services generally means the company lacks the money to invest in improving the network over time.

Cheapest ISP at the moment is probably Primus who offer a service at £2 plus line rental at £10 for six months, once this period has ended the broadband cost becomes £4.... no idea what they are like but they have UK call centres for support so at least you can understand who the hell your talking to if you have problems.

 

[Pale Rider]

The dongle will allow access to its own site, so it will set up OK with no other access available.

If your mate has a good mobile signal in the house it will be a good solution.

Dongle access via 3G - third generation signal - is quite speedy.

But the signal strength is a big 'if' and a hard one to answer unless you try it.

 

[matthat]

He's quite hi up and near city centre, I get a pretty good signal on my phone when there so will see how we get on. If all else fails i'm gonna get him to part with some cash and sign up to a no frill service of some description, cheers folks

 

[Pale Rider]

If you do try a dongle, you may find it works better on the end of a short USB extension lead - the lead acts as an aerial and some dongles seem to work better a little way from the laptop.

 

[Pale Rider]

Another tip, assuming you get it going.

Your mate wants email, a simple combination of the Google Chrome browser and Gmail will be less resource heavy than, say, Explorer and Hotmail.

 

[matthat]

Another tip, assuming you get it going.

Your mate wants email, a simple combination of the Google Chrome browser and Gmail will be less resource heavy than, say, Explorer and Hotmail.

Cheers for that one but I was already on it!! I'm fairly savvy just not completely!! Cheers for the tip!