Anyone connect to the internet with one of those mobile broadband dongle thingys from Vodafone, 3, Orange etc? Wondered if they’re any good as I’m moving short-term to a new property and don’t really want the hassle of a contract tie-in. Cheers :smooooth:
What would you want to do with it? Mainly just browsing the net and e-mails? Should be okay for that.
What phone do you have? Can you use it as a hot spot/modem? (Android for example)
Yep, surfing and email and the usual windows updates. Phone is old-school and I can’t tether my laptop to it, and the data charges are criminal, so that’s out.
Was going to buy one of those dongle things (that looks like a USB pen-drive) from 3 mobile but depending which review site I look at, people either love them or hate them. Just wondered if anyone had first hand experience. :smooooth:
I only have mobile dongle/broadband. It feels like dial up in some places but it’s good.
Vodafone are expensive (2GB - only lasts a month - costs £20). But they are Apple compatible.
3 is the best provider I think. They do a year’s duration of 8GB - but it doesn’t work on my Apple. It works on Android and I’m getting near a full year of broadband for around £90. If you don’t watch videos and soundtracks, it’s very very good for email access.
I don’t know how good the others are, but they seem to fall in between Vodafone (user friendly and one of the most expensive) and the 3 network (great speeds; great for phone and best value).
i use 3 mobile one,recent dongle with their hspa+ which works pretty well.i usually top up £15 a month and that’ll do me for general browsing and emails.you’ll notice things get slower as you data allowance is almost used up,but you’ll receive a msg to warn you it’s running low.
overall it’s good service for simple pay as you go
GP - £15 is expensive. If you buy their 8GB package, that will give you 8x for £90 pay as you go - or a year if you’re frugal, and use hotspots/wi-fi free access spots to supplement, whereas the same amount would only give you 6 months worth!
i’ll look into that thanks
I have a couple of months to run of a 2 year contract with 3.
Like you I got it because I didn’t know where I would be living, at first I was in a room, then a flat without a phone line, I have only just moved to a more permanent address with a phone line and took on proper broadband (Which is miles better).
Couple of points, it helps if you live in a place with a good mobile signal, otherwise it can be very slow, it also seems to suffer with slowing down in the evening when everyone else is online.
Can’t moan too much though because it did actually work most of the time, I only had to go and use a neighbours broadband when it came to tax return time because it was timing out too much.
Bob
PS After my wife followed me down we got a small WI-FI router to work with the dongle allowing up to four connections.
Bob
Virgin Media charge £10 a month for every month remaining on your contract. They have student contracts too which are 9 months I believe. Might be worth looking into the total cost + buying your way out of the contract. That might still be better value than mobile broadband and you’ll get much more bandwidth.
Cheers. I’m selling my house and will likely have a least a couple of temp addresses until I get something longer term sorted, so it’s probably got to be a mobile broadband dongle. Think I’ll give a 3 Pre-Pay one a go and hope it works. :smooooth:
Been using 3 mobile and now their MiFi for some years. Gets better all the time. At home I get 3Mb+ broadband pretty constantly and it almost never drops. Their SMTP is rubbish though (loads of signs it gets overloaded and MS mail servers (inc Yahoo) regularly black list it) so you will need a more reliable way of sending emails.
Why don’t you just ask a lovely neighbour if you can use their WiFi? My Mrs’ next door neighbour is doing building works and we happily gave him permission to use the WiFi and in return he offered to pay half the bill for the time he was using it as it was still cheaper than the dongle option. We just ask him not to go too crazy with the downloads and he doesn’t. Not to mention if he does take the piss I’ll just change the password.
Just got to the (free wifi) pub - or the Library…