Originally Posted by xxtimbo:
“Not having a mobile phone or smart phone, Im not au fe
with all this
I wonder how internet reception can be compared with
on line internet that I get on my desk top ... probably at
an average speed of 8 meg
Smart phones I would guess... using 3g... are nt getting anything like that internet speed.”
Tablet's are based on smart phone technology. Some tablets work only with WIFI, while others can work with 3g as well as WIFI.
In terms of WIFI, it works quite well at home, but it cant touch my (cat6) eithernet linked pc/router - and that's still regular broadband (not Fibre). The WIFI, even in your own home can very depending on how thick the walls are, how far away from your wifi router you are. This is a basic 3 bed semi detached house, but at the far end of the house the WIFI is borderline, and connection can be lost. Many places which have public WIFI often just have a home type router which is not enough if they are trying to cover a larger area, eg Bed&Breakfast, etc. The upside to WIFI only devices is that you don't need to worry about any extra data planes - the usage comes from your home broadband (or from the public hot spot if your out and about).
3g (and 4g if/when it gets launched where you live) will vary in stability and speed, depending how from the mast you are. My home is officially covered by a 3g signal, but its barely 50% strength indoors, and speed is poor. A stronger 3g (or 4g) signal will boost internet speeds a lot. Poor signal can also result in many more "wait states" where the device just sits there doing nothing. With 3 or 4g, you will have a data plan, a bit like a mobile phone contract, which will often have a data limit attached to it (some are unlimited though). For contracts with a limit, you can go over but they sting you for the extra data use. if you plan on using a mobile phone or tablet a lot over 3/4g, and have a data limit, you need to be very careful with this especially if your a heavy user of multimedia (eg, tv/film/google street view/etc/etc) which just chews through the data at a staggering rate).