by Alison Sloan

Created on: May 12, 2009

A Grumpy Old Woman's Guide to How to Use Your Dongle.

Plug it in and surf. Was it really that simple? In the world according to this grumpy old woman, nothing ever was.

"I would love for the family to chip in and buy me a dongle for my birthday."

If my daughter Zoe was astonished by my request she didn't show it. I know it's a strange present for a 50 year old menopausal woman, but when you're strange and menopausal you just know what you want. To the uninitiated, this oddly named device plugs into a computer USB port enabling access to the internet.

I am aware that, to most people, my gift choice is rather like requesting a lady shave for your wedding anniversary or an electric whisk for Christmas, but I had a plan in mind which required internet access and no online connection in which to carry it out. With money tight, my husband John and I cancelled our landline subscription a while ago and made do by using pay-as-you-go mobile phone to receive calls. It really cut costs but we had to forgo our internet connection. It was something I didn't miss much until now.

A couple of months ago, my favourite woman's magazine contained an article on how to make extra cash; suggestions ranged from selling handmade arts and crafts to offering your services as a virtual PA. In fact the internet was cited as holding a wealth of opportunities for a budding dot.com entrepreneur My interest was ignited by reference to 'subsidising your income by doing paid online-surveys' and I thought to myself how hard could that be? By chance, the same magazine held a leaflet advertising mobile phones and mobile broadband connectors (dongles). A pay-as-you-go mobile connection seemed the answer to my humanist prayers.

The first step, in my money making venture, was to check that I could obtain a strong enough signal for a prospective mobile internet connection and to compare costs and monthly price plans. I checked out all the mobile websites for information.

For the first requirement, it seemed you simply typed in your postcode and with a click of the mouse I was given a resounding YES there was a signal in my street more than adequate for my needs. It was very reassuring as I knew my area had a history of signal problems, specifically for the GoConnect* mobile network but hey, that was a couple of years ago.

All the pay-as-you-go broadband dongles were about the same price to buy (you get one for free if you subscribe to their monthly rental plan) so I based my choice

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page >>