Library Internet Access

[Mac of Cygnet]

I don't have internet access on the boat,or even a computer, and use public libraries. I've been out of touch with CWF for a while because I've been in Northamptonshire, which charges £1 per 20 minutes for internet access, even to library members. A neighbouring county, Warwickshire, is even worse, at £2 for 30 minutes.

Cambridgeshire, on the other hand is great - you join in five minutes and are given a card and PIN which you can use free at any library in the County (except Peterborough, oddly enough, which insists on charging.)

 

Free access is the norm, although you sometimes have to join the library (I have a sheaf of library cards from all over the system north of Milton Keynes, beyond which I have never ventured).

 

Internet cafes are not nearly so common in the UK as on the Continent. Has anyone else had experience of internet access in Libraries or elsewhere?

 

Mac

[carlt]

I haven't used it for ages but I thought Rugby library was free, for the internet.

 

At £1 for 20 minutes it would be far more economical to get a dongle and lap top.

 

Edited to say:

Just Googled them and they still offer the first 30 minutes free, every day, then £2 for 30 minutes, after that.

 

Clicky

Edited July 29, 2009 by carlt

[Mac of Cygnet]

I haven't used it for ages but I thought Rugby library was free, for the internet.

 

At £1 for 20 minutes it would be far more economical to get a dongle and lap top.

 

Edited to say:

Just Googled them and they still offer the first 30 minutes free, every day, then £2 for 30 minutes, after that.

 

Clicky

Well it's not economics that dictates my having no computer on the boat - I just know that I would end up going to bed at 3AM every day like at home.

 

Your link gives the new rates from July 1st, after I was in Warwickshire - it's even more expensive now! The free half hour is only for library members, and Warwickshire won't let you join the library unless you're in the area for at least a month (or a fortnight for temporary membership, when charges still apply). It all seems so petty, when most of the country provides free access in libraries (to all facilities). I actually like visiting libraries, but not if I have to pay through the nose to use them. To be fair, Northamptonshire does have some free computers with 'information' websites, such as National Rail which I use to book travel home.

 

Mac

[loner]

When we were in Market Haroborough we used the public library. There was no fee. We did sign up ahead of time and walked around the town a bit before we could get online. The wait was short and the walking around is nice. The marina is near town.

[gaggle]

We go to uppermill ,saddlesworth on the hnc and the internet access is free in the library or it has been each year up to now ,going back this weekend so will find out if it is changed.

accessed by hundred metre work from boat , great stuff and if you have kids with you they are encouraged to take part in other activities running in the centre.

[tillergirl]

Here in Scunthorpe if you are a library member you can have 30 minutes free access per day. what they charge for non members I have no idea. Not that you can get on the pc's though they're usually all taken by our european friends with a queue already formed.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Just an update on this to say that I walked into the library in Stratford (on Avon) today and was asked for £2.50 per half hour (!) for internet access. It made it worth it to get the bus back to Evesham (Worcestershire) for free internet. I feel a netbook and dongle coming on. It's a pity, because I like libraries, but heaven knows what will happen to such civilised havens in the present economic slaughter.

 

Mac

[Chris J W]

We go to uppermill ,saddlesworth on the hnc and the internet access is free in the library or it has been each year up to now ,going back this weekend so will find out if it is changed.

accessed by hundred metre work from boat , great stuff and if you have kids with you they are encouraged to take part in other activities running in the centre.

 

The coffee shop just over the road (can't remember the name, but it's next to the river) has free WiFi, too. The signal is fairly strong, too, if you don't fancy sitting in doors ...

 

 

Just an update on this to say that I walked into the library in Stratford (on Avon) today and was asked for £2.50 per half hour (!) for internet access. It made it worth it to get the bus back to Evesham (Worcestershire) for free internet. I feel a netbook and dongle coming on. It's a pity, because I like libraries, but heaven knows what will happen to such civilised havens in the present economic slaughter.

 

Mac

 

At that price it's cheaper to find a Wetherspoons and use theirs!

[Keeping Up]

At that price it's cheaper to find a Wetherspoons and use theirs!

Not if you have to buy yourself a computer first (the OP says he doesn't have one)

[Chris J W]

Not if you have to buy yourself a computer first (the OP says he doesn't have one)

 

D'oh!

[nb Innisfree]

I prefer surfing on the boat and spending time in Wetherspoons/cafe/coffee shop/library in social intercourse.

 

Each to their own I suppose

[grahame r]

Newbury Library on the K&A is wonderful, moor by the park, pop over the bridge to the library, no need to join and no charg e then a nice cup of tea and piece of cake in the K&A Trust Cafe in the car park.

[Bobbybass]

I prefer surfing on the boat and spending time in Wetherspoons/cafe/coffee shop/library in social intercourse.

 

Each to their own I suppose

 

Do you get a loyalty card for social intercourse ?

[drunkensailor]

I can recommend Reading Library (it's a Reading Library don't you know?). Never had a problem finding a machine to get online with.

[Henhouse]

I'm a member of Wiltshire Libraries, and also Calderdale in Yorkshire. Neither of these charge at all, though you do have to book to guarantee a machine. However on the occasions I have popped in on the off chance I have been lucky.

 

Both of these libraries also allow access to some of their services from home on your own computer by entering your library card number.

[Mac of Cygnet]

I have a sheaf of 10 library cards from around the system, but I'll be in Warwickshire for a while, so I've capitulated and ordered a netbook from Amazon and an Orange dongle at £5 per month, which seems very cheap, but I've heard mixed reports about their effectiveness. Has anyone used one?

 

Mac