Gordon Laing is right to be sceptical about mobile connectivity (PCW, July 2006, p. 33). The rhetoric about being online whenever and wherever is so much hot air, because of the charging methods. Let me explain.

Every 3 or 4 months, I spend a day at the British Library, which commendably has Wifi throughout. During that day, I might want to look at my email four or five times. If I have a monthly subscription with one of the major wireless ISPs, there's no problem. But why take out a monthly subscription for something I use only occasionally?

Alternatively, I can buy an hour's time (say) with an ISP. But that hour begins the moment I first connect. I can't distribute it into several short sessions throughout the day. Delving into the recesses of the BT Openzone website you'll find a little-advertised pay-as-you-go tariff for my kind of usage. It's pricey, but cheaper than paying each month for something you don't use, or serially buying an hours'-worth of time and using only five minutes.

As for 3G data connectivity on the move, forget it. It has to be a handsome monthly subscription or nothing.

Allan Jones