The apartment we rent in Covent Garden does not have any internet service. Last year I was unable to get any wireless signal from there either.
Here in the US you can often pick up a disc and an offer for free AOL for a month or so.
Is such a thing a possibility in London? Obviously I can do a dial up service via the phone there (no charge for local phone), but is there a company I can set up service for temporarily or really cheap without getting all involved?

A broadband connection would take a couple of weeks to set up and generally would require a 12 month contract though there are some companies that offer 1 month rolling contracts.

For dial up you'll pay 1p per minute OFF PEAK (ie after 6:00pm) for PAYG dial up. Simplest thing to do is go to one of the main companies like www.orange.co.uk or www.tiscali.co.uk & select the dial-up (no monthly fee) option. You can then either let it set up your modem or set it up yourself

Thanks, Alan. Actually I just looked at Orange, and it seems I could sign up for 14.95 (pound) for a month or dialup instead of the pay as you go price -- probably worth it compared to a few sessions at an internet cafe.

If you wish wireless free access when in London then have a look at www.wifi.com/hotspot.html
You can then search for an access location suitable to you, as there are a number of premises offering free wireless free internet access.

Thanks, meks, that's what I tried to do last year. The only place anywhere near me in Covent Garden is a place called Hand and Racquet (a health club?) and even that isn't all that near or convenient. Last year I went into a few places that feature wireless, only to open their welcome page and find I'd have to do a minimum sign on of something like 20 pounds. I'd really like to be able to use the laptop in the flat while waiting for my sloooooooow partner in the mornings.

By the way, if I understand it correctly most of those places listed are Boingo, and yes you can get a month free -- but that's your second month after a first month of something like 21.99 £.

I think you can get wifi at almost all Starbucks. They probably use T mobile, so you'll need to open a wifi account with them. Check Starbucks UK and/or TMobilewebsites.

If your laptop has wireless you will probobly find that most of your neighbours wifi's are not in secure mode, meaning that you will no doubt pick up a signal!!!

But we have just been reminded that piggy-backing off someone else's wireless set-up without permission is actually a criminal offence (no idea how likely it is that it will be detected and prosecuted if you're not actually using it to set up a terrorist cell or drug-smuggling ring, but still).

And while last year I found out I could pick up a number of wireless signals from my flat, they were all either secure or didn't have internet access. There are more offices and businesses than flats on my area of Floral Street.

Interesting that throughout Europe I kept getting an open wireless signal and could sign on, but then couldn't connect with the internet. Finally someone explained that most of those signals I received were from restaurants that use wireless systems for waiters to kitchen, but of course there is no internet access from them. Sure enough, the names on some of the signals were logically nearby restaurants.

If you just need access for short periods you could go to your local library.

Interesting, NeoP: just as long as you didn't get Gordon Ramsay effing and blinding at you...

Oh,what a learning one gets here at Fodor's. Just two days ago I wouldn't have known what effing and blinding meant. Now I do.