McDonalds are rolling out free WiFi across the UK in (and around) thier fast-food outlets. http://www.thecloud.net/page/3755
It is being supplied by 'The Cloud' simply search for a new WiFi network, select 'the cloud' and log on with the requested personal info (required by EU law) and your away, free all-you-can-eat WiFi. I don't know if it supports VOIP but will find out in the next few days.
If this has been covered already, sorry. I did a search and found nothing.
Related
This is an interesting subject to me as the company I work for is acutally in the business of providing a service just as being discussed.
I'm not going to turn this into an advert, but let me give you a quick overview of our service. We run a fully mananged network which connects to a customers office network and to the 4 major MNO's in the UK (plus a few outside the UK, and were expanding). We have at least two private AP's on each MNO plus terminals can connect via a VPN over the internet. We support a number of terminals (mainly from HTC from the Wallaby to the Prophet, but also some from Panasonic, Symbol and Intermec) that connect VIA GPRS but also through GSM DUN as a fallback.
I've worked on the terminal side for about 7 years, I've been involved in development of most areas of the code at one time or another, but for a long time I was responsible for the module that is responsible for connecting to and maintaining the connection to either the MNO network (our AP's or the Public AP) or our own network (via GSM).
The one thing I've learned while doing this is that you can't rely on the MNO for anything. We've had MNO's disconnect us from AP's without warning, we've had IP connections stop passing data again without warning, we've had AP's reject a connection when out auth server told the AP to accept it.
This being true, if your claiming your software is reliable and expecting someone to bet their business on using it, you'd better make sure that it can handle all these issue. Theres nothing worse than trying to explain to a customer why his message didn't go through when both the back-end office and mobile device claim their connected.
And one last thing, and its a big one, Cost. Its easy to make a system that costs so much to run that its economically unviable. Remember every GPRS byte or GSM second costs money, so polling for messages every few seconds may not be a great idea.
Hurm....
This was supposed to be a reply to this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=43426
I have no idea how it got into its own thread...
Appologies.
That is exactly my point of veiw. Why have to be constantly connected? Its a dirty solution. The only ones who benifit from a middle man are the service providers. Thats why I have put all my effort into using what is reliable. A normal phone call.
I have spent the last 9 months creating something that can reliably transfer data over calls. When I say reliable I mean when data is sent the user will get a confirmation for each packet sent an can be 100% certain it arrived intact when with the confirmation.
Depending on the phone plan it can be cheaper than other means of communication like gprs and mms on phones. When there is no flag fall I can transfer the same data as an mms (on my account anyway) for about half the cost. In free times transmition can be free. What makes the technology usefull is the price. In Australia all forms of data transfer are VERY high, but that is not the case in other countries.
You miss my point somewhat. I don't know about Australia but here in the UK your not actually charged for having a GPRS connection up and running just for the data you transfer over it and so our GPRS connections are up all the time assuming you have coverage. Its how you manage the connection (detecting the IP layer stopping working for example) and the data that flows over it thats important.
When it comes to GSM though your right, there is no way you want to have a permanent connection up, it has to be on-demand based. That in itself leads to problems, the main being that you have to handle charging your customer for the data calls you make to the terminal. Or if you don't connect to the terminal, and it only connects to you, how does the terminal know when messages are waiting.
For us, GSM us a last-ditch solution when GPRS isn't available. However in the UK we've generally found that if you can make a GSM call you can connect to GPRS, and if GPRS is down for some reason, the whole cell is generally not available (so GSM doesn't work either). There are occasions where a hardware failure on a MNO (not at the cell but in the rest of the network) may cause GPRS to stop working but allow GSM to work but situations like that are rare and generally quickly rectified by the MNO.
Hi,
I have just given a notice to end my contract with 3 UK. I am using an O2 XDA Exec as in my signature. I will really appreciate some help here!!
Since I have moved to my new place, I have not been able to get a broadband connection due to technical problems with the exchange upgrade. I tried 3 different companies with the same result - tech problem.
I cannot access the internet from home except the dialup which ofcourse is not uptospeed.
My question is What is the best data /voice plan out there which would allow me to access the internet through my Mobile at home (via bluetooth connection to my desktop/laptop)?
Any suggestions will be more than welcome.
Ciao
Tunndoc
T-Mobile FlexT with the Web & Walk Pro add-on would be your best option.
None of the other networks are currently very competitive at all.
And you would probably get something like a Vario II free which would be better to use as the modem since it supports HSDPA.
