Querfeldein wrote:Does "unlimited" really mean unlimited in Finland, and does it allow tethering? In the UK, my cheap (£10 / month) "unlimited" plan had a 1 GB / month "fair use" policy added, but tethering is tolerated if not explicitly allowed.
I am using a company-provided SIM card (plan) and haven't been looking into the current consumer plans (or the small-print details for such) for a while. But at least Elisa/Saunalahti is currently running
an ad campaign where their main selling point is "4G with basically 'unlimited everything', and with no stupid data usage cap!"
The background of this campaign is that certain execs from Sonera, a competing carrier, have gone on the record as saying people should not expect getting unlimited mobile data, that such plans should be abolished, and also that their competitors should abolish them as well. According to Sonera, unlimited data is not a healthy, viable business model for the carriers. Apparently they would like nothing better than seeing a cartel of some sort emerge and eradicate such option from the market. So the above-mentioned campaign is Elisa's response to them.
Querfeldein wrote:Also, assuming 4G coverage in Helsinki is pretty good, would it be feasible to only use 4G without an extra broadband connection? Does it allow "full" internet access (including services such as VoIP, ssh, ftp, etc.), or only www?
I have never heard of a Finnish carrier limiting tethering, or the usable protocols in any form or fashion that would matter for normal use. SSH works, VPN works, VoIP works etc. I have no idea about the P2P filesharing protocols though. Maybe they do apply some kind of shaping to that kind of traffic if you're relentlessly churning data in and out day and night.
Port 25 is typically closed in consumer-grade Internet connections, so you can't send email out except through the carrier's own, official SMTP server - or by circumventing the block via VPN or other type of tunneling. This is done to detect and limit spamming in case your phone or PC should fall victim to malware. The practice of blocking the port number 25 also commonly applies to the wired broadband options.
Mobile carriers offer plain "data only" plans as well - SIM cards with no voice or SMS access. These are specifically meant to be used with a 3G/4G modem/router and a laptop/PC, or something like the iPad. However, a normal voice plan with unlimited data is just as good for mobile Internet access - except that sharing the Internet connection from your phone is not as flexible as a dedicated data SIM card in a 3G/4G modem (or in a device with a built-in modem) if your phone is not always in the vicinity of the PC.
There are many who use mobile 3G/4G connection as their primary Internet access method. Some may have a separate plan / SIM card for the phone and another one for a 4G modem (i.e. their PC) for added flexibility. I have a hunch, though, that mobile broadband as the
only Internet access method at home is more typical for women than men, since men are often more conscious about the speed, latency, and reliability issues and more likely to be gamers or some other type of "heavy users" for whom such things matter. And also more likely to have a desktop PC system instead of a mere notebook/laptop.
As for incoming connections, at least Saunalahti has had a special configuration option for their mobile plans where you can enable the use of another APN (which you must configure into your phone or 3G/4G modem manually) which hands out public IPv4 addresses. This way, it has been possible to run e.g. an SSH server or a personal web server at home over a mobile broadband connection. The upstream bandwidth is of course typically only a fraction of the downstream bandwidth.
DNA has also advertised bringing native IPv6 connectivity to their customers this summer, both in their mobile plans and wired broadband. I have not investigated whether they have now implemented that or whether having a public IPv6 address on a mobile plan by default (instead of a private IPv4 address behind a NAT) would also mean you get incoming IPv6 connections enabled as default. (Maybe not, as in a typical mobile use case it would still be safer to have incoming connections blocked by the ISP. Would be nice to have it as a configurable option, though, in a similar fashion as Saunalahti has been offering the optional public IPv4 addresses for their mobile plans.)
As for wired broadband, please note that many Finnish apartment buildings (housing companies) already subscribe to basic broadband access on behalf of all their dwellers/tenants... so depending on where you live, you might get wired broadband, anyway. For example, I currently live in an apartment block built in the 1970s and get 10/2 Mbps broadband cable access, which is paid as part of the rent with no way to opt out. (It is part of the maintenance free for my landlord, and they can't opt out either. The housing company has collectively agreed to subscribe to a basic broadband service for all the apartments by a majority vote.) The cable company provides the modem for no additional fee but retains the ownership of the device. The only thing I had to do is register online and they mailed it to me.
There are also similar collective broadband deals in newer or renovated buildings in which the apartments have already been properly wired for Ethernet or fiber. The tenants/dwellers just need to register online to activate their already-paid connection and get their basic Internet service. If the basic service/speed class does not suffice for someone, they can subscribe to a higher-tier speed class online and then pay monthly extra fees for that higher bandwidth.
