MIFI for the Beginner

[March Hare]

Hi,

We’ve been reading a number of very useful threads on here ref setting up mobile broadband for the Motorhome, and are about to invest in a MIFI - a Huawei E5785-4G to be precise.

Our question though is with regards to the Data SIM for use in the MIFI unit - it will be for Europe wide coverage.

We have seen the VOXI Data SIM advertised, and just wondered if anyone had any experience of these data SIMS and plans - the info online isn’t that clear whether it will work OK with the MIFI?

Thanks in advance! ?

 

[SandraL]

We are currently using a voxi sim in a mifi. Works fine. Just be aware I dont think you can contact voxi by phone, it has to be online.

 

[March Hare]

We are currently using a voxi sim in a mifi. Works fine. Just be aware I dont think you can contact voxi by phone, it has to be online.

Hi Sandra,

Thanks very much for your reply, that’s really helpful! ?

 

[Bognor Saint]

Not sure if this is helpful. We have a Huawei mifi on 3. 20gb a month for £8. Worked well in France last year.

 

[knokinonabit]

I went to Carphone Warehouse today to set up our MiFi Huawei with a new sim. Ended up with a PAYG sim in my own iphone with 20GB for £22 per month on a rolling contract so I can use the phone to create a hotspot.
It worked out cheaper than having a separate sim for the MiFi and we can use the laptop and my wife's phone on the hotspot. My wife went to a sim only deal for 3GB per month, which is 1GB more than she had on pay monthly and it is loads cheaper. In all, we have more GB than we have ever had and it is cheaper.
It has full roaming as well.

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[busby]

Vodaphone were offering 100gb for 20 pounds a month on a one year contract.Works brilliant in France Spain and Portugal..BUSBY.

 

[Stonemags76]

All sims will work in your MiFi, it’s just a case of finding the one with best value for your needs. All networks except Vodafone have a limit as to how much of you data allowance you can use abroad. Vodafone - you can use all your allowance abroad on all fixed tariffs, the only one with a roaming limit is the unlimited tariff. For info, an hours tv streaming takes about 1gb of data. Hope this helps.

 

[Raybreck]

All sims will work in your MiFi, it’s just a case of finding the one with best value for your needs. All networks except Vodafone have a limit as to how much of you data allowance you can use abroad. Vodafone - you can use all your allowance abroad on all fixed tariffs, the only one with a roaming limit is the unlimited tariff. For info, an hours tv streaming takes about 1gb of data. Hope this helps.

At last, your last sentence ref gb to data usage sums up to me hours of trying to work out best way forward. Thank you for putting into my kind of understanding.
Ray

 

[Mark and Mindy]

I tried tethering but at night with the blinds closed I often couldn't get a signal so I installed a HUAWEI Mobile WiFi E5577C with a 3G/4G LTE Roof Antenna.

Three SIM unlimited unlimited unlimited £18 pm 20GB limit in Europe.

They don't tell you about the 20GB Europe limit but I knew anyway.

Also the Three contract is £32.00 pm but discounted to £18.00 and I expect that after 12 months they will start charging me the full price unless I cancel.

Mark

 

[Raybreck]

Thank you Mark for that interesting info.
I’ll attempt to take that onboard as I’m sure you have my interest at heart.
Ray

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[Floydster]

Vodaphone have got a mifi deal at the moment £30/month 50GB Plus 60GB free and I'm assured you can use it all roaming, the data limit applies to the unlimited deals.
It includes the MiFi (R218h) or you can opt to pay £35 for the MiFi on a £30 monthly rolling contract.

 

[Swozer]

We use a Huawei MIFI. Had Vodafone SIM but too expensive.
MoneySavingExpert is recommending SMARTY (looks like a Three attempt at being like giffgaff) - 30GB for £10 and on one month contract!!

 

[Stewart J]

I have a 3 sim in our mfi £10 per month on a 12 month contract fair use policy in Europe is 19gb per month, used this last 2 years in France and Spain with no issues.

 

[March Hare]

Good Morning!

Many apologies for such a late reply, but thanks very much for all of your replies, it’s all great info and recommendations thanks! It makes such a difference to hear what you’ve had experience with, so we’re very grateful!

Thanks again, Laura ?

 

[Off da Grid]

With a mobile phone when your abroad you can roam on any network, not necessarily the network that your home provider automatically connects to by turning off automatic network selection and selecting the best network for your needs.
I guess you can’t do that with a mifidevice.
If the signals a bit poor I just put my phone when we’re using it to tether other devices in the skylight.