T- Mobile Web N Walk
Thanx for a speedy reply. This is what I found on the t-mobile website
"Web’n’walk fair use policy
Subject to coverage. Compatible handset required. Provides unlimited browsing on mobile handsets in the UK. Not applicable to connection via CSD. To ensure a high quality of service for all our customers a fair use policy applies. T-Mobile defines fair use as total UK data (both sent and received) of up to 1GB per month. T-Mobile may contact customers who exceed 1GB of data and ask them to reduce their usage. If data usage is not reduced, notice may be given, after which network protection controls may be applied. Not to be used for other activities (including but not limited to): modem access for computers, internet based video/audio streaming services, peer to peer file sharing, internet based video downloads, internet phone calls and instant messaging. If such use is detected, notice may be given after which network protection controls may be applied. The application of network protection controls will result in a reduced speed of transmission. "
As the use of the mobile as a modem is prohibited, this would mean that I still won't be able to get my Laptop/desktop hooked to the internet.
Any other ideas!!!!
Thanx in advance
Tunndoc
Edited: Sorry I found the laptop version, Thanx for ur help
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=pp_webnwalk_laptop
Hi
T-Mobile also do a WebNWalk PROFESSIONAL for a couple of pounds extra per month. This removes many of the restriction including the modem useage. The only remaining significant restrictions are no VOIP and no MSN type instant messaging - not unreasonable, I suppose, since these are direct competition to their phone and SMS services.
When I signed up, I was told that I had to sign up for the regular WebNWalk service and then upgrade it to the pro version by phoning customer services. This is what I did and it all worked as planned.
Hope this helps.
Mark
I discovered something ... thought I'd share to see if anyone has any insight.
First off, I do NOT have a data plan with t-mobile. I am out of contract, and have a family plan. No data whatsoever.
I was messing around with Map4PDA (great app!), and since I did not have any WiFi or LAN connection, it opened EDGE to pull map data.
At first, I freaked, and thought I would get some hefty bill in the mail from t-mobile. So, I called t-mobile customer care, and asked the girl how much I would get charged. She said she thought they had a flat rate for data xfer out of a data plan, but she would have to check. She consulted her manager (who didn't know) and 5 other techs. Finally, she found some internal note about it. T-mobile's policy:
If you do not have a data plan, and are able to connect to EDGE, you will not be charged. However, the connection is a fluke, and you will be cut-off shortly thereafter.
That is not the case with me.
I am able to connect, surf the net, download map data, etc. I don't get cut off. I don't want to ruin a good thing (maybe posting this will ruin it?), so I am going to passively test my free EDGE connection over the next couple of weeks, and report back here.
Here is my phone/ROM setup:
I have a t-mobile MDA (HTC Wizard). I flashed it with Faria's AKU 3.3-8mb ROM, and set my t-mobile connection to "T-Mobile WAP". (The other option was "T-Mobile VPN". Not sure what the difference is ...? I know VPN = virtual private network, and WAP generally stands for Wide Area Protocol. Not sure how this relates to cell service though ...)
So, with that setup, I have full access to EDGE on T-Mobile, without a price.
I hope it will last.
Another minor detail: I am in the United States. (I read on another post about t-mobile elsewhere in the world)
swingheim said:
. . and WAP generally stands for Wide Area Protocol. Not sure how this relates to cell service though ...)
So, with that setup, I have full access to EDGE on T-Mobile, without a price.
I hope it will last.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just thought I should point out WAP stands for wireless application protocol.
Sorry for being pedantic.
WAP on Wikipedia
Its all good.
This thread can be closed ... since I found a similar thread here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=288844
Maybe you should check out Howard Forums
http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=324
This is a very well know issue which has been going on for months. Nothing new here. It will closed though.
..........
That link from swingheim is my. I found out that sometimes it will stop working but later it will work. and you can do this with any phone(needs opera mini to work) and even with a prepaid sim card.
Thread closed for reasons given above - existing thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=288844
Mike
Back a long time ago, when Starbucks used TMo wifi, my phone connected fine.
Then Starbucks switched to ATT, but I recall their being some "grandfather" allowance for TMo wifi users.
My phone has the tmohs network listed in the wireless networks (relevant lines from /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf shown below):
Code:
network={
ssid="tmohs"
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=NONE
auth_alg=OPEN
}
But I can't seem to connect at Starbucks (I don't drink coffee so I haven't been to one in ages, but I happened to stop in to one with a friend yesterday and was trying to connect).
