Mobile broadband for camping

[Graham]

Has anyone seen this offer for mobile broadband

www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-broadband/pay-per-day-options/

It looks like you can just top up and it costs £2 per day or if you want a weeks worth its £10 or 30 days for £20, no need for a contract.

I think this will be ideal for us, if we go away for a weekend we can just top up for £2 and get all our emails and Pauline can keep an eye on her website empire. ;D

Cheaper than wifi at the club sites which currently is £6 for a day.

What do others think?

[Graham]

Well I finally took the plunge and bought one of these. I decided to get one for Pauline's birthday so that she can keep an eye on her empire while we are away.

I thought about getting it early in November but as it said next day delivery I decided to leave it till about a fortnight before her birthday giving plenty of time for it to be delivered. Unfortunately when I ordered it I got a email back to say it was out of stock

It was eventually delivered 3 weeks later a week after her birthday, that wouldn't have been too bad but they took the money from my card straight away!! I wasn't very chuffed about that. Anyway we got a top up card and topped it up with a fiver, so now we are waiting till we go away to see how good it works.

I'll let you know what we think in about a fortnight when we have tested it.

Graham

[glenw]

fingers crossed for you, if its anything like our 3 mobile one, you shouldn't have too many problems. I think t-mobile has better coverage nationally than 3, and we've manged to get a signal on the majority of sites we've used, although, like all mobile phone coverage, it can be patchy even in a small area.

Shame you were let down by the delivery, lets hope its worth the wait!

[blondieandi]

I bought a web book and tried to get mobile broadband for when we are out and about. Found out that as the system operates on Linux and not windows that no mobile broadband dongles are compatible with it. What is the point?!!!! Am raging what a waste of money. Its great where there is WIFI though. i will have to do some research its bound to be compatible with something.

[glenw]

this link seems to suggest vodafone mobile broadband is linux compatible

www.pocket-lint.co.uk/reviews/review.phtml/2741/3765/vodafone-mobile-broadband-usb-modem.phtml

and this tells you how to do it using a 3g dongle

www.linux.co.uk/docs/center/how-to/how-to-get-online-with-3g-broadband

[niloc]

I have been holding off from the mobile broadband solution, having been disappointed with WiFi access both in UK and France. But the monthly cost of a dongle from the mobile companies seemed excessive for the relatively small amount of a Gb that we are likely to use. The solution that Graham is trying looked a good bet, but I have just come accross another possibility that I have been waiting for - real Pay As You Go. Vodafone have just come up with a dongle with a free Gb for £39, unlimited time to use it and £15 for another Gb when needed. The only downside is a maximum speed of 3.6Mbps and it cannot be used abroad.
Anyone used this yet? See:
shop.vodafone.co.uk//shop/mobile-broadband-devices/usb-modem-stick-topup-and-go?compatible=false
for details.

Colin

[Graham]

Well we finally got to try out our T-mobile broadband at the weekend as we were away in the van and we got a good signal with no problem the only criticism we had was that it was a bit slower than at home but perhaps we are expecting too much.

It certainly seems good value to be able to surf for 24 hours for £2.

Graham

[niloc]

We were at a commercial site in December and they were charging £2.50 a day for WiFi, and presumably making a profit, so how come the two major Clubs are charging £6 a day? Sounds like a rip off.
We have now used the Vodafone dongle in a couple of places and it it is just what we needed, to be able to access e mail and broadband, even in a layby. Will let you know how long it takes us to use up the 1Gb, before we have to buy another £15 worth.
Colin

[wendy]

Keep us posted, niloc, as we are thinking of getting the Vodafone dongle and it's good to read something from someone who has actually used it.
I think that the CC & C&CC have missed the boat really as they are expensive and with the choice of dongles about now, the latter will surely work out cheaper.

[viv]

Hi

I have just had a look at the Vodaphone option and it sounds just what I have been looking for. I phoned them and the assistant confirmed to me that it is a genuine pay as you go. You buy the dongle for £39 and that includes the 1 gigabyte that has no time limit to use it. You then top up as frequently or infrequently as you wish, with again no limit on time to use it up . I don't think I could use up 1 gig in a year just reading my e mail and checking out a few campsites to move on to on my travels!!!

Is the T mobile the same payment option or is it a fixed amount that has to be used up in a deadline?

Don't need it yet though.

[Graham]

With T Mobile you pay £2 per day (24 hours) but the 24 hours starts at midnight and ends at midnight, so if you start browsing at 9pm you've only got 3 hours for your £2 but if you start browsing at just after midnight you can browse for 24 hours for £2.

If you are away for a week you can have the whole week for £10 or for £20 you can have 30 days.

You can use 3 gigabyte per month.

Our dongle cost £49 if my memory serves me correct.

Club sites charge £6 for 24 hours but the 24 hours start when you start browsing.

Graham

[viv]

Then it looks like the Vodaphone is the way to go for me as I really do only want to use it to look up campsites as we go round next Summer. Seems you can just use it when you want and no expiry time. I bet there must be a catch! I am going to phone again in morning and see if i can find out what it is.

I am also waiting to hear from BT with their latest mobile broadband option as my BT landline/internet contract is due to end soon and they usually are quite flexible at times like this.

