My Internet Connection
I have had some sort of internet connection since 1999, right back to the days of screaming.net, and those new cheap dial-up days. So for me it was only natural that I would want to have my connection on No Problem. Keeping in touch with friends and writing about my retirement
HISTORY:-
An internet connection from a boat is quite easy really,
the hardest part is to get one that is cheap enough. 
I did a lot of research before leaving my very fast ADSL line at home, looking at all the various ways of connecting, as well as learning how much data I would require aboard when using gprs and 3g. So in 2001 when we first bought the original No Problem I decided to have two types of connection.
I had one of Orange's old tariffs, the Everyday 50, I could have 50 minutes online, and pay a penny a minute for anything over that as long as it was in the evenings after 7 pm and all weekend.
Luckily the family business had an dial up AOL connection, not used during the evenings, so using that I was able to use their 0845 number to connnect to that via the mobile phone's data lead. . 0845 numbers are allowed in that particular tariff, not so with the modern tariffs that are around at the moment. The Everday 50 costed £15.00 a month.
I also had a gprs/3g connection with Orange through a 3G Mobile Office Card which just plugged into my PCMCIA on the laptop. It came with all the software necessary, and took about 5 minutes to get up and running.
I purchased that in August 2004 when Orange first launched it, and decided to go for a 400MB package.
I was very lucky then, Carphone Warehouse were offering this package for £45 a month, and the purchase of the card was just £20!
I also got a £20 discount from Orange because I was one of the earliest users of their new system, making a total outlay for my 400MB of £25 a month. This excluded VAT, as it is technically a business product.
So with my connection to AOL through Orange Everyday 50, this was classed as 'dial-up' and was timed by the minute, and my connection via gprs/3g, worked out on how many MB I used, I managed to connect to the internet and surf more or less as much as I wanted. I used a program to monitor my usage, DuMeter. An excellent product, and far more accurate than the orange software counter that came with the Datacard.
MY CONNECTION NOW (2008)
Last year the prices really came down for 3g data, and now I have switched from Orange to T-Mobile. I purchased another datacard for free and connected to their web n walk tariff. For this I get 'unlimited' (capped at 3GB) of data flow, which is a lot more than I got in the early days of 3g. I have found T-Mobile to be better than Orange for coverage now.. and if my datacard doesn't connect, I simply take the sim out of it and put it in my 3g phone and stick that in a net on a bit of string and hang it outside the window to get a reception. I can't remember the last time I was not able to connect to T-Mobile.
The software also has a 'WIFI Sniffer', so that if I am in a town I can check to see if there is any wifi around, very handy! You don't have to have a wifi enabled laptop to be able to connect to that because the datacard also doubles up as wifi enabled.
My contract runs out with T-Mobile in April 2008, and I will be able to get one of these USB modems which have the new super fast internet connction, faster, they say than broadband.. can't wait!
If ever I get stuck with no reception I have a fall back in a 3g sim card on orange where I can, for £1.00 a day connect to gprs by putting the sim into my 3g unlocked phone on bluetooth..
It's all very easy,