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[Daveymac]

I have used the Vodafone 100gb in our mifi for 20 pounds a month brilliant in France and Spain never been a problem

 

[Squirepete]

Until B****T?

 

[busby]

I tried tethering but at night with the blinds closed I often couldn't get a signal so I installed a HUAWEI Mobile WiFi E5577C with a 3G/4G LTE Roof Antenna.

Three SIM unlimited unlimited unlimited £18 pm 20GB limit in Europe.

They don't tell you about the 20GB Europe limit but I knew anyway.

Also the Three contract is £32.00 pm but discounted to £18.00 and I expect that after 12 months they will start charging me the full price unless I cancel.

Mark

I am on my second year with Vodaphone,they usually match it when your contract ends,,BUSBY.

 

[Lenny HB]

With a mobile phone when your abroad you can roam on any network, not necessarily the network that your home provider automatically connects to by turning off automatic network selection and selecting the best network for your needs.
I guess you can’t do that with a mifidevice.
If the signals a bit poor I just put my phone when we’re using it to tether other devices in the skylight.

You can change the network on a Mifi, with the Huawei ones it's very easy via an app on your phone or you can use a PC and login via a browser.

 

[webby1]

As far as I know 3 are the only provider to state that there will not be a change after you know what sh*t hits the fan

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[MaxineW]

As a newbie to MiFi, please can someone assist? We are going to travelling round Europe for 10 months and I have a phone with 40gb monthly data with Vodafone and hubby has Three with maximum of 25gb data. We were planning to tether off these for occasional Netflix watching/laptop use and using our phones for sat nav usage too. Do you think we need to get a MiFi device and additional SIM or would what we already have be sufficient? Thanks !

 

[Stewart J]

As a newbie to MiFi, please can someone assist? We are going to travelling round Europe for 10 months and I have a phone with 40gb monthly data with Vodafone and hubby has Three with maximum of 25gb data. We were planning to tether off these for occasional Netflix watching/laptop use and using our phones for sat nav usage too. Do you think we need to get a MiFi device and additional SIM or would what we already have be sufficient? Thanks !

3 have a fair use policy Capped at 15gb on PAYG or 19gb per month on contract in Europe regardless of your contact allowance they also state a maximum 2 months continuous some have fallen foul of this and been cut off or incurred hefty charges, I have managed 10 weeks without being cut off. Currently there is no way around this it’s in your T&Cs, streaming uses approx 1 gb per hour, you will be better off buying local sims in your countries of destination, others will advise on this.

 

[dna]

There are lots of videos on YouTube showing the “ideal” solutions for WiFi in Motorhomes.
the main thing to consider is apparently that using a mobile phone as the access method is the reduction in signal strength inside a van. That’s why you see recommendations for mifi devices with an external aerial or, as mentioned above, putting the phone in your skylight.
You could experiment with your phone to see how much difference there is in signal strength inside / outside your specific van.
a lot of people claim the mifi with a good aerial will deliver a workable signal in areas where phones don’t work

 

[Lenny HB]

You Pobably have enough data for your use, Vodafone has the advantage you can use your full allowance when roaming (only unlimited are capped at 25GB).
Mifi generally have better reception than phones so if you are going to be in a remote areas it could be worth having a Mifi even better with a rooftop aerial. You can use a phone sim in a Mifi.

 

[Addie]

We’ve been reading a number of very useful threads on here ref setting up mobile broadband for the Motorhome, and are about to invest in a MIFI - a Huawei E5785-4G to be precise.

Our question though is with regards to the Data SIM for use in the MIFI unit - it will be for Europe wide coverage. We have seen the VOXI Data SIM advertised, and just wondered if anyone had any experience of these data SIMS and plans - the info online isn’t that clear whether it will work OK with the MIFI?

The VOXI SIM will work in a MiFi, the best plan would be the 45GB for £20 since the Unlimited for £30 is limited to 25GB in Europe as LennyHB and I recently found.

VOXI is very sharp at cutting you off after 2 months, a number of people have reported that to us first hand and I'm not sure on first activation of a dormant SIM in Europe. I know you can with Smarty (Three) because I tried it in Portugal over Christmas. We can offer 110GB of EU data for £18pm presently for our customers.

The E5785 isn't a huge push on from the E5577, you won't get much LTE-A when roaming but depending on your use you might benefit from the extra 1500mA battery and 16 rather than 10 devices connected.

There are lots of videos on YouTube showing the “ideal” solutions for WiFi in Motorhomes.

