alistair Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 We are New Zealanders who try to visit the UK and EU each summer (this year will be the 3rd time) and travel about in the 1998 Autosleeper Duetto we keep stored there. I've been reading with interest the various threads on mobile broadband and have convinced myself that a dongle for the laptop would be a useful thing, especially given the ridiculously high wifi charges at CC sites. However, I'm quite confused about the options and coverage. As we are around for only three months each year, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) is really the only suitable option. What I've read indicates that the Vodafone PAYG is a good option for the UK, but I would appreciate confirmation from a user that it will operate on 3G when available, and will change down to GPRS or whatever when 3G isn't around. I would also appreciate comments about the extent of coverage, both 3G and slow, in the areas where camping grounds are typically located - ie away from main centres. Just how good is coverage overall? I've ruled out the 3 mobile dongle as I understand it is 3G only, and that would be too restrictive. T-mobile PAYG has also been commented upon, but I can't find reference to it on their website. Is it still available? How do its costs compare to Vodafone, and can it be also used across the channel? Does it do slower speeds as well as 3G, and what is T-mobile coverage like compared to Vodafone? Lastly, is Orange worth considering? Again I can't find reference to PAYG broadband on their site, but they seem to offer 30 day contracts that could work for us. Again, what is their coverage like compared with others, do they do slow speed when 3G is not available, and can they be used across the channel? Sorry about the long post but I can't go around the providers' shops and ask and the websites aren't the most helpful, so I would appreciate any comments. I'd like to know what options to pursue when we arrive at the end of May so I don't have to spend too much precious time trudging around lots of shops. Many thanks. Alistair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hi, Link to T Mobile Broadband: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-broadband/ Their PAYG is £29.35 for the dongle & £2 a day to use, you only pay when you use it which appears to be ideal. It can only be used in the UK. Also the dongle has a slot for external antenna booster for weak signal areas. They don't mention GPRS you would need to email them, I know for 3G 'Three' use the T-Mobile masts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Sorry misread that it was Orange you couldn't find PAYG, the nearest they do is a 30day contract starting at £14.68 for 3Gig couldn't find a price for the dongle. Link to prices: http://www.orange.co.uk/images/editorial/Mobile%20Broadband%20Price%20Guide.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero680fb Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 HIYA im using mobile broadband now im with 3 pay £10 for a top up voucher at most shops sell it lasts for a month so we buy a voucher when we know that we are going to be away to use it very handy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klyne Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Alistair I use a pay monthly Vodafone dongle. What I have found is that out in he countryside I can only get GPRS which is a bit like dial-up in speed. Its fine for e-mail and checking bank accounts but heavy surfing could be a bit frustrating! The twice I have stayed near large areas of population, Cambridge and Welwyn I have managed to get 3G and have been quite impressed with the speed, better than I get at home. The problem with Vodafone PAYG is that you can't use it outside of the UK but a monthly contract you can. You can get 50MB a day for £10 which makes the CC seem cheap! 3 Network PAYG can be used in Europe and I saw they have a special deal called Like Home which means you can use up to your monthly allowance in a limited number of countries for no extra charge. Strangely I have just visited a 3 shop this morning but was told the offer had ended although the website says 30th April. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuwsmith Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 AlistairMy Knowledge is a little limited on this subject but I have just bought Vodaphones pay as you go dongle. From some research carried out beforehand I would say this is probably your best bet with one proviso. You buy usage in £15 for 1Gb blocks. Unlike some other makes this usage credit does not expire as long you use the dongle at least once every 6 months. This last could be a problem for you?Another drawback from your point of view - you can't use it on mainland Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatterdog Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 The '3' dongle will work whereever you get a mobile signal at the higher or the lower speed. Infact all mobile dongles will. Most give nearly countrywide coverage but as with everything that works via signals through the air if there is hills/mountains in the way the signal cant get through. If you go onto each providers web page and click the mobile broadband bit somewhere in their information will be a signal checker which will show the coverage at either the 3g or gps strength http://www.three-mobile-phones.com/coverage-checker.htm This should show you where the '3' one works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earthmover Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hello Alistair, I have a 3 PAYG dongle/stick? and