Wireless Internet is a service of access to the Internet, with no need of plugging any wires (technologies such as WiMAX). It is a growing competition for the landline Internet. Wireless Internet in Poland, similarly to the landline one, is offered by many operators. That is why, in this case, it is worth using the web and compare the prices
Access to the Internet, beside the telecommunications services, is also offered by all of the mobile telephony operators, which are Era, Heyah, Orange, Play, Plus and 36.6. They cover the whole Poland with their range.
The technologies used by the mobile telephony operators are:
- GPRS- a basic radio packet service, used in those areas that are not very urbanized, and the theoretical data transfer rate is approximately 170kb/s, the actual data transfer rate is a couple dozens of kb/s, the user pays for the amount of data he sent or received, not for the time he kept the link active.
- EDGE - the successor/ better version of GPRS, in comparison to GPRS offers significantly better transfers, theoretical speed is 384kb/s, the actual data transfer rate is approximately 100kbps, GSM network is adapted to transmission in EDGE technology what takes place when it is economically justified, the range of EDGE in all the networks can be checked on the website
- UMTS is the third generation system provided by the mobile telephony that offers very fast Internet access, in theory even up to 1920kb/s, the actual data transfer rate is 384kb/s tops.
Thanks to the mobile telephony, the access to the Internet can be reached in any place in the country. To use the Internet via the mobile telephony, one needs a special modem, to which one inserts a SIM card.
The modem can be bought in one of the operator's stations or in an e-store. If you do not use that kind of the Internet access very often, then you can use your mobile phone instead of buying the modem (most of the mobile phones has a built-in modem, so you can connect it to the computer in use of a wire or the ‘bluetooth’ option and make it act as the modem).
The operators offer two variants of paying for the access to the Internet: licence fee or the pre-paid. In case of accessing the Internet very often - the license would prove to be cheaper. Pre-paid is more advantageous for the people who rarely use the net. What is important is that it does not require paying the monthly bill.
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INTERESTING DETAIL In 2008 a trade magazine "Computer World" conducted a test of the wireless Internet networks. All the Polish operators with their own network infrastructure took part in it - meaning Era, Plus, Orange and Play. The actual download and upload rates were measured. The first place was taken by iPlus offered by Play, the second was taken by Play Online offered by Play, the third was taken by Blueconnect offered by Era and the fourth place was taken by Orange Free offered by Orange operator. |
Wireless urban Internet networks
More and more cities also offer Internet free of charge. Usually urban networks provide the free Internet for its citizens, which is often also available to people who are staying in its reach. The example of that may be the Test Wireless Network of access to the Internet on the old market square in Poznan. It is available to all people who are equipped with a computer with a Wi-Fi network adapter card (IEEE 802.11b/g) and a web browser. The user of the net does not have to register anywhere. All one has to do in order to connect with Poznan-Internet-Free network, next log in, in use of one’s name and surname, then read the regulations section and accept it. After logging in, the user can stay online for two hours. The service is limited to web-browsing and accessing e-mail accounts through webs.
Another example is a paid BemowoNET network in a district of Warsaw, intended for the local citizens. Beside installing a Wi-Fi card to a computer, a person has to register in the office in Bemowo, in order to obtain a unique login and the password. All one has to do is simply fill in a short statement and sign in under the regulations section. Bemowo network allows to use the Internet communicators, such as Gadu-Gadu and Skype.
Wireless networks are also constructed in the rural areas. The example of which is the administrative district of Gogolin, in which all the citizens and its guests can use the free district network, that covers the area of the whole district.
Hot-Spots
A Hot-Spot is an area, where you are in the range of a wireless (WiFi) network, enabling access to the Internet. Hot-Spots allow the users of laptops, palmtops and mobile phones to connect and access the Internet. The condition of using the wireless Internet is having a terminal (laptop, PDA) equipped with a WLAN card, which is 802.11b (2.4GHz) or 802.11a (5GHz) compatible.
We distinguish paid and free Hot-Spots. They can be found in big cities (e.g. Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan, Cracow, Lodz), as well as smaller ones (e.g. Augustow, Belchatow, Malbork, Wladyslawowo). In most cases they are situated in hotels (unfortunately, usually they are the paid ones), restaurants (e.g. Pizza Hut, McDonalds and KFC - free hot spots), airports, stations (Warsaw main railway station - free), schools (e.g. SGH in Warsaw - free), shopping centres, but also in parks and cafes (e.g. Coffee Heaven - free for its customers), petrol stations (e.g. Statoil - free).
When deciding to go for a trip to another city, we can check whether there are any Hot-Spots in there. There are websites devoted to Hot-Spots. They contain Hot-Spots browsers that will not only provide you with an information whether there is a Hot-Spot in a particular area, but also inform us whether it is a paid or a free one. Examples of websites containing search engines for Hot-Spots are: http://www.hotspot.info.pl and http://www.hotspot.pl
