Mobile WIFI Abroad? (1 Viewer)

moonbeam

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Going travelling abroad for first time. Any advice foe cheapest WIFI? Mainly France and Spain
Thanks
 
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I personally use a mifi with a 3 sim on PAYG, but I only go to France , & only use it for email & following this forum & aires research for next aire to visit etc.
 
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Depends what you want to do.

Remember WiFi and MiFi are not even close to being the same thing.

WiFi is conventional broadband that you will only pick up from fixed locations i.e. campsites, McDonalds, maybe the odd bar if you're lucky.

MiFi is mobile data via a sim card, exactly the same as the internet on your phone.

If all you want to do is check email and Facebook and a bit of general browsing then a MiFi will be fine and will definitely give you more chance of getting a signal. It is not however intended for heavy usage i.e. streaming videos or downloading huge files as you will have usage limits in the same way your phone does. It also won't be anything like as fast as conventional WiFi, in France probably 3G most of the time, maybe occasional 4G if you're very lucky. Don't know about Spain.

If you really need to be doing high usage things - downloading or steaming films for example - of if you absolutely have to have a fast connection then you need to find a WiFi hot spot. You can but devices such as an iBoost from Motorhome WiFi which will give you more chance of picking up a signal (but not guarantee that you will) Other devices are available.

The only other option if you really 100%, no other option, have to have a guaranteed fast stable internet connection all the time is to invest in a satellite internet system but these are a lot of money so only really worth considering if your doing something like running a business from your van and absolutely cannot be without internet. Search for Jim's article on this.
 

John & Joan

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We bought a Carrefour data only SIM ( Prepago Carrefour Movil, Internet Movil) ) for use in a MiFi with our laptop. Cost 10 Euro with 5 Euro of data included. It gives us full 3G for 100mb per day for 1 euro. When the daily limit is exceeded you get an SMS message and the data rate drops to 128 bit. It works on the Orange network.

This is only available, we were told in Spain.

We find we have better cover with this in Spain, than we do with a contract SIM in the UK from Vodafone.
 
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moonbeam

moonbeam

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Thanks so on average how much did you spend on that in a month?

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DBK

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£15 gets me 3GB of data on Three PAYG which last 30 days. With two of us using it this usually isn't quite enough but if you don't go mad it should be enough for most people, Many use considerably less. It works in both France and Spain but not Portugal.

I use a Huawei MiFi which creates a WiFi signal in the MH. Make sure you get a mobile data sim from Three if using a MiFi, not a phone sim.
 

Flamenca

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@moonbeam If you go down the Three data SIM in a mifi route I have seen that Argos are offering a 3GB/3 month data SIM for £15.99:
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DBK

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Flamenca

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@DBK This link works and, yes, they have reduced the prices of both the 3GB and 12GB SIM's :xgrin::
store.three.co.uk/view/searchTariff?deviceType=SIM_ONLY_MBB&priceplan=&greatForServices=&manufacturerName=&payGPriceForTariff=50to99.99&payGPriceForTariff=0to49.99&intid=3store_mbb_payg_sim

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I use a Huawei MiFi which creates a WiFi signal in the MH.

That's slightly misleading. It doesn't create WiFi. It creates a local wireless network that allows your devices to connect to the MiFi unit. You are still only using mobile (3G/4G) data.
 

DBK

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That's slightly misleading. It doesn't create WiFi. It creates a local wireless network that allows your devices to connect to the MiFi unit. You are still only using mobile (3G/4G) data.
Semantics I think as I connect to the MiFi using the tablet's WiFi and the wireless network created by the MiFi is technically identical to any normal WiFi signal, the only difference is it is a weaker signal and has security set by me. But I take your point as the title of the thread suggested this was how to connect to WiFi signals coming from cafés etc. :xgrin:

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Jul 29, 2013
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We have a wifi-cellular iPad has worked for us all over France & Spain we use a mobidata SIM card
 
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I use a Huawei MiFi which creates a WiFi signal in the MH.

