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Month-to-Month Dial-Up 'Net Access in the UK?

Posted by Cliff on from the avoiding-long-term-contracts dept.

Wee asks: "I'm traveling to London (from the US) this coming Saturday. For various reasons I need to be able to stay occasionally connected to the Net while there. Instead of risking one of my daily-use laptops to the rigors of travel, I've built a working Toshiba 430CDT laptop from parts, purchased an appropriate power adapter, equipped it with an old modem/10mbps NIC (plus an Orinoco card, just because), searched Google for temporary two-week, UK-based dial-up accounts, only to find... nothing whatsoever. Zip, nada, nothing. Maybe AOL, but I'd have to think long and hard at giving them a credit card. I did find some companies that would sell me a monthly plan, but there were usually minimums. Does anyone know of 'temporary' dial-up accounts (with various local PoPs) in London? Failing that, does anyone know of an ISP I can sign up with for only one month?"

9 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Jolt by rastachops · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.jolt.co.uk They offer a very fast 0845 (price per min) dial up service that is free to sign up for.

  2. Don't sign up at all by Howie · · Score: 4, Informative

    Assuming you already have a mail account that you want to access, then don't bother signing up to anything. There are many UK ISPs that offer "0845" access - these numbers are charged at local rate from anywhere in the country (don't forget that we still are charged for local calls in general), and make their money from revenue-sharing with the telcos, so you don't pay a bill to the ISP. You should be able to pick up a CD/Installer/Signup-Screen for one of these pretty easily.

    Drop me a line if you need help - my employer offers such a service (usually through resellers, but anyway).

    --
    "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
    1. Re:Don't sign up at all by bob_dinosaur · · Score: 4, Informative

      Example providers of the you-just-pay-for-the-call service are Freeserve No Ties and Tiscali Pay As You Go. No credit card or personal details required.

    2. Re:Don't sign up at all by biglig2 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well, duh! If he intends to use an analogue modem then he has to find a phone socket to plug the damned thing into, and consequential negotiation with the owner of said socket about who pays for the calls. That's sort of a given.

      Have you ever stayed in a hotel, or a friends house? You'll find you don't have to arange for the Telco to install a phone, nor do you need to get in touch with the power company to get electricity into the room, nor do you have to hire a plumber to put a bathroom in.

      Wrenching myself back on-topic, I recommend BT Click, 0845 757 6333, any username and any password.

      But I also agree with the earlier poster that you will have no trouble finding internet cafes, internet kiosks, business suites in hotels, and all sorts of ways to get on-line in London, so you don't need to bring a laptop just to check your email every few days.

      Lastly, one point to watch for - you will need a US - UK phone adaptor, since I imagine your modem just has a RJ11 connector on the end. They're a few pounds, you can probably get one in the airpoort if all else fails. You know we have different power outlets here too? Another adaptor to buy. If you;re visiting a company over here talk to the local IT guys, they may be able to lend you a local power cable for the tosh, which I find to be much handier than fiddling with adaptors.

      --
      ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
  3. Force9 by Komarosu · · Score: 2, Informative

    Strictly this really shouldn't be said...but ill say it anyway...dunno if its legit or not. Force9 have a lax login policy, if all you want is basic services (get onto the net) then you can use the Force9 dialup information for there 0845 number and any login/password and it will let you on...as long as you have CallerID i think. Good ploy of Force9 imho, lets me use dialup when my DSL goes down without having to keep a active dialup account. In the UK, 0845 is local rate anywere number, so really theres no reason to have PoPs anymore (unless you get free local rate calls, then its worth it. as 0845 is at local costs, but isnt classed as local...hence i still get 10p a min charge on my mobile and it doesnt use my free minutes).

    --

    "What do you mean you have no ice? Do you expect me to drink this coffee hot?" - Random Customer, Clerks
  4. Try this - no signing up required by steve.m · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's basically a BT dialin, but yahoo branded

    0845 609 1350 (local call rate)

    login: "yahoo" (but it seems to accept anything)
    password: "" (again, it seems to accept anything)

    DNS: 194.72.6.52
    DNS: 194.72.6.59
    DNS: 194.72.6.57

    (it works with Linux PPP, using PAP auth)

  5. Electric Power in the UK (OT) by OldMiner · · Score: 2, Informative
    You know we have different power outlets here too? Another adaptor to buy.

    As you well know, but our poster may not, the United Kingdom has different voltage, frequency, and outlets. Although almost all recent laptops come with switching power supplies which elegantly handle U.S. and all European voltages, it would be a bummer to blow a power supply (or a whole laptop) on such a thing. If your power supply is such a beast, it is probably labelled right on it "120-400V, 30-80Hz" or something of that sort.

    As far as specifics go, for the UK, it's 50Hz, 230V AC. And Howstuffworks has a somewhat spiffy illustration of the plug appearance. Three flat prongs, two horizontal, one vertical for grounded plugs (which hopefully your laptop has). Two round prongs for non-grounded.

    --
    You like splinters in your crotch? -Jon Caldara
  6. Use the orange Internet cafes, forget the laptop by yelvington · · Score: 2, Informative

    I've traveled to the UK at least once a year since 1995 for Internet conferences, and if I wasn't speaking I'd travel light and leave the computer at home.

    There are several EasyInternet cafes in London -- one is just outside Victoria Station -- and it's a lot nicer on your body to carry an Easy login slip in your shirt pocket than lug a piece of computer junk around with you. EasyInternet operates on an auction basis -- when load goes up, the price goes up, and when it drops, you get more time per quid. You can loaf online all Sunday morning for practically nothing. I believe an account is portable between cafes, too. Just look for the large, bright orange signs.

    I've never had anything stolen while traveling (knock on wood) but that's always a possibility, too.

    I'm going to Zurich in January for a small private conference, and since I'm not doing a speech, the laptop isn't coming along for the ride.

    In general, when traveling internationally, Americans carry way too much luggage. There's no reason to have more than one carry-on bag, period. The OneBag guide to traveling light is full of great advice on how to travel without carrying so much junk you wind up on a chiropractor's table.

  7. Caller ID not required by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I can think of at least one 0845 ISP that (at least in the past) allows dialup with caller ID disabled: Freedom 2 Surf

    In any case if you're dialling in through a PABX at a hotel or office, chances are caller ID will be presented, but as the main switchboard number.

    Also, in the UK there's a distinction between caller ID being deliberately withheld and simply being unavailable. Sometimes PABXs present "unavailable" and sometimes dialup ISPs will allow that where they'd usually reject "Withheld"