Barney123 Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Hello all you experts, I will be sited on a CL site shortly for a couple of weeks, CL site has no WIFi, obviously I do have a mobile phone connected to Vodafone network. I would appreciate any advise on what is my best option to get connected to the internet for just receiving and sending e-mails, plus of course keeping tabs on this forum. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordThornber Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 If I was staying on a CL for 2 weeks I'd ask the owner if he'll let you use their wireless system, assuming of course they have it. You could use a smartphone. You could buy a dongle, they're so cheap these days I find it's not worth not having one. Of course this is assuming you have a laptop/tablet/device. Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 It all depends where in the country the CL is ? I have a Vodafone dongle and if you are near a large town or city it works very well indeed. But if you are out of the way a bit ( in the sticks ) they can be very slow or not work at all. It really does depend where you are. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 if you have inclusive data on your mobile phone contract you can always try tethering. This is when you use yur mobile connected to laptop to access the internet. some providers allow, some do not but how do they know. check out first that its OK to do it as you dont want a heavy bill.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I use smartphone for t'internet browsing and kindle3 for webmail, both can be a pain outside of 3g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 For wife's new Ipad we have just got a Giffgaff sim only on a rolling 1 month contract - unlimited data for £7.50 and can end or restart contract whenever. Uses Vodafone network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 I use my phone tethered to my netbook, as said if outside a 3G area it will be slow, either an Edge or GPRS connection. Problem is website designers only design for fast broadband connections these days. GPRS is OK for emails (without attachments) but painful for browsing, with an Edge connection it's just about liveable. Turning off images in your browser and just browse in text speeds things up a fare bit but can loose a lot of content depends on page design. Also bear in mind if a page takes 15 min to load it's not costing any more than if it loads in seconds as it is the amount of data you are paying for which will be the same. Also if you want to send emails you may need to change your SMTP server to the one of the service you are connected to. If you only have a GPRS connection it's best to browse on your phone as it will download the mobile version of the site if available which is far less data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 bolero boy - 2012-07-04 6:35 PM For wife's new Ipad we have just got a Giffgaff sim only on a rolling 1 month contract - unlimited data for £7.50 and can end or restart contract whenever. Uses Vodafone network. O2 network. ;-) (I also use GiffGaff). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Robinhood - 2012-07-04 7:12 PM bolero boy - 2012-07-04 6:35 PM For wife's new Ipad we have just got a Giffgaff sim only on a rolling 1 month contract - unlimited data for £7.50 and can end or restart contract whenever. Uses Vodafone network. O2 network. ;-) (I also use GiffGaff). my wife getting IPad next week (cant talk her out of it) what is the best deal for European use as we are of end of month for 6 weeks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Eddie - Ipad - be aware that if you get a wifi only one you can't use sat nav or any mobile apps that need your position as they need the 3G aerial and gubbins - they don't need a sim - just the hardware. If that does not matter you could get a mifi gadget that acts like a dongle to use the mobile network wirelessly as the ipad has no usb port? Apologies if you already know all this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney123 Posted July 4, 2012 Author Share Posted July 4, 2012 Thank you, thank you all for the information, I now know what I will do, go to a Vodafone shop and buy a dongle. Should have banged my head on the wall and done that in the 1st place. Best regards for all replies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Best deals are usually online so if you do go into a shop take a print out with you and ask for the same deal - or buy online anyway and cut out the middle man!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Robinhood - 2012-07-04 7:12 PM bolero boy - 2012-07-04 6:35 PM For wife's new Ipad we have just got a Giffgaff sim only on a rolling 1 month contract - unlimited data for £7.50 and can end or restart contract whenever. Uses Vodafone network. O2 network. ;-) (I also use GiffGaff). Robin, you are, of course, correct. I had Vodafone on my mind as a 'background' provider as I saw an amazing deal in Carphone Warehouse last week. Using their 'own' network (Talkmobile, backed by Vodafone) they were offering an HTC Wildfire S with 300mins, unlimited texts and 500mb of data for.............................