it does work on GPRS as well as 3G, in fact you have the option to make it work with either by choice. It comes with a metre long USB extension cable that allows you to move the receiver stick around for better reception or suspend it in the air. The dongle/stick costs £49-95?, and PAYGO of £10, £15 or £25 per month, depending on your usage. Or there is a deal of £99-00 for the stick/dongle and 12months usage of 1GB per month? or whatever. It hasn't let me down yet and as only once had to drop to receiving GPRS once. With regard to over the Le Manche, I dunno??. Em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little-jack Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hi Alistair. I assume you use microsoft windows, in which case any of the providers dongles will work. Vodaphone have pretty good coverage in the uk, the pay as you go dongle is £30, including £15 airtime, and can be topped up with (only) £15 units. So long as you connect once every 6 months your credired time can be used, unlike the other suppliers whose credit is only valid for a month. If you are here for 3 months you could probably sell the dongle on ebay when you go home and buy a new one next year! little jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gasgobill Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Hi Alistair, I have just purchased a Mobile Broadband USB Modem, which appears to be the correct name for a WiFi Dongle. Mine was slightly harder to source, as I wanted one that worked with my Apple iBook. I did initially buy the Vodaphone one from their shop, as they assured me it would work on a Apple Mac. When I got out of the shop and looked at the box it only mentioned Window OS's. I took it back and they admitted only the contract dongles would work on Apple Mac's. I then went to a Phones 4 U shop, who deal with most networks. They sold me an O2 Dongle for £29.30. This works on Windows and Apple Macs ( OS 10.4 and higher ) It costs £2 for 24 hours, £7.50 per week and £15 per month. It connects to the fastest available network from GPRS or Edge, 3G, or HSDPA. HSPDA being the fastest. Also, because it is supplied by o2, you can connect through their mobile network, or through Wi-Fi using The Cloud. This gives access to thousands of hotspots in the UK like Cafe Nero, McDonalds, mainline train stations and major airports. At the moment it only works in the UK. but from early 2009, it is supposed to be available abroad, according to the o2 website. The O2 Dongle, possibly like others, is made by Huawei, and according to their website, if I understand it correctly, they are already producing these dongles that work abroad. As I have only purchased mine this week, I have only tried it at home, and it is as good as my home network. Happy camping Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arc systems Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 All the dongles are backward compatible so drop back to any available, 2G gprs is the slowest, egprs (edge) a bit better than twice standard gprs speed. 3G and mobile broadband HSDPA which is a 3G signal are the faster speeds. However, even with a full signal it's no guarantee of fast speeds, sitting here typing this with full signal, the speed is certainly no better than egprs! At home with very poor signal but greater bandwidth the speed is respectable but peaks around 1meg and a long way short of claims. All depends on capacity (bandwidth) and how many are trying to use it, worse, data usage is bottom of the list of priority and behind all the phone users Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 arc systems - 2009-04-12 4:50 PM All the dongles are backward compatible so drop back to any available, 2G gprs is the slowest, egprs (edge) a bit better than twice standard gprs speed. 3G and mobile broadband HSDPA which is a 3G signal are the faster speeds. However, even with a full signal it's no guarantee of fast speeds, sitting here typing this with full signal, the speed is certainly no better than egprs! At home with very poor signal but greater bandwidth the speed is respectable but peaks around 1meg and a long way short of claims. All depends on capacity (bandwidth) and how many are trying to use it, worse, data usage is bottom of the list of priority and behind all the phone users Eeehh, by eck - I wish I could inderstand this post............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losos Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 david lloyd - 2009-04-12 7:07 PM Eeehh, by eck - I wish I could inderstand this post............ The whole subject of internet on the move is a nightmare made worse by the seeming 'sell 'em anything' attitude of the shops and the poor quality and misinformation spouted by the companies on their web sites.I think what the post above was saying is 'don't believe anything a mobile phone company tells you either in their shops or on their web sites, they mostly just treat their cistomers like sh*t and their is not much anyone can do about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little-jack Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 A word of explanation/warning: So far as I can ascertain NO broadband pay as you go dongle bought in the uk will work outside the uk, but at under £30, including £15 airtime, they are really cheap enough to throw away when you leave the uk, or sell on ebay. All network dongles are designed primarily for windows (xp or vista). One or two are also set up for apple. Most will run on Linux or Apple systems if you download the correct software. I run the vodaphone one on linux with no problem. little jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klyne Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 little-jack - 2009-04-13 5:49 PM A word of explanation/warning: So far as I can ascertain NO broadband pay as you go dongle bought in the uk will work outside the uk, but at under £30, including £15 airtime, they are really cheap enough to throw away when you leave the uk, or sell on ebay. All network dongles are designed primarily for windows (xp or vista). One or two are also set up for apple. Most will run on Linux or Apple systems if you download the correct software. I run the vodaphone one on linux with no problem. little jack That is generally correct except for 3 Mobile. My understanding is that if you are in one of the partner countries on a partner network you can use 3 as at home under a scheme called 3 Like Home. Unfortunately it only applies to Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Irelnad in Europe. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted April 29, 2009 Author Share Posted April 29, 2009 I followed up the suggestion that I contact each provider. This was a frustrating exercise as only T-mobile answered all my questions in one reply. Others took an age to reply and often needed a number of attempts to get them to focus on my question rather than their marketing scripts. Some sent me links that didn’t work. Finally, here’s a summary of what I learned directly from the providers about their pay-as-you-go mobile broadband schemes: Vodafone: USB modem £39, including 1GB of top-up. Further top-ups of 1GB cost £15 and have no expiry date. Works on both 3G and GPRS. Does not work abroad “at this stage”. T-mobile: USB modem £29.36. Web’n’walk pass at £2.50 for 5 days. Works only where 3G is available. Can be used abroad, though expensive. O2: USB modem £29.35. Top-ups £2 per day for 500MB, £7.50 per day for a week and 1GB, £15 for a month and 3GB. Gives access also to wifi hotspots. Works only on 3G or HSPDPA (3G+). Can not be used abroad. Orange: No pay-as-you-go “at the moment”. I see they have a USB modem for £29.00 and a charge of £14.68 for 3GB on a monthly contract. Three: USB modem £29.99. Top-ups £10 for 1GB, £15 for 3GB, valid for 30 days. Works on 3G and GPRS. Can be used in Europe for £3 per MB, although their website FAQs say it can’t be used abroad. It appears that some providers put more restrictions on pay-as you-go arrangements than on account customers, particularly in restricting to UK only and using only 3G networks. I had the impression that mobile broadband is a moving target, and prices and restrictions that apply today may not apply tomorrow. From the above, the 3 mobile scheme seems to give the best deal, with cheaper top-ups, the ability to use it even where 3G isn’t available, and being able to use it abroad, although they didn't mention the limitations that Klyne commented on. Their monthly expiry of the credit could be a problem for the likes of us. I’ve seen more comment on the Vodafone scheme, mostly from satisfied users, than I have seen from 3 users. Is 3G and GPRS coverage in the UK, including Scotland, likely to be as good with 3 as with Vodafone? Plugging postcodes into their Many thanks to all who have responded so far. Alistair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puzzled Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Have you looked at astra2connect it is a broadband by satellite not cheap but will work in GB, Ireland, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany & Northern Italy it will work in other areas as well but I have not had personal experience. A diy kit would cost about £300.00 complete with modem and satmeter a fully automatic Oyster Dish with 2 way internet will cost about £3,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hymer1942 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Hi I already have Oyster Sat. TV, is it just a case of adding on, and if so what would the cost be please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempo Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 :-) I use o2 mobile on contract but they also provide pay as u go. I have always had good reception and you get free use on CLOUD wi-fi. i.e. in many cafes and rail stations ect. Try their web site www.o2.co.uk. best of luck and enjoy your next vist to the U,K. tempo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puzzled Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 It is not possible to add on it needs a complete new system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duetto owner Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 there was a watchdog program on tv recently about poor coverage I am sure it was 3g. correct me if I am wrong please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carebear Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 I used my 3 dongle in france last year, no problem. We were out in the sticks, in Lapalisse area Auvergne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carebear Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 I used my 3 dongle in france last year, no problem. We were out in the sticks, in Lapalisse area Auvergne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naittaw Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 I reliase we are wandering off the original thread but I would be interested to know if you found using the 3 dongle in France expensive ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hymer1942 Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Yes I too would like to know the cost please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.