Mobile broadband, best deal? (1 Viewer)

D

devondumpling

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Hi everyone!

As mentioned in previous post we are just about to accept delivery of our new MH. I would like to know of the best deal currently available for mobile broadband as would like to take along the laptop. Any advice gratefully received.

Regards Kate:Smile:
 

schojac

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Vodafone is quite good; pay as you go with no use by end of month problem. You pay your money and you use it when you want. £39.00 initial cost for dongle including 1 Gig download then £15.00 per Gig. Vodafone site has details.

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Hope this helps

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Baggins

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Mobile Broasband

Bought 3 dongle 6 months ago - proved pretty useless unless you were in large town on under a transmitter mast and VERY slow.

Got BT dongle with broadband package for a tenner and it works at twice the speed of 3 and anywhere my O2 mobile gets a signal - which is just about everywhere.

No experience of Vodophone

BW
 
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gazznsam

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May 15, 2009
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We've had mobile internet access since the days of using a mobile phone as a voice modem (at a blistering 9.6k speed :)

then i got a gprs data card, on contract at £13.50 a month for a whole 100Mb of data allowance a month,

Then i used my phone as a 3G modem using a usb cable, cant find the cable now so was using bluetooth this week, but it was s-l-o-w even with a 3G signal.

So 2 days ago we bought a usb mobile broadband dongle.

i've been with T-mobile since day one for data, as they are always the first to offer the cheapest rates it seems, back when i got my first data card, the other networks wanted nearer 30 quid for that ammount of data!!

anyhoo, i have the T-mobile pay as you go mobile broadband thing, they sell for £29.99 in t-mobile shops and you must add a tenner top up to it or it's 40 quid,
but if you go to currys, they are selling them at £19.99 when you buy a £20 top up voucher at the same time, that's what we did at the newbury currys just before we got to the show.

This dongle has an external antenna connection, something a lot of usb dongles dont have,
i have a standard car phone antenna on the roof of my motorhome, and a connection point near where i sit/lay whilst using the laptop, so when i dont get a great signal, i can plug into the roof antenna and that usually gets me 3 - 4 bars of extra signal.

i also have a usb extension lead to the roof light, getting the dongle up high and out of the alli body of the motorhome helps pull the signal in (the dongle plugged into the laptop direct gets me a gprs signal at newbury showground, into the roof vent extension lead i get a hspda connection, which is the 3.5G jobbie, upto 1.4 megs or something like that, i.e. fast)

The cost of using the t-mobile broadband... £2 a day, £7 a week or £15 a month, if you just want occasional access, you just connect as and when and it takes 2 quid from your balance per day you use it, if your going to use it more, you buy an allowance in advance, and get it much cheaper, of course if you dont use the allowance you loose it.

there is a 3 gig per month fair use policy, but T-mobile let you go over it occasionaly, first time you just get a warning if you go over it excessively, if you do the same next month they slow the connection a bit, if you keep taking the wotzit, they will request you go to a higher package, and restrict speed till you do, but wont cut you off or give you a big bill like some other mobile broadband operators do, and if you go over occasionaly they just let you get on with it.

we've used 88 megs over 2 and a half days, using the net the same as we do at home, so we're well within the limits, and will be even more within it when we stop using the mobile connection when we get home next week sometime.
 
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GJH

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We've been using a T-Mobile dongle for about 15 months (of a 2 year contract). It's been OK generally and we've used nowhere near our limit. First dongle broke down before last Christmas but they replaced without fuss.

Chose T-Mobile (rather than Vodafone, who we have been with for voice for years) because at the time the deal was the best available. Deals are changing all the time so companies keep leapfrogging each other. The basic hardware used by them all seems to be the same though so it comes down to price and coverage at the time you decide to jump.

Come next January/February (a little while before the 2 year contract is up) I shall be looking at options. At the moment it looks like I shall convert the current deal to PAYG or cancel the T-Mobile deal and go to another supplier - but it all depends what is available at the time.

Graham

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Rocles

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Assuming you have an unlocked Dongle, could you get a free Vodaphone PAYG Sim like at Link Removed and add 10 pounds topup, then use it for Data? I'd guess all sims are the same, and you just need the Data enabled??
 
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gazznsam

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But which one is cheapest to use abroad?

Ralph

none that you buy in england, unless you class about a tenner a meg cheap :Eeek:

get a payg with data allowance out there, a few years ago there was an italian company called 'wind' they did a pre pay sim card for data only, it was about 30 euros a month to get something silly like 5 gigs of data allowance in italy, in the rest of europe you were roaming, and got 3 gigs a month... or something like that, roaming in europe with a european sim is a lot cheaper than roaming in europe with a uk sim that's for sure.

it was a faff about to get this wind sim, you had to apply for an italian social security number!!!, was easy to do and almost anyone could do it, there were web sites that walked you through the process, and once you had this number you could buy the sim and get it sent to england, daft process, but something about buying things in italy needing ID... apparantly can get asked for id when paying cash in shops, if you cant produce they can refuse to sell.

