Manu Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hi all, need to purchase a dongle for mobile coverage on laptop, can any of you good people recommend any particular network mainly for Uk coverage and any experiences you have had recently ??? Thanks in advance, to all contributors ... Phil . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John J Thompson Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I use VODAFONE and have found few places where I can't get in. Not always 3G but still useable. Mine is a contract with 3gb download. Ample for my needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Grumpy Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 You say mainly in GB, as I understand things if you try to use it in Europe it will be hugely expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 From this article seems none are very fast. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/broadband/353578/average-mobile-broadband-speed-only-0-87mbits-sec Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Having used 3, O2 and Vodafone, in my experience Vodafone works better - can't say best as that would imply it is perfect when it ain't - but that may well have more to do with some of the daft out of the way and isolated places I try to use it than the service itself! Also on Vodafone payg the credit is not lost as long as you logon at least once every six months which none of the others allow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John J Thompson Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 colin - 2009-11-27 7:24 PM From this article seems none are very fast. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/broadband/353578/average-mobile-broadband-speed-only-0-87mbits-sec I find mine faster or as fast as my broadband connection at home 1.8mbs to 2.13 mbs from a supposed 8mbs line. The Vodafone is showing 1.69mbs at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I use Vodafone but its never as fast as home broadband. I always use local WiFi when I can. McDonalds, Little Cheff etc. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazy Baby Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Tracker, by out of the way do you include the west coast of and far north of Scotland? I (and hubby) are partial to a bit of isolation/wild camping there at least once a year and often have no mobile signal with Virgin. Is Vodafone any better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Hazy Baby - 2009-11-27 8:51 PM Tracker, by out the way do you include the west coast of and far north of Scotland? I (and hubby) are partial to a bit of isolation/wild camping there at least once a year and often have no mobile signal with Virgin. Is Vodafone any better? Only tried it for one holiday to Outer Hebrides this year and only managed to get a connection once at Stornoway via an unencoded wifi link using the free wifi access that came with the O2 dongle! Mobile phones on Orange and Virgin worked OK in most places but as we don't have Orange or Virgin dongles I can't say about internet - although the cynic in me somehow doubts it will work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistair Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 We used a Vodafone pay-as-you-go dongle for three months in the UK this year. We had coverage in most places, although away from the urban areas it was usually GPRS (ie slow) rather than 3G broadband. GPRS is OK for email but can be frustrating for browsing. We had no coverage in some valleys, even in Dorset and Devon, and also in some remote parts of Scotland, but on the other hand we were sometimes surprised at the good coverage we had in some isolated areas. The 15 pounds credit that came with the dongle lasted us for three months of emailing and a reasonable amount of browsing, although we were careful with our browsing usage towards the end of the time as we didn't want to have to renew the credit for 15 pounds and return to New Zealand with most of it unused. It worked out at about one pound per week if you ignore the initial cost of the dongle - excellent value. The PAYG dongle can't be used outside the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solwaybuggier Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 We've got a 3 dongle which we inherited from our son - all things being equal the longer time to use your allowance on Vodafone would be better. But we've found we got a signal - even if only 2G on occasions but still OK for email as others have said - in pretty remote parts of Scotland - south of Campbeltown, for instance. And I got a (weak) signal earlier this year in parts of Northumberland where my mobile (Tesco, so 02 network) had no signal at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 If you are not going to use a dongle everyday the PAYG options work out a lot cheaper, a weekend away using our Vodafone dongle never costs more than a pound usually about 50p. Have to agree with the majority the Vodafone is the best buy, if like us mainly use CL's & CS's so you are out in the country not near any large towns you are will often only get a GPRS connection as others have said fine for email but can be frustrating when browsing you learn to live with it just put the kettle on whilst waiting for a page to download or change your browser setting to only download text, you don't need to worry about cost as you are only paying for data that's downloaded so if it take 5 secs or half an hour to download a page the cost is the same. Don't get hoodwinked by o2 they offer free bt Openzone & cloud hot spots bundled in for free. When on a campsite are you near one? Also when you logon it cost £2 for 24 hours so it you are on line for 5 mins collecting email it's cost 2 quid. Vodafone is the only PAYG dongle where the credit does not expire providing you logon at least once in 6 months, the others expire in 30 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 28, 2009 Share Posted November 28, 2009 There's been plenty of discussion on dongles on the forum before, so have a look at these links to a couple of previous postings: dongle 1 dongle 2 It really depends on how you want to use it, the capacity you need, and the coverage in your area/where you intend to travel to. If you only use it infrequently then I’d go for the Vodaphone PAYG as you don’t lose the credit on it after 30 days like you do with the other PAYG ones, but there are some cheap monthly deals too if you want to use it more often or need more download etc capacity. I only have a 3 mobile broadband dongle, no land line at all, and I find it works okay for my needs (I do a lot of web surfing and forum nattering :D and use around 2.5-3.0gb a month, my monthly package is 5gb a month which costs me £7.50 (half price as I’m a ‘continuing customer’). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith T Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Have had a 'Three' contract for almost 2yrs, find this gives pretty good covereage over most of UK. Have 5Gb monthy download at £15 pm, and looking to upgrade to the new 'Mi-Fi' (Yes thats what they call it), a wifi mobile dongle, costs £2 more pm but no up-front charge, and another 18/24 month contract I think. Means you can hook up from other computers or i-touch etc, I believe up to 5 at any one time, and is security protected. Now product and cost has dropped dramatically in the couple of months since introduction...may wait another few weeks in case it goes down again! As far as I know not offered by anyone else as yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 Keith - I'd suggest you get in touch with them and ask why you haven't got the 50% discount for being a continuing customer ... my 5gb 18 month contract is only costing me £7.50 a month now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.