FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  557 (20/03/07)

Q. My retirement plan is to live almost full-time aboard a narrow boat, cruising all over the canal system, but I will need a mobile phone and Internet access for e-mails so that my partner can keep in touch. Would it be to have a Blackberry (to connect into my laptop so that I can read the screen and edit with a decent sized keyboard) or, what seems the more expensive option, to keep a mobile phone and buy a travel card for the laptop. In either event who becomes my ISP? If you can suggest a better option, bearing in mind the generosity of the old age pension, I would appreciate your advice.

Alastair Meikle, via email

A. There’s no single solution and you need to equip yourself with a range of technologies. Your laptop should be Wi-Fi enabled, to take advantage of the wireless ‘hotspots’ and access points that will be intermittently available at marinas, moorings and in the towns that you pass through. You should be able to find free hotspots in most places you visit, though you may have to go inland. Unless it is essential for you to be able to receive incoming emails at any time then I don’t regard a Blackberry as essential but a mobile phone is.

You should choose a model that can connect to your laptop, either through a data cable or by via a ‘BlueTooth’ link, and ideally it should be one that can be ‘unlocked’ and used with a variety of networks. This will allow you to take advantage of the many special deals and tariffs. The cheapest option would be to simply use the phone as a modem and connect to your existing ISP via a normal dial-up connection, taking advantage of the free off-peak minutes included in many deals. However, with data rates of only 9.6 to 14.4kbs it is painfully slow, web browsing is no fun at all but it’s fine for emailing. You could bypass the cable/BlueTooth connection to the phone and use a GSM data card instead. This plugs directly into your laptop’s PC Card slot, if it has one, and these are incredibly cheap at the moment, I have seen unlocked models selling online for under £10

If the slow speed is a limitation then it is also worth investing in a data card, which will allow you to use the faster data services (GPRS, HSDSC 3G etc) available on various mobile phone networks, however, these are currently quite expensive and tend to be based on the amount of data you download.

Q. Is it possible to record Internet radio to CD?

Andy Bullen, via email

And…

Q. Is it possible to record programmes from BBC Radio Player and burn them onto a CD to play back in my car?  

John Baker, via email

A. Yes to both questions, and the solution is the same. Our old friend Audacity is the simplest and cheapest (it’s free!) way to make audio recordings on your PC, and the key feature is its ability to record any sound that you hear through your PC’s speakers, whether it’s coming via the Internet, from a CD, or generated by Windows or any program running on the computer. Once the recording is complete you simply convert it to the most appropriate file format (MP3, WAV, CD Audio etc.) then use Windows Media Player (version 10 or above) to burn it to a CD. There’s more about using Audacity in Boot Camps 450 – 454, which your will find in the Telegraph.co.uk Archive  

Q. With printer ink costing £5 per teaspoonful are any of the 'ink saving' programs one sees advertised any good or are they more trouble than they are worth?

Alan Marco, Watford

A. Possibly, maybe, but before spending any money on software I would investigate the free alternatives. Most printers have ‘draft’ or ‘economy’ modes, which you will find in the utility program, or by selecting your printer’s ‘Properties’ which you can get to through any application with a printing facility, or from Printers and Faxes in Control Panel (right-click on the printer and select Properties from the drop-down menu). You can also make considerable savings using ‘compatible’ ink cartridges. Needless to say printer manufacturer’s are not very keen on these but if you buy from a reputable source there’s a fair chance they’re coming from the same factory as the manufacturer’s own cartridges. If you are feeling cautious wait until the printer’s warranty has expired but generally speaking they are quite safe.

Ink saver programs generally work by intercepting print jobs and manipulating the data to reduce ink density – i.e. changing dense blacks to dark greys, reducing colour contrast and so on, before sending it on to the printer. I suspect the actual savings vary considerably from one make of printer to another. All of the programs I’ve seen offer free time-limited trial versions so give one or two of them a try and see how you get on.

Q. My broadband connection is fine in every respect but one. From around 6pm in the evening, presumably when overall usage of broadband goes up, the broadband connection frequently switches off, often many times in an evening.  Is there a possibility that the problem is a setting in my computer?  

Bryan Bailie

A. I don’t believe it has anything to do with Internet activity but the first thing to do is check with your ISP, to see if there are any known service problems at that time each day. However, I think it far more likely that the connection is being dropped due to an external influence.

Of course it is possible your PC is to blame, check to see if it is set to carry out any scheduled tasks at that time, a regular backup perhaps or maybe your anti-virus software checking for signature file updates?

Do you have a Sky TV box or any other devices connected to your telephone line? If so disconnect them all just before 6 o’clock and see what happens. Are there any large electrical appliances set to switch on at that time; your central heating, for example? Freezers and refrigerators have been known to cause ‘spikes’ in the power supply and adjacent phone cables, which can all affect a broadband connection.

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© R. Maybury 2007 0603