Which dongle? (1 Viewer)

[gordoncbrown]

I was given a pc world voucher as a present. Don't know what I did wrong. Went in there today and was looking at dongles. Ended up walking out as the salesman kept going to the next one up. I tried to explain it was for occasional use only but he ended up trying to sell me a 60quid dongle with a 20 pounds a month contract. I gave up explaining that I have an iPhone so I can tether, but just wanted something on another network that I can use if I don't have a good signal. Something that the credit doesn't disappear after 30days. I had to walk out. I'm sure someone here can point me in the right direction.

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

You need to find an old Vodaphone non expiring dongle on ebay, no longer available from Vodaphone now and I dont think any body else has non expiring ones now

Peter

 

[lunarman]

Don't know how much you voucher is but this is what I would go for .

Lunarman

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[TheBig1]

ahh but theres dongles and other dongles. the old ones are slow conections and slow your laptop down because of the way they use usb. the latest ones are faster and not so resource hungry. better bet though is the newer Mifi on a 3 payg sim. top up when needed, or unlock and put in a non expiring sim. many sims get killed off when not used for 60 days, which is a real pain

you wont get this advice at pcw, they just want to sell what they stock

 

[MHVirgins]

Our mobile contract is with Vodafone, we contacted them about getting a dongle for whilst we're away in the van. They sent us one free of charge and it's only costing us £2 per month over and above our original contract. Gives us 500mb of usage per month which is plenty for us.

Bill

 

[ROB1CHELSEA1]

This is what I use from Vodaphone when on the road:thumb:

Choose your plan

• Broken Link Removed
• Broken Link Removed

UK InternetMonthly costDevice cost 1GB UK£10.00a month£19.00Buy now
Plan details 2GB UK£15.00a month£19.00Buy now
Plan details

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[DonA4000]

I've been looking into getting Pre Paid Data Sim from Amazon currently at £12.06 for 3gb data lasts 3 months then you throw it in the bin and get another one. No activation just start surfing Can be used in any unlocked 3G dongle, 3G phone or device. Anyone else use this?

 

[pappajohn]

You need to find an old Vodaphone non expiring dongle on ebay, no longer available from Vodaphone now and I dont think any body else has non expiring ones now

Peter

speaking from experience Peter, a bad move

I bought a none expiring sim off eBay a long time ago....bargain at the time, £10 inc postage and with £15 credit pre loaded

cant remember exactly when but a couple of years at least.

I am now using it in my HUAWEI MI-FI unit.....and using the original £15 credit from when i bought it.

the reason i still have 2 year old credit ?
Vodaphone data signal coverage away from towns and motorways is abysmal to say the least....so it rarely got used due to frustration...taking minutes to change pages and submit posts.

even now there are places in Scarborough, including our house half the time, i cant get a signal strong enough for data.
Whitby's west cliff promenade is a dead spot too.
though regular phone coverage appears OK.

there is a thread somewhere here recently promoting a sim which costs £15 to buy the sim but doesnt expire as long as you dont exceed the data limit.

could have been Jaws who posted the thread.

 

[pappajohn]

found Jaws thread Broken Link Removed

but beware......Huawei MIFI dongles wont accept anything but full sized sim cards....and this company send out 'combi' sims regardless of type needed and even with the adaptor card they wont work.

the data sim is HERE either data freedom or Gazelle.
scroll to Ovivo for data

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[Stewart J]

3G without doubt have the best UK data coverage, buy a Huwai Mifi unit this I'm lead to believe is the latest version mine is the previous

Broken Link Removed

Don't bother with a contract just buy a sim from the following seller

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This will last for 3 months or 3 gb of data whichever comes first, then bin the sim and buy another

Been doing it myself for almost 2 years now, its a no brainer (for me at least and many others):thumb::thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

3G without doubt have the best UK data coverage, buy a Huwai Mifi unit this I'm lead to believe is the latest version mine is the previous

Broken Link Removed

Don't bother with a contract just buy a sim from the following seller

Link Removed

This will last for 3 months or 3 gb of data whichever comes first, then bin the sim and buy another

Been doing it myself for almost 2 years now, its a no brainer (for me at least and many others):thumb::thumb:

Yes, thats the latest offering and the one i have....but not the 13db aerial, YET !!!!

agreed, 3 do have very good coverage and that will be my next SIM

 

[Stewart J]

Yo Pappajohn

Have owned both Vodafone and O2 dongles for internet access whilst working mainly up West coast of Scotland and compared to 3G they were rubbish, obviously in some of the highlands coverage is zero whatever network.

