Short term in Wellington - cut off from the net?

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philipp22

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Topic # 21360 24-Apr-2008 04:26

Kia ora you guys,

I'm a 28 year old legal trainee from Munich/Germany, and I'll stay in Wellington for two months in winter- trading in my summer ;) - to complete my education at a CDB based law firm.

I sure will have Internet access at the firm, but the problem is that the place where I'll be staying (in Brooklyn, Wellington) doesn't have a phone or internet land line.

So what solutions are there?

- Wifi hotspots are always a problem, mostly they are run by hotels i guess, or you'd have to sit at a cafe or something, and buy lots of cafe and cake... Is there a site that can show me free or prepaid hotspots in/near Brooklyn?

- Wireless broadband i have no experience with, and Woosh for example says it doesn't cover the location I'll live. And I suppose this couldn't be done with prepaid but only with some sort of contract, and I'd have to buy the hardware for my notebook? And i normally go with linux, so the hardware support could be tricky if it's a pcmia or usb thing, but i could load WinXP too if i have to.

- Is there a site that can show me Internet Cafes in/near Brooklyn? Wouldn't be that great, but i guess i could live with that if there'd be no other options.

I would appreciate any help...
cheers, Philipp

OldGeek

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Reply # 126067 24-Apr-2008 10:33

There are a couple of options that I can recommend: Timizone and Esquires.

Tomizone (www.tomizone.com) offer an ISP-independent hotspot service - where you can buy time online by the hour, day or week. The nearest one I could find was at the Te Aro shopping centre.

Esquires is a coffee shop chain (www.esquires.co.nz). They sometimes offer a free hour online with any purchase. The nearest one to Brooklyn is Courtenay Place - one of the night-life centres in Wellington. Esquires use Tomizone as thewir hotspot service.

Telecom NZ also offer hotspots (http://www.telecom.co.nz/findahotspot) but again none near Brooklyn.

Good luck - and enjoy your stay.

PenultimateHop

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Reply # 126069 24-Apr-2008 10:40

Cafenet has reasonably wide wifi coverage.

Otherwise you could look at Telecom T3G or Vodafone V3G on a non-contract basis, but this would be expensive for two months with the up front hardware cost plus the monthly access fees.

Perhaps a neighbor might have wifi that you could ask nicely to share?

philipp22

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 126247 25-Apr-2008 03:38

Hey, thanks for those useful responses...

A neighbor with wifi and willing to share would be awesome indeed, but thanks to the other options (I think I'll go with Tomizone, Esquires and Cafenet) I'm feeling better already ;)

By the way I just noticed that I'm declared a "wannabe geek" by the forum.... what's going on?? I'm a total geek, this is unbelievable.

Philipp

scottjpalmer

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Reply # 126253 25-Apr-2008 07:13

Do you have a cell phone you will be bringing here to use? I suspect you will be or if you aren't you will be obtaining one here?

I personally recommend you adding on a data plan to your cellphone then using it as a modem, provided it is 3G. The last thing you will want to do in the middle of a blustery wet cold Wellington day is trudge the streets with your laptop looking for a hotspot :-)

If you post the model of phone you have if you are bringing one we can advise on it's mobile data abilities and costs here in NZ.

philipp22

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 126255 25-Apr-2008 07:43

Well, atm i have only a nokia 6610i, meaning GPRS and HSDPA i think.

I didn't take that into consideration yet, but it really could be an interresting alternative for these cold windy days...

cheers, Philipp

freitasm

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Reply # 126256 25-Apr-2008 07:44

philipp22: By the way I just noticed that I'm declared a "wannabe geek" by the forum.... what's going on?? I'm a total geek, this is unbelievable.

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scottjpalmer

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Reply # 126260 25-Apr-2008 08:11

Ahhhh I had the original 6610 many moons ago, great phone!!

http://www.forum.nokia.com/devices/6610i only GPRS though :-(

If you can live with GPRS speeds then fine, if not, 3G handsets are getting cheaper and cheaper over here, not sure on the situation over there. Just make sure it can be used as a bluetooth modem for convienience rather than speed and/or as USB modem for speed rather than convienience.

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile-data/3g-broadband-plans.jsp give you an indication of data pricing provided you are on account but the word on the street is that prepay data plans aren't far away. To go on account http://www.vodafone.co.nz/plans/ You Choose would be the go but you would have a disconnection fee as a 12 month term is the minimum requirement. Or MotorMouth which doesn't have a term (I don't think).

Lots of food for thought!