I cringed recently when one of these so-called 'experts' unknowingly sent 50+ of his subscribers onto eBay to buy an Australian Telstra branded Netgear device which is blind to Band 20 for Europe - the most important European cellular band for rural connectivity. Far more accurate advice available right here on fun either if you want to put together a DIY system or have one supplied and fitted for you.

As a newbie to MiFi, please can someone assist? We are going to travelling round Europe for 10 months and I have a phone with 40gb monthly data with Vodafone and hubby has Three with maximum of 25gb data. We were planning to tether off these for occasional Netflix watching/laptop use and using our phones for sat nav usage too. Do you think we need to get a MiFi device and additional SIM or would what we already have be sufficient? Thanks !

Log into your Netflix account from a web browser and navigate to your account settings for your profile and you can reduce your quality right down to 300MB per hour. If you can live with it you can get 3 hours per GB. Make sure all of your phones and laptop are set to 'low data mode' or 'metered connection' to reduce their consumption and consider setting a data cap 50% through your data to ensure it lasts you the month.

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[MaxineW]

Great advice, very helpful, thank you Addie. ?

 

[Adrian Mudle]

Vodaphone were offering 100gb for 20 pounds a month on a one year contract.Works brilliant in France Spain and Portugal..BUSBY.

Thats what we took out last year, no data caps, and just used tethered to phone, did not want to use a MiFi, and take out another mobile contract, had no problem in Europe last year, always managed to get a 4G signal, only reason for a MiFi would be for an external aerial in weaker signal areas, I'd prefer to fit a 4G signal booster now they are legal and carry on using phone with tethering.

 

[dna]

I cringed recently when one of these so-called 'experts' unknowingly sent 50+ of his subscribers onto eBay to buy an Australian Telstra branded Netgear device which is blind to Band 20 for Europe - the most important European cellular band for rural connectivity. Far more accurate advice available right here on fun either if you want to put together a DIY system or have one supplied and fitted for you.

Apologies Addie - I should have made it clearer that I find YouTube a useful way of seeing things working as a addition to getting written advice via MHF. I agree I would be very cautious accepting recommendations from the authors of videos.

 

[Addie]

I'd prefer to fit a 4G signal booster now they are legal and carry on using phone with tethering.

4G signal 'repeaters' aren't really practical in a vehicle setting, the legislation on RF output means effectively they aren't much of a 'booster' in that sense hence being called a 'repeater' in that they repeat what is available externally, internally. They are designed to overcome the shielding effect of modern vehicles, although the side effect is you will always get the preception of great results of '5 bars' even the speeds may be no different.

In addition, they are only allowed to repeat a 4G signal when a 3G is also present which renders them a bit useless in really remote spots or most of Scotland - hence why they aren't at all common and why we don't stock them. That's before we get into nearly £1k for a legal one installed - that buys a hell of a lot of data on a second SIM card...

 

[Adrian Mudle]

4G signal 'repeaters' aren't really practical in a vehicle setting, the legislation on RF output means effectively they aren't much of a 'booster' in that sense hence being called a 'repeater' in that they repeat what is available externally, internally. They are designed to overcome the shielding effect of modern vehicles, although the side effect is you will always get the preception of great results of '5 bars' even the speeds may be no different.

In addition, they are only allowed to repeat a 4G signal when a 3G is also present which renders them a bit useless in really remote spots or most of Scotland - hence why they aren't at all common and why we don't stock them. That's before we get into nearly £1k for a legal one installed - that buys a hell of a lot of data on a second SIM card...

Not quite sure what "4G signal 'repeaters' aren't really practical in a vehicle setting" means, in the good old days, we always had mobile car kits with external aerials, and without fail resulted in improvements of the signal on the phone handset, as you are basically sitting inside a tin can, much like a motorhome. As far as output goes most of these state a coverage of 300sq metres, not many motorhomes that big. Placing an aerial on the roof is always going to result in an improvement in signal, so I can't see why a Mifi with an external aerial would be any different.

The regulation I've seen on repeaters for 4G does not state they exclude 4G but must include 3G and 2G "Indoor repeaters that claim to be 4G and/or LTE only (or 800 MHz only) are also unlikely to meet our requirements. Legal indoor repeaters must boost a 2G or 3G signal at all times." taken from Ofgem site, so not sure if I've understood this out of context.

I've seen a few of these devices advertised, and I guess not many have the reputation of Motorhome Wifi does, however I have seen sub £300 devices advertised (not on ebay) with "CE & RoHS ISO Certified" only problem I see is that these days anyone sticks these labels on products with no backup.

What I would like to see is a company I can trust market these devices, not influenced by any interests in alternative solutions, really don't want a third mobile contract.