Mobile internet

PaulC

Guest
Hi

I've just bought a "3' mobile PAYG "dongle" for connection to the internet. It works like a treat, just plug in to a spare USB2 socket and as long as you have credit and a signal the WWW is yours. I found the 1GB for 10 pounds is more than enough.
 
Our daughter in Rome lashed out on a 3 dongle, not fully understanding the Italian fine print in the contract. She then started Skypeing (is there such a word) us with video and voice calls (all free haha) - about 300 Euros later she realised that going over the 1gB limit is just too easy.

But it was great while it lasted.

She's back to hunting free wireless networks again!!

She told us that she learnt the hard way with emails as well - always use webmail to look at your inbox before reading the email, people can send videos or pictures in an email that chew up 1gB very quickly. With webmail you can delete an email without reading it, using Outlook Express and the likes usually downloads the email straight to your hard drive and ruins your limit very quickly.
 
Yes videos do eat up the credit pretty damn quick and "youtube" downloads the video staight away!! But if you go PAYG then you will not go OTT and roaming abroad can run quite expesive,
 
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quite right ***** computers, tvs, dvds, satellite systems!!!! when we go off in the van its to enjoy some free time away from away from everyday life. too many things to do we have a tv in the van but never really use it, but cannot do without our compendium of games oh!! and a pack of cards
 
Hey I'm a very light user and I've just checked my usage and I've just used 200Mb out of 1Gb and I'm half way through my time limit.
 
The other good thing about the PAYG 3 dongle is that when you're not using it i.e. you're not away from home you don't have to put credit on it. Thanks for the tip about checking your Emails abroad - I've been trying to find a map of Macdonalds in Portugal but no luck so far - only so I can go on line for free! Or it could be to have a McFlurry!
 
FAO Roger

I thought Skype to Skype was free! Or was she skyping via another method?
 
dongles !

hi there everybody from a new member ! i only have a lap top that i use all the time from my MH. it is an "orange" dongle that costs £15 per month for unlimited use. do not use abroad as the roaming costs are prohibitive ! i use orbiter camp sites in portugal and they generally have WI>FI on all their sites.
 
Am I right in thinking that Skype to Skype is free but you have to be online to use Skype, so that abroad it can still be expensive - Orbitur sites for us, we're waiting for our Orbitur Card.
 
salopian said:
hi there everybody from a new member ! i only have a lap top that i use all the time from my MH. it is an "orange" dongle that costs £15 per month for unlimited use. do not use abroad as the roaming costs are prohibitive ! i use orbiter camp sites in portugal and they generally have WI>FI on all their sites.
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Is it compleatly free, apart from the £15, we are going to have to work when on the road and are struggling to find a system without hidden nasty charges
 
The Pay as You Go 3 dongle that I have cost £40 and then you top it up with £10 credit which I think lasts 1Gb or 30 days, I've not ran out of GB it's always been the 30days when I loose because I have some credit left. However I still think the best thing with the PAYG dongle is that if I'm not away in the van I don't have to buy any top up until I'm going away and want to use it in the van again. 3 have a calculator thing on their web site that you complete and then it tells you which mobile broadband service you would be best using. Different charges of course if you're abroad.
 
carol25singer said:
The Pay as You Go 3 dongle that I have cost £40 and then you top it up with £10 credit which I think lasts 1Gb or 30 days, I've not ran out of GB it's always been the 30days when I loose because I have some credit left. However I still think the best thing with the PAYG dongle is that if I'm not away in the van I don't have to buy any top up until I'm going away and want to use it in the van again. 3 have a calculator thing on their web site that you complete and then it tells you which mobile broadband service you would be best using. Different charges of course if you're abroad.
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And thats me as well,for the exact same reasons.

steve
 
Just some experiences of using my dongle over the last month or so. With a signal strength of 5 power bars the best speed I have had is about !Mb and the worst is about with 3 powerbars is 250Kb which means downloading podcasts can be a pain. Youtube is a bit hit and miss but if you have capture software than it's not a problem, because you can view the video offline. After about a 28 days of use I have a lot of credit left so it becomes download city!
 
I have a '3' PAYG dongle. At first I was very pleased with it but recently I've been finding the connection is often unreliable. I find I'm driving around to different areas where I know there is a good signal and even with full signal showing it keeps dropping the connection, or slowing to a crawl. I drive to near another aerial and it's perfect.
Getting a bit fed-up with it to be honest but looking on the web it sounds like the other companies have problems too.
Guess I have to grin and bear it.
 
Much prefer to use a Bluetooth Usb to connect my phone to the laptop, can't be bothered to waste money on a subscription!
 
MARCO008 - do you reckon that the problem might be contention as these services get more users? Have you tried asking your supplier for an explanation if you feel it is getting worse?

ALL - do you have to buy the dongle over and above the PAYG usage costs?

This has been a really useful posting as I am about to invest. Thanks
 
sagart said:
Much prefer to use a Bluetooth Usb to connect my phone to the laptop, can't be bothered to waste money on a subscription!
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When I did that a couple of years ago it was hideously expensive...can you recommend a phone network/package? Many of the places I go only get a good Vodafone or 3 signal.

This is a really informative post - thanks guys!
 
Yes, flower3bird, I did have to buy the dongle outright first to use PAYG.
If you have a subscription I think you get a free dongle but I decided to go for PAYG. I guess my connection problem could be to do with an increased number of users, but I have not yet spoken to 'Three' about it. If it continues I will drop into the shop where I bought the dongle and complain. I believe that the 'three' network was developed earlier in the more northern parts of the country so may have less problems.
Marc
 
Never bothered too much over the cost (Vodafone) as, according to an enquiry at their shop in Torquay I can't use my phone the way I do, so they said they had no data rate for me...I do love their technical support!
My spare phone, a Sony Ericsson P910i, automatically switches to an O2 emergency network when it can't get a Vodafone signal. I assume that's because O2 has general coverage up here.
 
PaulC said:
Hi

I've just bought a "3' mobile PAYG "dongle" for connection to the internet. It works like a treat, just plug in to a spare USB2 socket and as long as you have credit and a signal the WWW is yours. I found the 1GB for 10 pounds is more than enough.
Click to expand...
if you have just got it(3 dongle) cancel the contract asap,you will find that it wont work on 99% of sites in the UK.I was gullible enough to believe the sales assistants promise of expanding coverage in march last year and cant cancel the contract now as it is over the three months cool off period.It is costing me £15 per month and wont even work at home!Cheers Maldwyn
 
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