broadband on your travels

lisa01633

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We have been looking into a payg broadband for when we travel on weekends .. we won't be using it in the week as obviously we have our home broadband

just wondering what everyone uses and how good they are on connection and price :confused:
 
Dongle

Hi Lisa and Jamie
We bought the preloaded dongle from 3 it cost us about £79 with 12 months use and 12gb with have still got over 11gb left and have been using it since March.
The coverage is very hit and miss, especially in North Yorkshire.
Maybe you would be better looking on E Bay for an unlocked dongle then you could try a few of the different providors and see which are best in your area, it does not work the same as my mobile as there is often a very strong signal on that.
Sure there will be lots of answers along soon.
Sue
 
we got a 3g dongle a few years ago when they first came out, it's about £7.50 a month it was crap at first but we don't have problems in many places now,as said before we used to have a good signal on our 3 phones but not on the dongle :confused: but much better now
 
I use the vodaphone K3565 dongle at £15 for 1GB data. Mine's been in use for over a year for general browsing and email and I still have £8 credit remaining. It's good in most areas but reception is patchy in the Scottish Highlands and some rural areas (although much more comprehensive than the '3' network or Orange).
 
We just connect laptop to internet using our contract mobile phones - on Vodafone - not noticed and significant increase in cost. Wouldn't use this option if we ever ventured out of the UK though.

bev
 
I use a 3 dongle with PAYG sim. Works OK but do find signal patchy in some areas despite what the coverage maps tell you:) The downside is you lose any left over credit at the end of each month. I think even the Vodafone dongles don't roll over the credit now like they used to.

this is better for UK & European use as the credit rolls over to the next month:cool: You can also top up the credit by purchase voucher from just about anywhere

Oh and get a long USB lead for the dongle and hang it out of a window or by a roof vent. It significantly increases the signal strength.

john
 
I have one of the new wifi Orange dongles, cost around £40 and are absolutely awesome. Never had connection or drop out problems all over Uk and the speed is easily comparable to a home broadband. Highly recommended :D
 
3G or not 3G

As already mentioned WiFi and 3G may not be available in remote locations but depending on your set up and network you may get the slower connection on GPRS.

I'm still using the old 3G data card with external antennas and I am connected one way or the other about 99% of the time.
 
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3G or not 3G

Did not get mobile broadband on Kintyre, but connected by GPRS.
 

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We had an O2 Dongle PAYG for UK travel and found it pretty OK coverage. Obviously sometimes we were not in 3G areas so it was slower then. Had previously had an Orange one and weren't very happy with the coverage.

Now just use the iPhone and iPad, both of which are on O2 and find them really good too. What I like is that you can buy a day at a time on their PAYG. So if I want 24 hours intense use then I'll pay my £2.50 and use the iPad, but if I only want to bring down emails then I do it on the iPhone contract.

So I would say go O2! ;)
 
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we had a 3 dongle and found it ok but no monthly rollover is bad if you havent used your your monthly allowance . but i think a dongle with wifi conectability would be the best bet . do you know anyone that has bt internet that will allow you to use it , as if so you can use there internet away from home . then its free on all bt wifi spots .
 
Broadband

We have a BT broadband package at home and this includes BT Open Zone which allows us unlimited broadband access at any of the thousands and increasing numbers of hot spots all over the country. BT customers like us allow access to the network via the home hub thus creating a hot spot and receive free open zone in return.
We did try a Vodafone dongle but gave up as it was painfully slow if it worked at all.
 
3G Dongle from 3

I used to be a member of 3 before I saw the light and bought an iphone and joined o2.
However, the 3 dongle which I got for £5 a month for being a phone subscriber was ok. The reception was patchy and the speed not great but to be honest I wasn't looking for the speeds I get at home, just something to allow me to send emails. So because of that I thought it was worthwhile and good value. So give it a go :)
 
We bought a dongle from 3, preloaded with 12gb for twelve months, earlier this year. Had no real problems, except in the Scottish Highlands, but that is to be expected. Found it more reliable than the WiFi on CC and CCC sites, which is bit of a ripoff.
 
I have an HTC Desire phone on 3, which has just been updated to Android 2.2

This allows you to use your phone, via a local wi-fi connection to a laptop (wi-fi hotspot), for access to the internet.

Potentially useful, if you have such a phone with a reasonable data allowance, and means you don't have to purchase a separate dongle.
 
We have just bought our second 3 12 month dongel for £79.99. This is used at home and away. At the end of 12 months there was still 1gb left. It is enough for us, but others may not find it enough, if you have a lot of downloads.
 
To be honest I don't thinkanyone has given you the answer you need so far. What works for one does not necessarily work for another. The area coverages are openly available online. You know where you travel most, so the sensible thing is to go with the network that covers this area best. We have both 3 and Vodafone. We live and travel extensively round Wales and would not consider anything other than 3. Vodafone rarely has any signal. 3 is patchy. Evereything else is useless!

Have a look at the coverage maps and decide which suits you and where you go best.
 
Bear in mind that Orange and O2 have merged. The wife has an O2 mobile and I have an Orange one and we can use both systems now. This should give the best UK coverage.
 
maingate said:
Bear in mind that Orange and O2 have merged. The wife has an O2 mobile and I have an Orange one and we can use both systems now. This should give the best UK coverage.
Click to expand...

But the point I was making is every network has significant blank spots. If you happen to visit this blank spot, they can have the best network coverage of the world and it is no use to you whatsoever as you can't get a signal, hence my suggestion to check maps. T-mobile have just done a similar deal with someone I believe as well.
 
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