Cellular Network Data

It's almost a month since I upgraded my O2 pay monthly mobile from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4. It's been nice to get started on the newer phone, learning how to work it and the extra things it can do - including my first FaceTime conversation!

This post, though, is more concerned with the change in O2's cellular charging policy. When the iPhone first came out, there was unlimited data available. It meant you could endlessly surf the internet, check emails, use maps, and all the rest across the 3G and cellular data networks (as long as your battery continued!). Not long after I got my iPhone, I noticed that O2 were changing the contract, and a separate subscription was required for pay monthly data usage - £6 per 500MB or £10 for 1GB. It was in place straight away for new customers, but would only be forced on current customers when their contract finished or an upgrade was completed.

I have to admit, I was worried by these new charges. I would tend to use the mobile web quite a bit, finding it useful to have email on the go, as well as using apps like Lookaly to find restaurant recommendations, Google maps, Facebook, Twitter and all the rest. Would I be caught out by the extra charges? Were O2 going to make a lot more money off me through the new contract when I upgraded?

After the first month, I can safely say they won't be using me to fund their retirement plan. While I may have been slightly cautious on the mobile web, at the end of my first month, it looks a bit like this:



Less than one-fifth of the network data allowance used! It certainly seems that perhaps 500MB is a reasonable allowance and one that I won't be topping any time soon, given that I've been using my phone to navigate to some rural churches as well as updating Facebook and Twitter when I've had opportunity.

Surfing without wires

It is with great delight that I report that we're now wirelessly connected at home. For almost a year, I had been on broadband at home - connected through a USB cable, and it was fine. But then Neil got a laptop for his birthday last week, and he wanted in on the action too. And so we had to upgrade our Orange broadband to the Unlimited wireless one.

It had arrived last week, but without anyone to sign for it and me in Scotland, it was only today that we got the Livebox. So from 12 noon until now, I've been trying to get it set up... Part of the problem was that the installation CD wouldn't work on my laptop, then Neil's new laptop was Vista, then we had signal but no connection, then we had connection but no pages coming up.

But eventually, and thankfully, we have both signal and connection and internet! I'm now able to enjoy freedom in the house when it comes to the internet... no wires - except the power cable as my battery has been run down so much! Neil's so far only on the ethernet cable, but hopefully I'll get his wireless set up soon!

Firefox to the rescue!

Well well... after Internet Explorer causing me so much bother, it looks like Mozilla Firefox is coming to my rescue! Whereas IE would only let me work with one window open (opening a second caused a crash), Firefox is letting me open as many as I want - not that I'm using hundreds or anything... but it will be handier when searching for links to put in postings etc.

So success, for the meantime!

Network problems...

Well, following the optimism of the last posting, and having got Sunday night and Monday afternoon out of the network, it is now failing again... constantly! It's so annoying - the internet is something very useful and helpful (especially as we have no essays waiting to be done at the present time), but it's just not working.

Some of the computer guys in college have been trying their tricks, but nothing seems to help... I can find the network, but it just won't allocate an IP address to me. Rage!!!