Mobile Internet/FON

[Johnny_boy]

I'm off to France in July for 2 weeks, camping, Disney (Cheyenne) for a couple of days then a week at our timeshare (Vincennes). I'd like to be able to get internet access for part of that so I had a look at the options.

This site http://paygsimwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/France shows a number of ways of getting mobile data which look quite good. My timeshare company charge aound £30/week for wi-fi and it's only available in reception.

I'm also a Fonero - someone who is part of the FON internet sharing network. BT Customers are automatically part of it unless they opt out but you can buy a Fonera router from FON to join in. The way it works is you share part of your internet connection to other members and in return you can share parts of theirs. There are 2 million hotspots in the UK and 3 million worldwide and where I'm staying in France after Disney seems to be fairly well covered.

If you have an iPhone on any of the UK networks except 3, you normally get BT Openzone premium (phone box and Starbucks, some pubs, PC world, etc. all have this) included but BT also brand FON as Openzone so your iPhone tries to connect to that and unless you have a FON account you have to turn off wi-fi to access the internet or move away from the hotspot.

I'll see how the FON works out while in France but the dataplans above seem quite good deals compared to the £35 I used last year checking for the ash clouds while at DLP and that was less than 15 mins each day.

I thought I'd mention it as a number of people have been asking about PAYG phones and a lot of the complaints about the Dineyland iPhone app are around data being too expensive while roaming.

I suspect McDonalds will be the best option while at DLP.

 

[jillrobinson]

I'd go with McD's as the cheapest option, had a fantastic signal in the outside area last visit, worth the price of a cold drink/coffee to use it.
Off Topic
I'm also part of the BTFon community and think it's a total waste of time, then again I lose connection to my homehub from my bathroom, the back garden and have to be on my front doorstep to pick it up from the front of the house, so you wouldn't have much chance of sharing mine and probably explains why I have such a problem finding anyone else's.

 

[Johnny_boy]

I'll definitely try McDonalds Jill, my two have become fans despite us only going about 4 times a year....they've discovered you get toys

I don't want to spend hours on the web but it's nice to be able to update Facebook and check some emails.

As for BTFon, your connection shouldn't stop you connecting elsewhere as it let's you connect to other members' wi-fi as long as it's enabled on your router, you don't need to actually share, just have it enabled for sharing. Try changing the channel if you're having difficulty connecting, you could be getting interference from a neighbour.