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duetto owner

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"3" seem to be in no hurry for new customers, went into our local shop and the saleswoman apart for having dreadful BO just seemed totaly disintrested in discussing the mobile broadband if it wasnt contact set up she did not want to help.

I now know why it was devoid of customers while O2 and carphone wharehouse always have queue's of customers.
 
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DJP

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I have T-Mobile which is much better coverage and speed than a previous 3,
T-Mobile charge an extra £5 per month for using Skype. Does anyone know if Vodafone also charge for Skype use?
 
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barryd

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I have had the vodafone USB stick Pro on contract for a year now and its really good. I think they have the best coverage and fastest speed. Up to 7.2mbps in a 3G area. I think however I can count on one hand the number of areas that we have been to that have 3G coverage. This is probably because we tend to go to places like Arran and the wilds of Scotland. That said I dont think i have been anywhere with it where we didnt get a 2G signal which is fine for emails and some websites. Also I think its unlocked so I should be able to buy a PAYG sim abroad, I think however it may be just as easy to buy a dongle and PAYG sim when abroad. I got the USB Pro modem free but had to sign up for a long contract, I think there are better deals available now though.

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bashers

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Internet abroad

I've just found a site that lists all the latest internet deals for each country.

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barryd

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Vodofone have abolished roaming charges this summer, so use in France is the same cost as the UK.

Be careful! This does not include internet access in any shape or form and its really expensive! for the cheap calls or to use your inclusive minutes you need to get a passport on your account with Vodafone if you havent already got one. If your on contract text "passport" to 97888 there is differnet number for PAYG but not sure what it is. No passport no cheap calls.
 
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redtop012000

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Dongles

We have Pay As You Go unlocked dongles with Vodafone and Three sims. We normally end up with one or the other in 3G but Three seems to have most coverage in UK. We always get a GPRS connection for emails and slowwww browsing. Three is £10 for 30 days 1Gb max. £15 for 30 days 3Gb max. Vodafone is £15 for 1Gb and no time limit.
When in Spain and Portugal we bought Vodafone data sims and they work a treat all over Portugal and near cities in Spain for 3G. 10 euros = 1Gb to be used in 3 months (ish).

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scotsy

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Feb 13, 2009
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the web on your phone?

I don't know if this is relevant or not as i was going to buy a vodafone PAYG myself until i discovered this little gem.

As a virgin customer at home i also have the £10 /month mobile phone deal (uses T-mobile) which includes 300 minutes and 300 texts. My phone is a Nokia N95 which i bought because it has a really good camera built in (5MP) and saves me having to carry both around. I was informed recently that i could ask virgin-mobile to enable web access so that if i can't find a 'free' wireless connection nearby i could still go 'surfing' for a charge of only 30p a day, you only pay for the day(s) that you use it and although its advertised as 'unlimited' they do stipulate a 'fair use policy' which means you start paying after using 25MB per day.

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I now have the ability to access email and go web browsing wherever i get a phone signal and it only costs me 30p for each of the days i use it/if i use it (but it would have extra charges after using 25MB on one day)

This phone can also be used as a modem to connect my laptop to the system (i've tried it and it does work) but the 'fair use policy' says that sort of use isn't allowed.

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Any use to anyone?

Ian
 
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barryd

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We have Pay As You Go unlocked dongles with Vodafone and Three sims. We normally end up with one or the other in 3G but Three seems to have most coverage in UK. We always get a GPRS connection for emails and slowwww browsing. Three is £10 for 30 days 1Gb max. £15 for 30 days 3Gb max. Vodafone is £15 for 1Gb and no time limit.
When in Spain and Portugal we bought Vodafone data sims and they work a treat all over Portugal and near cities in Spain for 3G. 10 euros = 1Gb to be used in 3 months (ish).

Redtop

So just to confirm. You have vodafone modem/dongles that you bought in the UK and you bought local sims abroad, stuck them in your dongle and they worked. Is that correct? If thats the case then I should be able to do the same as I have an unlocked Vodafone dongle (on contract). Does it just pickup and use the same software you have on your laptop for the UK or do you have to install something else? Im not going to Spain or Portugal but I assume the same will apply in France, Germany and Italy? What do you think?
 
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bald eagle

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we are on a 3 dongle at the moment which is on a contract,when this runs
out we will be changing to payg on two different networks which will be
orange and vodafone

regards
bald eagle
 
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