Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 October 15

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October 15

82.148.97.69

Did Qatar get a new IP address? User:82.148.97.69 was apparently the entire country's sole IP address for a while, but it's made no edits since 2008, either here or at the Arabic Wikipedia. Internet in Qatar doesn't address the issue. Nyttend (talk) 01:03, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Suffice to say that our talk-page for User:82.148.97.69 is presenting an overly-simplified picture of the situation. My whois to RIPE.net resolved that IP address to "Mobile Broadband Pool #6", administered by Qatar Qtel (formerly, the major telecommunications provider for Qatar), which incidentally underwent a brand-name change and a reorganization in February 2013. It is probably not technically accurate to say that the IP was assigned to, or even used by the "entire nation" of Qatar; it was probably one among the most commonly-used proxy servers. It's even probable that an extremely high percentage of users of commercially-available internet service in Qatar had their HTTP traffic routed through that proxy server at one time. You can telephone, write, or email the Qtel network operations center administrator for more details on how they route; their contact information is publicly available online. I would also point out that a naive application of the German tank problem-style reasoning suggests that there exist on the order of twelve such broadband IP-pools). Nimur (talk) 02:09, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Urgent request: Toronto SIM card for phone and data, casual use over one month

Hi helpers. This is an urgent request, from Australia, for information to assist my wife who is just now arriving in Toronto to settle her recently deceased mother's affairs.

My wife has an iPhone 4 (not locked to any service provider; needs a micro SIM) and an iPad (no provision for a SIM card of its own). She has no computer with her, but needs reliable internet access as well as the usual telephone services. What is the quickest affordable way to organise this, with certainty that the SIM card will allow the iPhone to be a hotspot for the iPad? We do this all the time in Australia; but it is daunting to find the right method quickly in a new country.

We will be very grateful for accurate local advice (and sources of SIMs near the corner of St Clair West and Winona Drive).

14.201.134.184 (talk) 03:29, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

It might be cheaper to get a disposable pre-paid cell phone (mobile phone) there with internet access. I'm guessing you could get that for maybe CAN$100. Exactly what Internet access is needed will greatly affect the price. If she just needs to be able to read e-mails, that should be cheap, but if she expects to watch streaming movies, that will be more expensive. StuRat (talk) 17:56, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Thanks Stu. But she is there to do some complex work. Her iPad is set up for reading PDFs, limited editing of Word documents, etc. A cheap new phone would not be enough. In Australia we could get a prepaid card for $15 a year, then $35 a month for unlimited calls and 5GB of data. (No commitment beyond $50. That's an Aldi card, running on Telstra 3G. And it does work in an iPhone to make it a WiFi hotspot.) We need something like that, even if it's three times the cost. I can't work it out online. Everywhere in the world the terms of use are kept deliberately confusing; for short-term visitors it's even harder.

14.201.134.184 (talk) 21:29, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

There is a 2012 article on Forbes about getting cellular access in Canada as a non-citizen—it's aimed at U.S. citizens but should still apply to you. There is a great summary list at the end which spells out all the details. The writer got a free SIM card from the Apple Store (there are Apple Stores at Yorkdale and Eaton Centre, both about 7km from St Clair West and Winona Drive), then activated it at Rogers for a 500 MB prepay data plan. Not sure about tethering (using the iPhone's connection for the iPad), but there is a Wikia wiki here which has some of the details of which providers allow tethering. --Canley (talk) 00:49, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

Useful! The Forbes article gives good technical details. I found also this discussion in which the commercially driven complexities are surveyed. It's a jungle! Anyway, that put me onto Speakout 7-Eleven, which has just recently begun offering reasonable data add-ons again.

My wife reports that most salespeople know nothing useful; and it seems that some deliberately mislead. I am reminded of how things are in Australia; but I now appreciate better what we have access to, flawed as it is by snake-oil sales talk and poor consumer protection. I think we now have enough information to get what we need. Thanks to all!

14.201.134.184 (talk) 10:12, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I'm amazed at how useless the staff of retail stores can be. One told me they don't carry mini-fridges, while standing in front of a shelf full of mini-fridges. Their thought process seems to be "What answer can I give the customer which will result in the least work for me ?". And telling you they don't carry something means they can't be asked where it is, to get one down from the shelf, what the difference is between models, etc. I've also learned that "We've never carried that" really means they haven't carried it in the two weeks they've worked there. StuRat (talk) 19:51, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

And also if they don't have something, sometimes you'll get someone who'll say "Oh, you're looking for <whatever>?" then leave and never return. This happened to me more than once, most memorable one being when I was looking for video conversion software. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 21:25, 16 October 2013 (UTC)