£7.50 / mth! Needless to say, all the handsets were gone in the 2 branches i checked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Tracker - 2012-07-04 8:40 PM Eddie - Ipad - be aware that if you get a wifi only one you can't use sat nav or any mobile apps that need your position as they need the 3G aerial and gubbins - they don't need a sim - just the hardware. If that does not matter you could get a mifi gadget that acts like a dongle to use the mobile network wirelessly as the ipad has no usb port? Apologies if you already know all this! she is getting 3G version...I wish she would wait a bit, lots of new more functional tablets coming out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 bolero boy - 2012-07-05 9:32 AM Robinhood - 2012-07-04 7:12 PM bolero boy - 2012-07-04 6:35 PM For wife's new Ipad we have just got a Giffgaff sim only on a rolling 1 month contract - unlimited data for £7.50 and can end or restart contract whenever. Uses Vodafone network. O2 network. ;-) (I also use GiffGaff). Robin, you are, of course, correct. I had Vodafone on my mind as a 'background' provider as I saw an amazing deal in Carphone Warehouse last week. Using their 'own' network (Talkmobile, backed by Vodafone) they were offering an HTC Wildfire S with 300mins, unlimited texts and 500mb of data for.............................£7.50 / mth! Needless to say, all the handsets were gone in the 2 branches i checked out. ....I've inherited the oldest 'phone in the house after several "trade-ups" in the family. It's a Nokia smartphone, somewhat more "clunky" than current android phones, but perfectly usable (and with the added advantage of a much longer battery life). I looked at the deals on Talkmobile at the time, and could have bought a decent handset within a relatively cheap monthly contract, but, having "unlocked" the Nokia for free, decide the GiffGaff offer was quite attractive. It is effectively Pay as you Go, with call and text charges about half the industry "norm", and an approach that caps a usable amount of data (20MB) at 20p a day . In addition, there are "Goodybags" purchaseable that allow a large number of calls and text, and unlimited data, for a month after you subscribe. (there are different types of Goodybags, this is the one I use, but there are data only, etc). What this means is that I can run normally very cheaply on PAYG, but subscribe (online) to a Goodybag if we are going to be away from home for a number of days, thus allowing unlimited data for any "holiday" period. It means I can tailor my spend to my varying requirments. The combination works for me. We initially put my son on the tariff - he doesn't use calls, does use texts, but also uses a lot of data, and the unlimited data offering included in the £10 per month really works for him. There are some other advantages to GiffGaff - 0800 calls, for instance are free, and calls and texts to other GiffGaff users are also free. So far, I'm most impressed. http://www.giffgaff.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Barney123 - 2012-07-04 8:42 PM Thank you, thank you all for the information, I now know what I will do, go to a Vodafone shop and buy a dongle. Should have banged my head on the wall and done that in the 1st place. Best regards for all replies If your phone has 3G you don't need to buy a dongle just use your phone. If it's a smart phone, turn on the AP (access point) and connect the same as you would to a wireless router. If not a smart phone use the USB cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero boy Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Just to add that I noticed recently that more networks were 'getting into bed' with BT to provide access to their WIFI hotspot network. My own network Vodafone now offer this on most packages and SIM only deals. I dont currently have this (I have 500mb data on my contract) so I rang them and requested them to add it FOC. To my amazement, they did it straight away and also upped my data allowance to 'uncapped'. My contract charge, end date and other elements remain the same ;-) Worth a call i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 lennyhb - 2012-07-05 10:34 AM Barney123 - 2012-07-04 8:42 PM Thank you, thank you all for the information, I now know what I will do, go to a Vodafone shop and buy a dongle. Should have banged my head on the wall and done that in the 1st place. Best regards for all replies If your phone has 3G you don't need to buy a dongle just use your phone. If it's a smart phone, turn on the AP (access point) and connect the same as you would to a wireless router. If not a smart phone use the USB cable. Have already told him that Lenny *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney123 Posted July 5, 2012 Author Share Posted July 5, 2012 Got my dongle today from Vodafone shop, the dongle was free and £7.50 per month tariff as I have a contract, you can cancel giving 30 days notice. It will do the job for me. The same dongle in ASDA was £25.00 then you have to add on your tariff. Thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooie Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Barney123 - 2012-07-05 7:53 PM Got my dongle today from Vodafone shop, the dongle was free and £7.50 per month tariff as I have a contract, you can cancel giving 30 days notice. It will do the job for me. The same dongle in ASDA was £25.00 then you have to add on your tariff. Thanks again Hi Barney, how much usage / data do you get for your £7.50 ? Regards Graham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney123 Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 what it says on the tin :-Download 2GB and WiFi 4GB Google up Vodafone Dongle and you will find all the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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