dmf

Planning ahead now for our arrival in Oz within the next few months and thinking of buying a laptop so that we are not without computer (internet/e-mail) whilst our furniture is in transit.

Has anybody used a laptop for e-mail, surfing the net to find rented accommodation or house purchase from a mobile phone in Oz? If so, did it work well or was it too slow?

Any recommendations? Should we buy it in UK before we go or wait until arrival in Oz?

Thanks

thewoods

have sold our pc & i use my laptop for everything - its just like a pc & the speed of internet etc is no diff to a pc it all depends on wether u r on broadband etc

ratliffe

I havent sold my pc yet but i have bought a cheap laptop for the same reason. My laptop is used all the time especially for internet/email.they are just as good as a pc if not better.If you are sad enough you can quite easily be on the net whilst watching t.v in the front room !!!
As for mobile phones, i would say no way. They are not very fast at all beause of the lack of data transfer. I enquired about internet call charges whilst in new zealand on a holiday, basically you are charged on the international call charge rate what ever that is .All you would have to do is change your dial up settings to add to 044. I dont know if you would have to change the number you are dialling from it depends on your isp.
hope that helps
Gavin.

tinaj

A good idea, we have been thinking about doing the same thing. I want to be able to contact my family regularly when we get out there and phone calls are expensive.

dmf

Tina I agree with you this is why we are looking into the idea of a laptop but from what we have been told using a mobile phone will be too slow. although what we have been recommended is to prepare all the e-mails in advance put them onto floppy and either use the facilities at a hotel or internet cafe.

Still new to the idea so any suggestions from anybody would be gratefully received. We want to be able to keep in contact with family and friends as we have two young children.

Thanks

evelynne_r

Another alternative might be to buy a network card for the laptop and hook it up at internet cafes. That's worked for me in Oz. Most cafes I went to charged the same as for using their pcs. Of course it does mean a lot of work configuring it, and carrying the laptop to the cafe, but if you need to download a lot of stuff it might be useful.

I never bothered for just sending e-mails though.

Stan J

Yeah a laptop can function as good as a desktop pc for Email and surfing. There's a bit of a price differential (like extra 50% for equivalent mobile system).

Your problem will be getting to plug it in the phone sysytem (unless you have a friend's phone to use). The easiest way to overcome that is to pop into a EmailCafe and check your E's on their equipment. Using say http://www.mail2web.com, or as you say using Webmail attaching prewritten docs from your floppy. Never tried the mobile phone link. It seemed painfully slow looking at the numbers.

The future, which is happening now is to have a WiFi (802.11b) card plugged into the side of your laptop and hook up in a WiFi enabled place. Some Laptops are WiFi enabled so you don't need the WiFi card.

There's a free WiFi trial happening in Queen St Mall (Brisbane City Centre - see http://www.ourbrisbane.com)

Also know that if you travel via Singapore Airport you may have free Internet Access via their complimentary Infra-Red system. (I did two and a half years ago, what's more Singapore electrical sockets are as those in the UK.)