That's slightly misleading. It doesn't create WiFi. It creates a local wireless network that allows your devices to connect to the MiFi unit. You are still only using mobile (3G/4G) data.

I think this is a case of technology overtaking the terminology. :D

As far as the device is concerned, if it's making a wireless connection to the local network (the wireless access point or router), then it's a WiFi connection. The device neither knows or cares how the router is connecting to the wider internet. That could be over a landline, a fibre optic cable, a satellite, or a 3G/4G modem. It's all the same to your device, but it does matter to you if you are on a quota restricted tariff, which would generally be the case with 3G/4G.

As NickNik infers, it is important that the user knows the difference & exactly what is meant when someone refers to a WiFi connection.

It can lead to unexpected problems. A smartphone will usually have two connection options. It can connect over the 3G/4G network via its own SIM card, or it can make a WiFi connection to an available network. They usually have a setting to tell them not to download major updates, or streaming video & the like unless the connection is over WiFi - which traditionally would be more or less unlimited in terms of data. With the advent of the MiFi, which re-broadcasts the 3G/4G mobile broadband signal over a local WiFi connection, the phone has no idea that it is still in the equivalent position as when it used its own SIM card, so happily uses all your expensive quota doing automatic updates in all innocence. :(

If you connect phones or tablets to a MiFi, you must set all downloads to manual, so it only downloads essential information.
 
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Semantics I think as I connect to the MiFi using the tablet's WiFi and the wireless network created by the MiFi is technically identical to any normal WiFi signal, the only difference is it is a weaker signal and has security set by me. But I take your point as the title of the thread suggested this was how to connect to WiFi signals coming from cafés etc. :xgrin:

As @TheCaller says it's a little more than semantics. It's important to know the difference. If your phone/tablet/other device is connected via a MiFi it will think it's connected to a WiFi network when in reality it isn't. It may try and do things that it is deliberately set to do only when connected to proper WiFi such as download updates or stream video thereby munching all your available data allowance. If it tries to do an update thinking it's connected to WiFi and your data allowance runs out part way through there is every chance you could be left with an unusable device.

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DBK

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As @TheCaller says it's a little more than semantics. It's important to know the difference. If your phone/tablet/other device is connected via a MiFi it will think it's connected to a WiFi network when in reality it isn't. It may try and do things that it is deliberately set to do only when connected to proper WiFi such as download updates or stream video thereby munching all your available data allowance. If it tries to do an update thinking it's connected to WiFi and your data allowance runs out part way through there is every chance you could be left with an unusable device.
Exactly why you should have auto update turned off when using a MiFi, especially on PAYG as the device treats it as WiFi.
 

Jim

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My experience of using my Three phones for data in Spain, is that it's fine, as long as you're needs are minimal, ie checking email or text based sites. More and more I'm finding the data through speeds while 'feel at home roaming' to be slower than Old Mo, drunk running uphill with ankle weights. :)
 

Candapack

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For the benefit of the technologically befuddled - me - can someone please confirm that if I want internet access on the move, where I can't connect to eg site wifi, this is what I do.
1) Buy a Mifi device such as the Huawei's mentioned above.
2) Buy a data sim.
3) That's it.

And can you swap data sims about, eg change a Three sim for a Spanish one? In other words, the first sim you put in doesn't lock the device to that network?

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Sep 23, 2013
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@Candapack Short answer to 1,2 & 3 = Yes. There are decisions to be taken about which MiFi device is most suitable for your needs, but if you want to connect more than one device, or a device that doesn't already have its own SIM, then 'Yes'.

As to your final point, the easiest thing is to buy an unlocked device in the first place. It's not that they lock to the first SIM, but that the seller (if bought via one of the network providers) may have pre-locked the device to their own network.

You can get them unlocked later, but it's easier to just buy an unlocked one in the first place. It used to be that most were locked, nowadays there is plenty of choice of unlocked ones.
 

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