Wifi / internet connection on road

FULLERpromise

Hi all,

A bit of a novice on this so any simple explanation of what/if can buy to assist.

currently have only ever worked from home on my own home wifi.

looking to take laptop on road and potentially few places in this country where there won’t be wifi access potentially.

so just wondering is there something can buy so when in car, or remote airbnb or what have you that I would be able to buy plug in or something for some sort of access to be able to login and work.

tia

Solidgone

Mobile WiFi device - search Amazon there are plenty to choose from.

FULLERpromise

Solidgone said:

Mobile WiFi device - search Amazon there are plenty to choose from.

That was quick thank you

shine166

Can you not use your phone as a hotspot ? And use you phones data 

SE10Addick

Stick with your phone as a hotspot. Especially if it's got 5g. Most dongles are only 4g.

The problem is that you say some places you'll need it are pretty remote, which in that case, you'll need something like starlink from Elon! I say that in jest though - you don't need that unless internet is critical!!

Solidgone

FULLERpromise said:

Solidgone said:

Mobile WiFi device - search Amazon there are plenty to choose from.

That was quick thank you

I use a mobile wifi device when I’m outside Europe - I’ve watch Charlton TV whilst travelling on a bus in Guatemala. There are some place when it’s difficult to get a signal but generally okay if you buy a local data only SIM card. 

I use this worldwide device. A bit expensive but depends on your need. 

cafcfan

I use a TP-Link mifi. At the moment I have a Three data-only (also UK only) SIM in it which cost about £80.  That was from last summer through to summer 2025 for 80gb a month.
Because my mifi was cheap it will not work in the USA.  The more expensive ones do.   The SIM came from these people https://www.scancom.co.uk/.  Their deals are changing all the time.  I recollect you have to pretend you are a business.

MuttleyCAFC

shine166 said:

Can you not use your phone as a hotspot ? And use you phones data 

I haven't tried it but I would have thought this is the best solution.

BrentfordAddick

Hotspot, yes. Means it'll work if you get a phone signal, which is most places. 

ShootersHillGuru

Had a hand delivered letter from Virgin Media informing that work to developing lightening fast broadband is starting in my road shortly. My current broadband provider is Sky and the house is served by a cable from an adjacent telephone pole in the street. I’m pretty keen to be able to get better broadband than the current providers can offer. Anyone got experience of what this work my road is getting entails and any problems or advice on how Virgin will be connected to my house both outside and inside ? I understand that the telephone pole is still able to be used so I’m mainly interested in what goes on inside the property. TIA

clive

ShootersHillGuru said:

Had a hand delivered letter from Virgin Media informing that work to developing lightening fast broadband is starting in my road shortly. My current broadband provider is Sky and the house is served by a cable from an adjacent telephone pole in the street. I’m pretty keen to be able to get better broadband than the current providers can offer. Anyone got experience of what this work my road is getting entails and any problems or advice on how Virgin will be connected to my house both outside and inside ? I understand that the telephone pole is still able to be used so I’m mainly interested in what goes on inside the property. TIA

 Virgin normally run a cable from a box on the corner of your road & then to a point under the pavement outside the perimeter of your property, they then lay another cable through your house front wall to a location in the house chosen by the customer.

Covered End

They drill a cable sized hole through (probably) the front of your house and the cable connects to a box inside and somewhere outside, pole or box at end of the street.

clive

• Book an installation appointment: After choosing a package, you need to book an installation appointment with Virgin Media. You can select a date and time that works for you, and their team will confirm the appointment via email or phone
• Installation day: On the day of installation, a technician will visit your property to install the necessary equipment, such as a hub and cables. They may also need to drill holes and install sockets if you don't already have them
• Testing and activation: Once the installation is complete, the technician will test the connection and make sure everything is working correctly. You may need to activate your account online or over the phone before you can start using the broadband service.

https://www.cable.co.uk/providers/virgin-media/installation/#:~:text=Installation day:%2

ShootersHillGuru

I’m led to believe that the poles currently used will continue to be utilised and that Virgin use the Openreach ducting to run their cables to the pole and from there to the individual property. I understand they drill to replace the existing phone line with their cable but am interested to know what they need to do inside to “install” their hub. TIA

Covered End

ShootersHillGuru said:

I’m led to believe that the poles currently used will continue to be utilised and that Virgin use the Openreach ducting to run their cables to the pole and from there to the individual property. I understand they drill to replace the existing phone line with their cable but am interested to know what they need to do inside to “install” their hub. TIA

Nothing much really if you want your hub near where the cable enters the house.
The cable will need to run from where it enters the house to where you want your hub/modem and to any other places if say you have TV's in different room you want wired up as well, but some of this could be done wirelessly.

