Mobile Internet Access

gypsylady · 01-07-2008, 09:59 AM

Has anyone tried the 'new' internet dongles?

We are thinking about changing our Internet provider to one of those dongles from the mobile companies.

That way we will still have Internet access when 'tripping'.

Have looked at the carphone warehouse deal for a new laptop with dongle at £29 per month.

How much access will this give? Are there any other charges to consider? What sort of UK coverage is available? Any problems on campsites like tuning the TV seems to cause us?

Any help gratefully accepted.

June

johnsandywhite · 01-07-2008, 10:04 AM

Hi there. I converted our son & daughter over to the THREE dongle last year. They think it's great.
A friend in Spain has the Vodafone Dongle. He is very happy with it.
Most providers, Vodafone, Three, 02 etc allow use abroad. But be aware of the possibility of extra costs when roaming over there. Fair useage can also apply.

Pronto · 01-07-2008, 10:32 AM

Hi,

We use a Three dongle - good speed and roaming costs are probably better than most I think. In France/Portugal/Spain earlier this year we got good coverage and costs were £3 per MByte. Used for emails this was pretty reasonable - beware the Windows auto download of updates though!!! Being a bit of a newby I got caught for £50 before I realised what was happening:

Disadvantage of Three in the UK is that the dongle (unlike the Three phones) does not default to GPRS if there is no 3G coverage (it does across the Channel though) - so out of 3G areas you have no internet access; unfortunately this seems to be the case in most places we wanted to go this year - Lakes, Wales etc.:

Cheers

Mike

johnsandywhite · 01-07-2008, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pronto

Disadvantage of Three in the UK is that the dongle (unlike the Three phones) does not default to GPRS if there is no 3G coverage (it does across the Channel though) - so out of 3G areas you have no internet access; unfortunately this seems to be the case in most places we wanted to go this year - Lakes, Wales etc.:

You can change the settings to get connected.

Jim · 01-07-2008, 10:51 AM

See below for a comparison site. Be careful picking a package, not shown in the comparison is what you are charged if you go over your limit. Some providers they will sting you if you exceed your quota with one or two charging over £15 a MB yes FIFTEEN ££

. 3 at the moment seem to me to offer the best deal and if you go over your monthly limit you only pay 10p a MB

Mobile Broadband<<

tonycliff · 01-07-2008, 11:07 AM

Hi, Weuse a vodafone dongle which is £7.50 a month for 3GB. We use it mainly for internet surfing and e-mails although we sometimes download music. We have never got close to the limit and the coverage is excellent. Prior to this we had a T mobile dongle but the coverage was nowhere near as good. We never use the dongle abroad as the roaming rates are still quite expensive. However, there is a heck of a lot of wifi internet available in France/Spain/Portugal. Hope this is useful to you. Tony.

gypsyrose · 01-07-2008, 11:07 AM

This is of great interest to me as I have recently (in the past month) gone over to mobile internet ....have a Vodaphone dongle and it has worked fantastically even in very remote areas of Cornwall (not known for the best reception?).
Absolutely delighted with it!!
You do have to be careful re downloads though as they use up a lot of the 3GB allowance that I have (£15 per month). A warning does come up on the screen and you can check your usage as often as you want.
Vodaphone was our choice as they are the best and cheapest (or so we have been told!) for Spain and we spend 3 months of the year there.
ps can someone please tell me if I can somehow hold off automatic downloads whilst touring??

artona · 01-07-2008, 11:08 AM

Hi

Jimis right but it is very hard to go over 3 gig download, you would have to be streaming video / music to do so.

I use mobile internet solely now and have set up forums/blogs and run mu photographic business using it. At the weekend I uploaded a 38meg album in an hour - fantastic. Because I must have internet access, due to business we have Three which is the fastest but does sometimes goes slow and when that happens we switch to T Mobile which is the most consistent for GPRS. Three and GPRS are apparently merging to create the best mobile internet company going

stew

johnsandywhite · 01-07-2008, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim

Some providers they will sting you if you exceed your quota with one or two charging over £15 a MB yes FIFTEEN ££

. 3 at the moment seem to me to offer the best deal and if you go over your monthly limit you only pay 10p a MB

Both our son and daughter are on Three with the 3GB at £15 a month. They have never in the last 12 months gone over. They are pretty heavy users.

Our friend in Spain is charge 45 Euros a month. Fair useage comes into play which kicks him off. He then has to re-connect.

tonycliff · 01-07-2008, 11:11 AM

Pop into livechat if you have any questions, I will be here until 12.30. Tony