|
|
Post by mangetout on Oct 16, 2021 15:26:06 GMT 1
Does anyone do this? I need to invest in a smart phone and I'm loathe to pay for that and an Orange livebox forfait. Can I ditch the land-line and tether to a mobile and still be able to surf the net. And how many Go would I need. I think it can be done but not sure how it works in practice. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply.
|
|
FFS
Member
As usual, in front of my laptop when I'm here
Posts: 2,797
|
Post by FFS on Oct 16, 2021 15:48:43 GMT 1
I think robertarthur and suein56 are our IT experts here, now I've tagged them, perhaps they'll respond. |
|
|
|
Post by hal on Oct 16, 2021 16:02:30 GMT 1
I use this as a back-up, but be careful, it can eat up bandwidth. Difficult to say how much you need as it depends on what you are doing - gaming will gobble it, email and this forum only will be minimal.
Simple to set up - on your pc, go to wherever your internet access options are (Apple it is on the top bar) in there you will see your phone with two interlocked rings (at least, this is how it is on an imac). Click on it and you are into the internet through your phone. You can keep track of bandwidth used on your phone (to show it does work, I am posting this through the iphone...)
|
|
|
|
Post by Rob24 on Oct 16, 2021 16:11:34 GMT 1
Does anyone do this? I need to invest in a smart phone and I'm loathe to pay for that and an Orange livebox forfait. Can I ditch the land-line and tether to a mobile and still be able to surf the net. And how many Go would I need. I think it can be done but not sure how it works in practice. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply. Yes it can be done with either an android phone or iPhone. We do it whenever we are at our French house. Over the last couple of years (arising from Covid) EE our provider have suspended their fair use policy, this would normally limit us to 15gb a month. For a small increase in monthly payment we had unlimited data which was great during the first lockdown in 2020. We came to France in March 2020 intending to be over for three weeks but due to Covid ended up staying for over four months before returning to the U.K. As EE and most of the U.K. providers have announced restrictions starting in January on data use outside the U.K. we are thinking of getting either a Free or Bouygues sim to put in one of our phones to use for data. We would be looking to get between 50 to 100gb per month allowance. The amount of data you need depends on a number of things like what you are doing, social media or watching YouTube videos etc. Hope that’s some use to you. |
|
suein56
Member
Southern Morbihan 56 Brittany
Posts: 7,528
|
Post by suein56 on Oct 16, 2021 16:25:58 GMT 1
Does anyone do this? I need to invest in a smart phone and I'm loathe to pay for that and an Orange livebox forfait. Can I ditch the land-line and tether to a mobile and still be able to surf the net. And how many Go would I need. I think it can be done but not sure how it works in practice. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply. Both Hal and Rob24 are right .. it's easy to set up but there are buts. As they say you will get through data (Go) pretty quickly depending on what you are doing .. reading newspapers online and streaming films are at opposite ends of the spectrum for eating data.
Also how many people will be sharing your access. If there are 2 of you then I would think in terms of 80-100Go per month.
Red (from SFR) usually have keen prices for that amount of data but any of them .. Free, Bouygues even Sosh sometimes have amazing offers.
Tho do read the smallish print.
The downside is losing the ability to phone from home to the UK, the USA etc the cost of the calls being already included in your forfeit.
You will be able to make unlimited calls in France to mobiles and to fixed phones - but to abroad .. then the costs shoot up. |
|
|
|
Post by mangetout on Oct 16, 2021 20:48:10 GMT 1
Thanks everyone. I will inwardly digest.
|
|
suein56
Member
Southern Morbihan 56 Brittany
Posts: 7,528
|
Post by suein56 on Oct 16, 2021 21:23:48 GMT 1
I forgot to add that the downside I mentioned re 'included' phone calls to the UK etc if you ditch the Livebox is easily overcome
by using WhatsApp in either phone or video mode. This uses very little data and costs nothing extra.
If, like me, you can't stand Zuckerberg then Signal offers the same options as WhatsApp but with no tracking and more security.
|
|
ibis
Banned Member
Posts: 1,376
|
Post by ibis on Oct 17, 2021 11:24:16 GMT 1
I forgot to add that the downside I mentioned re 'included' phone calls to the UK etc if you ditch the Livebox is easily overcome by using WhatsApp in either phone or video mode. This uses very little data and costs nothing extra. If, like me, you can't stand Zuckerberg then Signal offers the same options as WhatsApp but with no tracking and more security. Does not the receiver need to have these 2 applications? Not suitable for calling land lines.
Skype is option for a French landline number or telephone calls. I pay around $2 a month for unlimited calls to North America.
|
|
ibis
Banned Member
Posts: 1,376
|
Post by ibis on Oct 17, 2021 11:27:56 GMT 1
One way to reduce data usage is to turn off pictures when browsing, or stop auto play videos from loading. There are a few add-ons (image-block) for firefox - I do not know about other browsers.
|
|
suein56
Member
Southern Morbihan 56 Brittany
Posts: 7,528
|
Post by suein56 on Oct 17, 2021 11:57:31 GMT 1
I forgot to add that the downside I mentioned re 'included' phone calls to the UK etc if you ditch the Livebox is easily overcome by using WhatsApp in either phone or video mode. This uses very little data and costs nothing extra. If, like me, you can't stand Zuckerberg then Signal offers the same options as WhatsApp but with no tracking and more security. Does not the receiver need to have these 2 applications? Not suitable for calling land lines.
Skype is option for a French landline number or telephone calls. I pay around $2 a month for unlimited calls to North America.
1 Yes .. you do need to use these apps. 2 I have never used Skype calls .. how does that work ? Doesn't the recipient have to use Skype as well ? |
|
ibis
Banned Member
Posts: 1,376
|
Post by ibis on Oct 17, 2021 12:06:33 GMT 1
Does not the receiver need to have these 2 applications? Not suitable for calling land lines.
Skype is option for a French landline number or telephone calls. I pay around $2 a month for unlimited calls to North America.
2 I have never used Skype calls .. how does that work ? Doesn't the recipient have to use Skype as well ? No. For my $2 a month I can call landlines, toll free 800 numbers, mobile phones.
I only use the app on my mobile so do not know about the computer version...
|
|