Rob7Lee

ShootersHillGuru said:

I’m led to believe that the poles currently used will continue to be utilised and that Virgin use the Openreach ducting to run their cables to the pole and from there to the individual property. I understand they drill to replace the existing phone line with their cable but am interested to know what they need to do inside to “install” their hub. TIA

If Openreach have ducting, are they not installing their own fibre anytime soon?

bobmunro

Rob7Lee said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

I’m led to believe that the poles currently used will continue to be utilised and that Virgin use the Openreach ducting to run their cables to the pole and from there to the individual property. I understand they drill to replace the existing phone line with their cable but am interested to know what they need to do inside to “install” their hub. TIA

If Openreach have ducting, are they not installing their own fibre anytime soon?

Depends what Openreach's plans are for fibre in that area. We have Openreach ducting for the landline (not that we have one now) which runs from the pole the other side of our lane. They had no plan to install fibre anytime soon so Chehire East contracted to Airband for the rural broadband project. They run their cable from the pole to the house using the same ducting and I've got to say their service is brilliant (900 Mb/s).

Openreach are playing silly buggers though and they have cut the cables and a few weeks ago actually took a chain saw to the pole because it was 'unsafe' - it wasn't. It seems they have been told to sabotage Airband wherever possible, probably because they didn't get the rural broadband contract. They also quoted me £50,000 a few years ago to run a private underground fibre cable to the house - robbing bastards. 

Rob7Lee

bobmunro said:

Rob7Lee said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

I’m led to believe that the poles currently used will continue to be utilised and that Virgin use the Openreach ducting to run their cables to the pole and from there to the individual property. I understand they drill to replace the existing phone line with their cable but am interested to know what they need to do inside to “install” their hub. TIA

If Openreach have ducting, are they not installing their own fibre anytime soon?

Depends what Openreach's plans are for fibre in that area. We have Openreach ducting for the landline (not that we have one now) which runs from the pole the other side of our lane. They had no plan to install fibre anytime soon so Chehire East contracted to Airband for the rural broadband project. They run their cable from the pole to the house using the same ducting and I've got to say their service is brilliant (900 Mb/s).

Openreach are playing silly buggers though and they have cut the cables and a few weeks ago actually took a chain saw to the pole because it was 'unsafe' - it wasn't. It seems they have been told to sabotage Airband wherever possible, probably because they didn't get the rural broadband contract. They also quoted me £50,000 a few years ago to run a private underground fibre cable to the house - robbing bastards. 

Yer, agree on Openreach, we have fibre to the box (which is about 100 yards from my house) but as yet no plans by openreach to go from box to the houses, annoying to say the least!

robinofottershaw

We have moved to a village in the Cotswolds and are currently using BT. Best broadband speed they can offer is 18 mbps via the telephone line.

Gigaclear (who specialise in rural broadband) have laid lines along the village roads to enable householders to have FTP broadband from them. Outside our driveway there is a Gigaclear "pod" in the grass verge and all they would have to do is connect a line from that up to our house (they would trench the line and install free of charge). We could then get a package offering either 200 or 300 mbps for a third of what we pay BT, or 500 mpbs for half that BT charge. 900 Mbs would be about 80% of BT. We are hoping to get planning permission to add an extra floor on top of our garage for additional accommodation/office space, which will probably need a dedicated FTP line, but once that is done we will switch to Gigaclear.

ShootersHillGuru

Rob7Lee said:

ShootersHillGuru said:

I’m led to believe that the poles currently used will continue to be utilised and that Virgin use the Openreach ducting to run their cables to the pole and from there to the individual property. I understand they drill to replace the existing phone line with their cable but am interested to know what they need to do inside to “install” their hub. TIA

If Openreach have ducting, are they not installing their own fibre anytime soon?

I’ve used the Openreach postcode availability tool to see if upgrading in my semi rural area is planned and although they say it’s scheduled at some point they also say that there is nothing planned in the immediate future. It’s basically why when I received this letter from Virgin saying they were due to commence work in my street soon, I became very interested. My current Sky broadband is ok but it’s not great. Seems everything you buy these days has the ability to be connected to WiFi and I’ve lost count of the individual pieces of tech that are in the house that are connected. Having a 1Gb download speed would be much better.

Rizzo

We were previously with Virgin and moved to Sky about 18 months ago. We were paying Virgin about £80/month for phone, broadband and TV. Sky basically matched that for £52/month and threw in Netflix on top. That crept up to £66/month recently and Sky have just announced more price rises which would have pushed it back up to the same amount we were paying Virgin previously.

We're now moving back to Virgin and are paying £36/month for faster broadband and the same TV and phone service we used to have plus an O2 sim card for my mobile, which saves me another £6 that I'm currently paying for my SIM-only mobile deal. 

Moral of the story - change provider whenever you can.