Laptop computers are replacing bulky desktop machines allowing Telecottage clients to create documents, hold meetings away from the office, access email & browse the Internet wherever they want.

Personal Data Assistants provide up-to-date Contact & Calendar information for mobile clients. Blackberry PDAs can also provide up-to-date email access using 'push technology'.

Mobile Phones have gone from being an executive toy to a necessity used by three quarters of the population for voice, text & image communication. Modern mobile phones can provide broadband speed internet connectivity for users.

Wireless Technology enables clients to access the Internet & Network over a shared broadband connection whether working from a traditional office, relaxing Home Office or away from base on business trips.

Mobile working enables clients to spend travel time more productively ... more

For mobile working possibilities and checklist ... click here

Accessing Skype Zones and enjoying Skype from hotspots is not free, but it is very reasonably priced!

WiFi communication is just one option, the other is 3G broadband data services provided by mobile phone operators offering convenience over speed. WiFi Hotspots should provide faster data transfer speeds, but you will have to go looking for a WiFi signal.

Mobile phone 3G services offer wider coverage, but not yet available from all mobile phone masts. New technological advances are occurring all the time: a new wireless format promises to more than quadruple download speeds. OFCOM may also allow service providers to strengthen their signals to improve coverage.

Using high-capacity 3.5G technology, HSDPA is a software enhancement to an existing 3G W-CDMA network infrastructure & allows mobile clients access to the Internet at broadband speeds up to 3.6Mbps now being installed. Further improvements could offer up to 10Mbps broadband connection speeds over 3G.

3G is the generic term used for the third generation of mobile communications systems created to deliver up to 384Kbps connections - using the W-CDMA air interface, such networks are labelled 3GSM.

Vodaphone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Data Card purchased separately is about the size of a credit card. It slots into a spare PCMCIA Slot leaving the red end with indicator lights and aerial protruding.

Where a 3G Signal is not available, connections fall back to EDGE as default - see below.

When you talk on a mobile phone, a continuous connection to a channel is reserved for you on the GSM network, which means nobody else can use that channel. With EDGE, you can still have a continuous connection, but you only use the channel when you're sending or receiving data. So one data channel can be shared by three users.
So you are only billed for actual data transferred, not for the time connected.

EDGE is significantly faster than GSM Data but transfers are slower during peak hours in busy cell networks or when the signal is weak; and for safety reasons voice connections take precedence.

A GPRS Data Card offers wireless internet access on your laptop for online working wherever you want, whenever you want via local mobile phone mast network. You get an always-on internet connection which lets you send and receive email, browse the web and download files at anytime.