Roaming, 3G Costs, Access, Reliability, GPS.
I have used a Wi-Fi dongle successfully in both Thailand and New Zealand. However programs such as Google Earth simply "gobble up your data allowance" and therefore incur significant costs and maybe leave you without a connection. Also
Devices
Any Wi-Fi you can find whilst in campsites etc is great but my focus here is to do without the internet for navigation purposes.
I use both a Laptop and a Samsung Tablet as well as a SATNAV
The tablet is great whilst on the move as it has built in GPS and a good mapping (GPS linked) app " Maps with me Pro".
I do not aim to promote this app but I do like it. (You can copy KML files to and from Google Earth).
The laptop is better for Google Earth and more (including copying POIs to SatNav)
Thus internet free navigation and campsite information is achieved and a more reliable solution is in place.
Your dongle can then be used mainly for emails
I also save useful internet pages to my laptop or tablet so they are "available offline".
- 3G Coverage is patchy in many remote area where we wish to travel (eg Scottish highlands... but more.. Valleys almost everywhere in Mountainous areas)
- If you travel in Europe costs and coverage are even more problematical.
- The unreliability of this means that it is difficult to use Google Earth or indeed the web to assist in finding a campsite or stopover.
- Plan research get GPS locations etc at home. Then arrange to use these independently of the internet by copying onto any or all of the devices below
Devices
- SATNAV (no matter which one)
- Tablet with GPS function and a suitable mapping app
- GPS dongle for a laptop.
- 3G Dongle fo Laptop or Tablet or bath
Any Wi-Fi you can find whilst in campsites etc is great but my focus here is to do without the internet for navigation purposes.
I use both a Laptop and a Samsung Tablet as well as a SATNAV
The tablet is great whilst on the move as it has built in GPS and a good mapping (GPS linked) app " Maps with me Pro".
I do not aim to promote this app but I do like it. (You can copy KML files to and from Google Earth).
The laptop is better for Google Earth and more (including copying POIs to SatNav)
Thus internet free navigation and campsite information is achieved and a more reliable solution is in place.
Your dongle can then be used mainly for emails
I also save useful internet pages to my laptop or tablet so they are "available offline".
Data size emails attachments and photos
Emails , attachments etc.
Other items that "eat your allowance" are
Sending and receiving emails with large attachments.(especially photos)
This is a particular bugbear of mine ( I used to manage a network where students used excessive disk space with multiple huge photos).
Some simple maths (figures representative)
1 a 6Megapixel camera stores pictures 3000 by 2000 pixels (3000 x 2000 = 6,000,000 pixels ie 6 MP)
2 a laptop screen is typically 1300 by 800 thus 1,040,000 pixels effectively 1 MP ie 1 sixth of the above.
So a huge saving already if you resize photos to say 1200 by 800
This size will NOT DEGRADE the viewed image on a laptop (large screen TVs may benefit from more pixels)
So do not send RAW pictures COPY them and resize the copy to send...eg to friends)
Website images... similar considerations apply and images on the web rarely need to be more than say 300 by 200 pixels. As the size of the image file is related to both dimensions a 300 by 200 image is 16 (4x4) times smaller than a 1200 by 800 image. This is of particular significance to those of us wishing to display images on web-sites. The smaller image will also load 16 times as quickly. (It also does not overuse our allowed storage related to the web-site).
My figure are representative only as different cameras have slightly different aspect ratios (5by3 4by3 etc)
There are many simple resizing programs available (too many to list)
Apologies this is a bit "Techie" but if you can at least do some of it you will benefit
Other items that "eat your allowance" are
Sending and receiving emails with large attachments.(especially photos)
This is a particular bugbear of mine ( I used to manage a network where students used excessive disk space with multiple huge photos).
Some simple maths (figures representative)
1 a 6Megapixel camera stores pictures 3000 by 2000 pixels (3000 x 2000 = 6,000,000 pixels ie 6 MP)
2 a laptop screen is typically 1300 by 800 thus 1,040,000 pixels effectively 1 MP ie 1 sixth of the above.
So a huge saving already if you resize photos to say 1200 by 800
This size will NOT DEGRADE the viewed image on a laptop (large screen TVs may benefit from more pixels)
So do not send RAW pictures COPY them and resize the copy to send...eg to friends)
Website images... similar considerations apply and images on the web rarely need to be more than say 300 by 200 pixels. As the size of the image file is related to both dimensions a 300 by 200 image is 16 (4x4) times smaller than a 1200 by 800 image. This is of particular significance to those of us wishing to display images on web-sites. The smaller image will also load 16 times as quickly. (It also does not overuse our allowed storage related to the web-site).
My figure are representative only as different cameras have slightly different aspect ratios (5by3 4by3 etc)
There are many simple resizing programs available (too many to list)
Apologies this is a bit "Techie" but if you can at least do some of it you will benefit