OK, here's what my current set-up is.
At home, I've got an ADSL connection (the 20GB telecom one), with a wireless router, and therefore am also paying for a home phone line. I've got one desktop PC (our lounge HTPC and gaming system). I also have a laptop that I take around with me most of the time (I'm planning on getting a second laptop, this one a mac, within the next few months). My monthly bill is just shy of $100, not including our two cells. Note: we haven't actually gone anywhere near the 20GB cap since I stopped playing World of Warcraft so 10GB would probably be more than enough.
My fiancee and I both have cellphones. Hers is a Nokia 6120c connected to XT. Mine is a crappy old Nokia connected to the old telecom network (I'm thinking of buying an iphone soon). We both use prepay currently, so our monthly costs for each phone are around the $10-15 mark.
It occurred to me... why not just ditch my wired connection entirely? Here's what I was thinking of doing:
* get 2 new mobile broadband plans - one 4gb (8gb with special offer), one 2gb.
* get a t-stick for the 2gb plan. Use the t-stick for my own laptop (as I tend to cart that around for me) and the free SIM card in my fiancee's nokia 6120c.
* get a t-stick and a wireless router for the 8gb plan. Set up the wireless router at home so that our desktop and any laptops will have access to the net through the LAN. Put the free SIM in my iphone.
*install skype on both our phones (Skype Symbian is in beta so it seems I can install it on a 6120c, although I haven't gotten it working yet - it seems to reject all incoming calls). This way, we could call and text each other free through skype to skype calling.
*total cost $80+60 = $140 per month, plus hardware costs (t-sticks and router). (I might also consider getting a calling plan, but I could perhaps just do it through skype instead as they seem to have pretty cheap landline call pricing).
Does this sound at all feasible? Are there any potential problems with it? It looks like it wouldn't actually be a hell of a lot more expensive that my current setup, but of course I'd have the added advantage of as much mobile broadband as I could use through my iphone (which would be rad!)
Can you use the SIM that comes with a mobile broadband connection to connect to the internet with the phone, at the same time as you use the t-stick to connect to the internet through your PC? Or can you only use one at a time for each broadband connection?
Is the connection reliable enough to be a total replacement for landline/ADSL? Is it unsuitable for gaming, for instance?
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