Wireless internet access?

Discussion in 'Expat Life' started by gasp, Apr 25, 2006.

  1. gasp

    gasp New Member

    I'm planning to move to Praha next year and I'm going to buy a laptop to bring along. Is wireless internet access available in the city? How much does it cost? Mac or PC? Does it matter? How does one go about hooking up an internet connection in an apartment? Any advice is appreciated!
     
  2. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    It differs. Which technology? Do you realy need a wireless one? Where in Prague? ...

    Prague is mostly covered by a lot of little providers - see this list.

    E.g. in Prague 5 (Smíchov) there's public net accesible via wi-fi. It's slow :( (64 Kb/s) but free of charge :D.

    Mac or PC? I think there's no problem with Mac but PC rules in Czech Republic. Therefor PC is safer.
     
  3. Halef

    Halef Well-Known Member

    I don't quite understand what you need - a) Internet connection to your apartment, or b) being able to connect on the street?

    a) - there may be better alternatives than wi-fi (adsl, cable tv,...), but that depends on the location and you will have to compare the prices when you know your place of residence. Anyway, some type of Internet connection will be available anywhere in Prague, I guess.

    b) - there are free wifi networks, there are commercial ones, and you can also use APs in some cafes ("drink and surf") etc.
    If you want to be _really_ mobile, I would consider using your cell phone as a GPRS/EDGE/whatever modem - all Czech cell phone operators offer data services.

    Mac or PC - wer is right about PC's dominance, but as long as the device complies with 802.11 standards, you should be able to use whatever you want.
     
  4. gasp

    gasp New Member

    I can do either. I was wondering how easy it is to get access at home but I'm fine with taking the laptop out to cafes or public wi-fi spots. I use a PC now but I would probably prefer Mac, which doesn't seem to be too much of a problem.

    Thanks!
     
  5. magan

    magan Well-Known Member

    Does anyone have experience with wireless in Prague 1? While I have Sagem modem from Telecom (and internet connection trough them), I have internet connection coming up on its own called polamanymravenecek. I don't need pasword to get through. Note just comes up on bottom of my screen and I can access internet through it. I am wondering about security and it is real mystery to me. Can anyone advise on this? I have searched internet for polamanymravenecek and didn't find anything (except of course well known Czech rhyme).
     
  6. Halef

    Halef Well-Known Member

    Looks like someone in your house, or maybe a neighbor, has set up an access point and forgot to secure it. It's quite comfortable to use an ADSL modem with integrated AP, so you can connect to Internet anywhere in your apartment/house.
    It might be possible to find out approximate location by measuring the strength of the signal. As far as security is concerned - the owner of the AP can theoretically watch your communication, but judging by the fact he let an open AP running, he might not even know that you are using it :)
     
  7. aminpraha

    aminpraha Member

    When making inquiries on apartments, you need to ask about available service providers, it differs widely throughout the city just as cable tv does. Some buildings have cable hookups so you could get a high speed cable modem set up. Other buildings do not have cable, so extra tv programming is satellite dish providers - so in that case you would need to have a telephone line ADSL modem set-up. There are some places that provide local "networks" such an internet cafe that is also servicing the immediate buildings with a dish network of some type. Eurotel offers wireless service, a tiny portable modem, so essentially you are wireless wherever you want to be, however, unless you are a citizen or have permanent status here, you will have to buy the modem for around 5,000 crowns and put down a deposit on service which is around 10,000 crowns, so expensive to set up. The signal strength is not very strong though.

    I've ended up utilizing the ADSL modem, about 1,800 a month for internet service and about 350 a month for the phone line.
     
  8. anu

    anu Well-Known Member

    does anyone know which cafes in prague besides kavakava! do offer "drink and surf"?
     
  9. southie

    southie Member

    I use a T-Mobile wi-fi card. It cost 6000kc. The monthly rate for unlimited use is 850kc. It works everywhere in the CR (That's what they told me when I bought the card, and I've yet to find a place in the CR where it doesn't work.)
     
  10. mick mock

    mick mock Member

    Thanks for all these replies, as this is another subject I was after answers for. Does anyone know the addresses of the surf Cafes in Prague? I notice no one replied to that one. Also can anyone tell me where if I can take my disk from my camera and have the pictures put on a cd while I am there?
    Great site!
     
  11. GlennInFlorida

    GlennInFlorida Well-Known Member

    Here is a link you might find helpful as a start - found it on ask.com

    http://www.praguecitytourist.com/prague ... -cafe.html

    most of the internet cafes I came across had multi-media machines that would let you transfer photos (I have an SD card though so, not sure about a mini-disk).
     
  12. mick mock

    mick mock Member

    Thanks very much for your help Glen, I will check it out. :)
     
  13. lovemerad21

    lovemerad21 New Member

    also, are the ethernet cable hook-ups different in europe than in the u.s.?
     
  14. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    No, as far as I know.
     
  15. Torgut

    Torgut Active Member

    As far as I know Ethernet cables are universal.
     
  16. Alexx

    Alexx Well-Known Member

    As far as I know, ethernet plugs (RJ-45) is the same worldwide.

    [​IMG]
     
  17. bibax

    bibax Well-Known Member

    I have BNC connectors ("béencák"), but they are also universal.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. Alexx

    Alexx Well-Known Member

    That is pretty unlikely he will come to Europe with notebook equiped with this kind of obsolete technology :)
     

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