Is it still possible? Still free? If so, how do I connect?
Thanks
mlevin said:
Back a long time ago, when Starbucks used TMo wifi, my phone connected fine.
Then Starbucks switched to ATT, but I recall their being some "grandfather" allowance for TMo wifi users.
My phone has the tmohs network listed in the wireless networks (relevant lines from /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf shown below):
Code:
network={
ssid="tmohs"
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=NONE
auth_alg=OPEN
}
But I can't seem to connect at Starbucks (I don't drink coffee so I haven't been to one in ages, but I happened to stop in to one with a friend yesterday and was trying to connect).
Is it still possible? Still free? If so, how do I connect?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was using tmobiles hotspot app and was able to connect, the grandfather clause was only for two years i think so it should be running out this year i think. try that app, i know it worked for me like 3 months ago
Still works for my stock phone
But I find I need to reboot it to get the TMO gizmo working right.
If it sees another network, it fritzes and reboot is needed.
I deleted my pre-saved "tmohs" network and tried the app at a Starbucks yesterday. It auto-connected to "attwifi" as soon as I walked in. That was most definitely NOT free.
I then got rid of the hotspot app, deleted the "attwifi" network and manually created a "tmohs" network (open). The phone automatically connected to this ssid but I was still faced with the "pay for access" screen. The "tmohs" must be a hidden ssid that is just an alias for the public "attwifi" ssid. They connect to the same thing.
So it connected fine, but no free access.
I guess the free access deal is gone?
TMobile customer support advises connecting to attwifi and choosing roaming and then TMobile Hotspot and then entering your TMobile Hotspot username/password. I don't have one as I was always able to connect automatically and I thought that the G1 Plus plan came with unlimited TMobile Hotspot access. If you go to the TMobile Hotspot website and try to sign up, it wants to sell you a plan that costs (extra) money, and if you say you're an existing customer and put in your phone number, it says (at least it says to me) that adding Hotspot access isn't allowed with my plan (which, as I said, I thought already included it).
Needless to say, I'm confused. And the customer support people aren't very helpful. And they take forever to reply each time I have additional questions. And I keep getting different people who give me different answers (this is via email support).
Any ideas out there?
Thanks
TMobile tells me that the username/password to use when choosing "TMobile" as a roaming partner are your 10 digit phone number and the last 4 of your SSN. We'll see if that works...
Use the hotspot app for an actual T-mo hotspot... that's what I do at Borders. Barnes & Noble has ATT wifi, and it's free for everyone. Not sure if that's the case at Starbucks, but I had heard that ATT wifi was going to be free at each of these establishments.
Hello All,
I found a free VPN service via:
"NEW FORUM MEMBER WITH LESS THAN 8 POSTS. URL's NOT ALLOWED!!!!!"
And what I'd like to know is this. When I launch Firefox and search one of the "what is my IP location" web sites I get info that say's it is generated in the U.S..
However, when I go to Android market to get a U.S. specific app it says I'm outside U.S. and cannot download it?
Where is the issue in that Android market sees me outside U.S.?
Thank you.
Could it be linked to the account you use to sign into market?
That's a good question. So your suggesting verifying that all info contains "United States" as per account information?
I'm wondering that even with the SIM card removed and a VPN to the U.S. if this still will work? I know I can access U.S. web sites, but I think that the software still looks at the VLR/HLR records cause the phone is still active w/o SIM because of 911 laws in and outside the U.S.. Thus it's still actively connected to the HW even though a sim isn't in place. This still, then, makes the network available to the Nexus S.
free vpn
ohh really but where can i found the free vpn
Suomalainen said:
That's a good question. So your suggesting verifying that all info contains "United States" as per account information?
I'm wondering that even with the SIM card removed and a VPN to the U.S. if this still will work? I know I can access U.S. web sites, but I think that the software still looks at the VLR/HLR records cause the phone is still active w/o SIM because of 911 laws in and outside the U.S.. Thus it's still actively connected to the HW even though a sim isn't in place. This still, then, makes the network available to the Nexus S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think google will know where the account is registered,dont know if you could create an account using your VPN connection to fake where it coming from? Where did you get your free VPN?
VPN= bfvpn.com. Turn off all location services. Turn off all data services with GSM network operator. Turn off handset. Insert U.S. issued sim card. Dead or alive. Power up handset. Establish Wifi connection. Establish VPN connection. There you go... YOu have now arrived to the U.S.A..................