At present I'm on a cl near New Galloway a tiny village out in the Galloway hills, O2 phone coverage is iffy and at best 2-3 bars out of 5, yet I've full 3G coverage.:thumb::thumb::thumb:

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[Chockswahay]

Just don't try using 3G in the outer Hebrides............it's rubbish

 

[MHVirgins]

We're in Skyreburn, 2 miles west of Gatehouse of Fleet, we're with Vodafone and it's the best signal for us, yet we can't get a signal in parts of Gatehouse.
It's very patchy all around us, but we can't get a 3G signal hereoh:we would need to travel for quite a bit to pick up the 3G signal, 02 is useless for where we are as well.
We've only just recovered from a lightning strike knocking the Vodafone mast out for 4 days, as well as the landline being out for over a week.

Bill

 

[callumwa]

Some are talking about 3G in their posts when I think they mean the "3" network.
All networks offer 3G but some of then have crap 3G coverage.

Vodafone is the worst, even in the centre of big towns their signal is rubbish and the internet is soooooo slow.

I have "3" and Vodafone sims, around the UK I have always got a good 3G signal on "3".
Vodafone, waste of time.

I used to have 4 contract phones on Vodafone, now they are all on 3 and I only use my Vodafone sim occasionally in Europe whilst roaming if I have no other options. At least then they are not using the Vodafone U network, so it then works.

I can tether 4 devices to my iPhone on "3" and I can watch live Sky Sports whilst the boys are online and the wife is streaming movies, all on "3", all from my iPhone......:thumb::thumb:

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[pappajohn]

Yo Pappajohn

Have owned both Vodafone and O2 dongles for internet access whilst working mainly up West coast of Scotland and compared to 3G they were rubbish, obviously in some of the highlands coverage is zero whatever network.

At present I'm on a cl near New Galloway a tiny village out in the Galloway hills, O2 phone coverage is iffy and at best 2-3 bars out of 5, yet I've full 3G coverage.:thumb::thumb::thumb:

I know new Galloway pretty well but never actually pulled over there...just passed through.

Every time we went to the cottage In glentrool village we went that route instead of the A75 all the way.
Turn off at Crocketford and come back out at Creebridge.

 

[callumwa]

We're in Skyreburn, 2 miles west of Gatehouse of Fleet, we're with Vodafone and it's the best signal for us, yet we can't get a signal in parts of Gatehouse.
It's very patchy all around us, but we can't get a 3G signal hereoh:we would need to travel for quite a bit to pick up the 3G signal, 02 is useless for where we are as well.
We've only just recovered from a lightning strike knocking the Vodafone mast out for 4 days, as well as the landline being out for over a week.

Bill

When we did a wee tour of D&G we always had good signal on "3" including live streaming of Sky Sports with my iPad tethered to my iPhone, no problems.:thumb:

My Vodafone signal at the same time was pants........ no net, ok for text and calls, but useless for internet.oh:

 

[MHVirgins]

When we did a wee tour of D&G we always had good signal on "3" including live streaming of Sky Sports with my iPad tethered to my iPhone, no problems.:thumb:

My Vodafone signal at the same time was pants........ no net, ok for text and calls, but useless for internet.oh:

Vodaphone is the only one for us here at home in Skyreburn, but move around within a few hundred yards and you could lose it. I've given up taking the mobile even into Gatehouse because it's uselessoh:
We had a joiner from Gatehouse doing some work recently and he couldn't believe it when he couldn't get any signal on his phone just 2 miles away.
It really depends on where you are, there are so many dodgy pockets throughout the region. Nokia phones seem to be better for our area, but we've got an HTC and providing the mast is running ok we're fine.

Even in the original part of our house the walls are so thick we can lose the signal moving from room to room. Best place is outside in the garden to be honest, but can be a real pain in the winter:Sad:

Bill

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[carolyn]

I have the huawei plus aerial from intermodems, only used it when we were away last weekend so far andalso whilst we changed from aol to BT on tuesday as there was a gap of a few hours and daughter needed it as writing dissertation. Worked fine we could not tell if it was better withe the aerial but the price seemed good so couldnt help myself! Arrived promptly despite them being on hols.

