Wireless internet question

[Tradd]

I have a question for those of you that only use wireless internet (on your computer):

What do you do when you have to download a software update or upload pictures to the web (Picasa, Flickr)? Don't you hit your data cap pretty quickly?

Or do you go to a free wifi spot (such as the library) and upload your photos to the web then?

The posts I've seen about wireless internet dongles had me curious about this.

Thanks!

[Tenngal]

we have Charter wireless and have not noticed any difference in download speeds.........had it almost a year.

[Miss Cellane]

What kind of wireless dongle are you thinking of? There are dongles that work with whatever wi-fi there is in the area, and those that work on a mobile cellphone connection.

If it's just a standard wireless connection, it's more about the speed of the internet connection than the fact that it's wireless. You'd get the same speed if you were wired or wireless. I have a desktop computer and an iPod Touch and a wireless router, and I have no problem uploading or downloading anything--but then, I have a pretty high speed internet connection.

Now, the wireless dongles that work on a mobile connection, and smartphones like the iPhone where you are using a mobile connection to access the internet, those I know nothing about.

[CathyA]

We have a little flash-drive type thing we plug into our computer for wireless. It only lets us have about 5,100 MB per month. It is through AT&T. Last month, both my kids were home and we used it up really fast, so I got in the habit of seeing how much I used for various things. Yes....downloads and pics take up alot of space. When we were almost all out of time/space, DS fixed my computer so images didn't show up. He also fixed it (after we got our new month's time) so that the images aren't very good, but we can press certain buttons and make them clear momentarily.
Unfortunately, for some reason, AT&T doesn't offer anymore time/space for this kind of wireless on their plan. If we go over, its pretty expensive.
DS was downloading alot of things, so what he ended up doing was driving to somewhere in time with his laptop and using some businesses wifi, instead of using our wireless.
Anyhow....to answer your questions........yes, downloading and pics do use up alot of space.

[Tradd]

I was thinking of mobile broadband.

[Perplexa]

Ah, for mobile broadband (i.e. 3G or 4G), there will most likely be data limits, and you're likely to hit them pretty fast. Are you planning to have *only* mobile broadband and no wifi connection at all? Does your computer have a wireless card (if it's less than about 5 years old, it probably has one built in).

On my smart phone, which has both mobile broadband (as part of my phone plan) and a wireless card, I use the 3G for everyday stuff when I'm out and about: checking email, getting directions, etc. and I use between 500MB and 1GB per month. If I'm going to download something big, like a large app or a video, I wait until I'm at home or in a coffee shop and I can get on a wifi network. When I lived in the US, where smart phone plans *used* to have no data limits, I was a lot less careful, but now I'm limited to 1GB a month. It doesn't seem to be much of a problem though.

[enota]

yes, public WiFi is pretty much the answer if you are dl something big.

enota