General Chat

Right I am now contemplating buying a tablet

WHen I am out and about will my sky wifi cover me or will I have to take out a mobile contract and need a 'dongle' (i know enough to understand what a dongle does whether I need one is another thing!!!)

Cheers

You guys are great for answering my queries in plain english and not techic talk :-D :-D

Also I have seen the new ads with Joanna Lumley and she is using sky wifi I presume?

It depends on the tablet but it should have built in wifi so that you can use free wifi when out and about.
However I'm not sure what you mean by your Sky wifi and whether it will cover you

You have to be in what is called a wifi hotspot.
You will not pick up your home wifi because you will be too far away from it (they only cover a pretty limited area)

In short, if you have a tablet with built in wifi all that means is that it has the ability to connect to wifi hotspots.
If there is not a wifi hotspot nearby then you would need to connect some other way.
With some tablets you put a mobile sim in them and connect that way - just like a dongle.

When my daughter visited with her ipad she asked what our code (pin) was...then said it does'nt matter she had logged into someone elses wifi as they did'nt have it secured....that was to use the internet, would imagine she could have watched bbci player or itv player if she wished

Errol - now your answer is where I start to get confused. Whilst I understand what a dongle does. If I needed on does that mean I would have to take out a 'mobile' contrat and pay to use wifi?
I only ask as my sky wifi is part of my whole sky package.

Sorry I know I am dim, have read up all about this but none of it is simple enough for me to understand. God I really sound so dumb - just off to dye my hair!!!

:-)

jax that is totally illegal and classed as theft.

PigletsPal - with a dongle you would need to take out a mobile contract - either pay monthly or pay as you go and it can work out quite pricey. As I say, some tablets you put a sim in the tablet itself but it is essentially the same as a dongle.

Not dim at all - it can be a little confusing.

Your Sky package covers you for your home broadband which, if I understand, you are accessing via wifi.

Broadband is the actual internet you are signed up for.
wifi is merely the way you actually access it.

So, in a nutshell...

If you use a dongle or sim you can access the internet virtually anywhere - basically anywhere there is a mobile phone signal. But it costs.

If you use wifi, you can only connect where there is a wifi hotspot which may be a pub, shopping centre, Costa, Macdonalds etc. This is free.

Probably right there Errol...but she is 16 does she care??

I have Sky everything so she was more than welcome to have the pin number

Thanks Errol - you have answered my question. It is as I thought.

Think I will probably see if I can use free but get a dongle in case of an emergency.

Though with sky I would imagine I can do quite well in most areas...

jax tell her to be careful because in the past people have been caught out.

PigletsPal if you get a dongle you may still have to pay monthly or top up regularly even if you don't actually use it.
Town centres tend to have fairly good wifi access

PP if you google Sky Wifi Hotspots it says there are thousands!!

We have BT and there are lots so I imagine Sky will be the same.

I have had an iPad for over 18 months now and don't have wifi.
I find that in most places ,cafes pubs, etc you just ask for their password and you get in.
The things you can't do is get a connection when outside.
My son was over from Oz last year and bought a 3 Mifi which he used for sending emails etc back to Oz as his iPhone wasn't unlocked from his Oz account.
He left it for me and I used up the allotted time when out at a friends who doesn't have Internet I still have it,but am reluctant to pay £10 a month for mobile wifi.
If I was of working age and out a lot ,it would be beneficial to me to have this.......

There's an opinion from a complete old numpty,no real technical knowledge ,but loves her iPad.!...it goes everywhere with me.

PS you can still get your music,games,and photos without wifi...

Brenda, depending on the model, you must be using either wifi (free) to connect or what is called 3G which you pay for.

In cafes etc I would imagine you are using the iPad's and cafes' wifi.

Now you have hit on an issued I need some help on. My laptop has wifi.
I am a Virgin Cable/Media customer.

Anywhere I go where there is a wifi connection it is free or the person has a pin.
Virgin trains it is generally free.

Now my problem is that I want to take my laptop to a house which only has a conventional phone and basic TV away from London - we say in the sticks. No internet or PC anything

What do I need to buy so I can use my laptop online from such places.
:-D :-D

NanaSue do they have a broadband connection?
You have a couple of options.

PP- I think if you have to decide which type of tablet you want before buying as I ended up paying extra for either 3G or 4G when I had no intention of paying for a second internet contract. I went to a drop in centre locally and had it explained that I only needed to find a wifi hotspot so I could have bought a cheaper version of the tablet.
Apart from that I enjoy playing the games. Taking photographs which you can just email to your pc then print them out and reading my emails away from my pc. I think they can be used to download books but I don't enjoy reading. -good idea to ask others about it before buying.-j

Errol - no internet or computer of any kind

I have a stupid samsung galaxy y phone, comes with 1g internet 5000 texts and about 200mins...I never use the internet and very rarely text as it is too small and fidderly

Just been looking at the samsung galaxy tab 7" which can be used as a phone and ideal to take out and about I would think to use for the internet aswell, whether using free wifi, or the entitlement from the phone package

PP. before you consider paying for a Dongle or for 3G ask yourself just how often you would want to connect to the Internet away from home. As others have said there are free hotspots everywhere. I have an iPad without 3G just WiFi and I connect in bars etc when I am having a coffee but most of the time from home.

I absolutely love my iPad, there is so much you can use it for. If you want to print something you need to just email it to yourself then open it and print it from your PC.
There are loads of books and games, all free, and I also do my family tree and watch television on it. In fact I use it as a television when I am in the kitchen where I can't get English TV. I 'Face Time' my family which is very much like Skype but you can do it from anywhere not stuck in front of your main computer.