 

[WynandJean]

found Jaws thread Broken Link Removed
[HI]
but beware......Huawei MIFI dongles wont accept anything but full sized sim cards....and this company send out 'combi' sims regardless of type needed[/HI] and even with the adaptor card they wont work.

the data sim is HERE either data freedom or Gazelle.
scroll to Ovivo for data

Yes, the SIM card is a full sized one with the option to use a second perforation if you want to use it as a mini card, it's your choice. No adapter required.

Wyn

 

[JohnH]

I've been looking into getting Pre Paid Data Sim from Amazon currently at £12.06 for 3gb data lasts 3 months then you throw it in the bin and get another one. No activation just start surfing Can be used in any unlocked 3G dongle, 3G phone or device. Anyone else use this?

I have been using this method in the UK for several months. Works a treat and would recommend it.

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[Chockswahay]

Some are talking about 3G in their posts when I think they mean the "3" network.

That's true, I meant to say on the '3' network. I found it works fine in big conurbations but so do the others probably.

The sim I use on '3' is 250 mins, 3000 texts and unlimited internet for £15.......lasts 30 days.

On the last few days of the last one I tethered to my laptop and it worked fine I did not receive any warnings from '3' (not supposed to tether)

 

[maz]

I've been looking into getting Pre Paid Data Sim from Amazon currently at £12.06 for 3gb data lasts 3 months then you throw it in the bin and get another one. No activation just start surfing Can be used in any unlocked 3G dongle, 3G phone or device. Anyone else use this?

Been using this method for over 2 years. Generally very good altho' have found a few dead spots - most notably the Cotton Arms field at Wrenbury.

 

[Stewart J]

Just to clarify I meant the 3 network oh:oh:

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[cbrookson]

I use the Three 3GB prepaid one as well, it is also on Ebay. We've had reasonable coverage during our wanderings.

I don't use a 'dongle', but a Teltonka RUT500 which is really produced for more professional uses. It has diversity (two aerials) for 3G reception (I have one aerial elsewhere in the van) and has WiFi for distribution. It also has 4 LAN Ethernet ports which is handy, and a WAN port which I use with another WiFi to tap into local FONs etc. It runs of 12V.

The only hassle is a SIM change requires a screwdriver - but once every three months is fine!

Just in case anyone wants a totally OTT system!

Cheers

 

[MHVirgins]

"3" tv ad

Talking about "3", I thought I would post their recent tv ad
Absolutely brilliant and has more appeal than Marmite.......well for me anyway
Great song by Fleetwood Mac and watch the pony's expression around the 40 seconds

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekr05T9Iaio"]Three - The Pony #DancePonyDance - YouTube[/ame]

Margaret

 

[thehutchies]

Been using this method for over 2 years. Generally very good altho' have found a few dead spots - most notably the Cotton Arms field at Wrenbury.

We stayed on for a couple of weeks after this year's meet so we needed internet connection.

We have mifi's and tethering phones on all four networks, so we stuck them all into a carrier bag and put them up in the air on the end of a very long fishing rod.

It worked well

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[gordoncbrown]

3G without doubt have the best UK data coverage, buy a Huwai Mifi unit this I'm lead to believe is the latest version mine is the previous

Broken Link Removed

Don't bother with a contract just buy a sim from the following seller

Link Removed

This will last for 3 months or 3 gb of data whichever comes first, then bin the sim and buy another

Been doing it myself for almost 2 years now, its a no brainer (for me at least and many others):thumb::thumb:

Thanks for all the really good advice. I have purchased this unit. Seems to work great, and as fast as at home. Question though. Do I switch it on and log on and off as required leaving it on and on stand by or do i need to switch it on and off as I use it?

Thanks:thumb:

 

[TheBig1]

Thanks for all the really good advice. I have purchased this unit. Seems to work great, and as fast as at home. Question though. Do I switch it on and log on and off as required leaving it on and on stand by or do i need to switch it on and off as I use it?

Thanks:thumb:

if youre on pay as you go or 3gb for 3 months, switch off when not being used as it will use a small amount of data by itself over time

if youre on an unlimited contract it makes little difference, but the battery needs to be used and recharged or it will eventually stop holding a charge for when you need it

 

[isitfriday]

I got a free dongle from BT when I up graded, ages ago but if you asked you may get one.

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