[kiwidave]

Hi Viv,
I have been looking into this as well, I have just been talking to Vodafone and they are telling me that if you do not use the dongle for two months, then the credit WILL expire and you will need to top up again.
I am looking to go 02, they have a pre paid dongle selling at 29.00 ( I think ) and you purchase the top ups as needed. £2.00 for a day £7.50 for a week and £15.00 for a month, you also get free wifi with cloud on this service.

Cheers
Dave

[johns1]

All the independent reviews I have seen of the Vodaphone dongle state that the pay as you go top-ups are without any time limits.

[kiwidave]

Hi Johns1

That's what I thought as well, but after talking to Vadafone, I was informed that if you do not conect to the internet at lest every two months, they will disconect your service and the only way to get back on line is to purchase another top up.

Cheers
Dave

[viv]

Hi

I did phone Vodaphone and she assured me that the dongle would not expire. Maybe it depends on who you speak to. Sometimes they give mixed messages so I think a more detailed probe tomorrow is in order.

Still think BT may come up with a good broadband package with mobile as part of the package, will explore this as well when my contract ends.

[wendy]

I can't see it as a problem logging on once every 2 months
We hope to go away at least once a month during the summer and will use it when we are away. If necessary we can always just log on to keep the credit.

[viv]

Spoke to Vodaphone technical help and they said that it works like a normal phone sim card, so you must use it within 90 days or it will have to be re-activated by adding a futher 1 gig - but you would not lose your earlier credits. After 9 months it would be completely wiped and you would lose the credits. Just like any mobile phone. So the answer is to just use it for a few minutes if you did not need it for a couple of months.

The chap I spoke to had one, and he said it is really surprising how far 1 gig gets you. He said he has only managed to use pennies on his!!!. He also added that other companies are also bringing out true pay as you go options now, but he was happy with the Vodaphone dongle for reception and speed.

[kiwidave]

Hi all,
I agree that it is a great service, however in my case, I spend 4 months a year back in New Zealand, it does mean that I would have to top up again as I would not be using the dongle for 3 months while out of the country.

I have decided to go with 02 as they have a different system where you only pay for 24hrs or 1 week or 1 month and get free wifi with cloud.

Cheers
Dave

[niloc]

Thanks Viv and others about the 90 day limit on not using the Vodafone dongle. I hadn't realised that, although it is unlikely I wouldn't use it for so long.

If it's any help I used mine on a four day holiday and looked up the news and e mails a couple of times a day plus checked bank and to locate a gas supplier. Just checked the useage and it works out at about 11mb of the 1gb on the dongle, thats about 16p! At that rate my total holiday use this year (about 60 days) should work out about £2.50. Maths not being my strong point, if I am wrong please tell me. At the moment that is looking like 5 years for £15, even I'm not sure I believe it.

Colin

[kiwidave]

Hi Colin,

The Vodafone dongle is really good, and for most folks, I would think that they won't have any problem logging on every 90 days.

I ended up going 02 as I am out of the country for 4 months a year so the vodafone would expire, with the 02 system you purchase as you need ( like T mobile ) however, when you buy say 24 hours for 2.00 your time starts at the time of purchase and not at midnight like the T mobbile system, so it is a true 24 your of surfing which I don't think is too bad.

The speed of course is a little slow compared to home, but I think they will all be the same ( am typing this from a camp site using my new dongel )

Over all very happy with 02 so far.

Cheers
Dave

[Graham]

Yes we find the T-mobile quite slow compared with home and when we bought it we didn't realise the 24 hours started at midnight to midnight, with hindsight we would probably have gone for one of the other options but it is still cheaper than the £6 a day that campsites charge so we are happy with that.

As Viv says there will be lots of options coming out as the various phone companies compete with each other at the time we bought T-mobile it was the only true pay as you go we could find.

Graham

[lunnie]

Hi, I have just brought the Vodafone dongle, thought that I had no need of it until after June, but realised that I will be able to use it in Manchester when I take my mum home as I shall be there for a four days, next week. Ordered it online, hopefully it will get through the snow!!!! this week.

[wendy]

I recently purchased a Vodafone broadband pay as you go dongle to use when away in the van. It loaded very easily and there was a signal, but couldn't connect even trying in several different places to try and get a better signal.
Called the Vodafone helpline and after waiting ages I had just started to explain the problem and I was cut off with 'Thank you for calling Vodafone, goodbye'. This happened 2 or 3 times, so decided to visit the Vodafone shop and after checking everything they decided that the problem was that I use VirginMedia at home (accessed via a wireless router) and that had made the laptop incompatible with their dongle. I had removed the Virgin antivirus and replaced it with AVG and am using the Windows firewall. They refunded the money and I remain dongle-less.

It all seems very strange to me – any suggestions?

[glenw]

that seems very strange, not a problem I had heard about before. We use wifi at home (orange) and a 3g mobile dongle when we are away and have no compatability problems.

this offer maybe of use to you if you are a virginmedia customer.

allyours.virginmedia.com/html/mobile/broadband_tariffs.html

[Graham]

Mar 4, 2009 9:51:29 GMT wendy said:

This happened 2 or 3 times, so decided to visit the Vodafone shop and after checking everything they decided that the problem was that I use VirginMedia at home (accessed via a wireless router) and that had made the laptop incompatible with their dongle. I had removed the Virgin antivirus and replaced it with AVG and am using the Windows firewall. They refunded the money and I remain dongle-less.

Hi Wendy

That explanation from the shop doesn't ring true to me, I've never heard of anyone having problems before, was it a spotty faced 16 year old know all who told you?

We have Virgin at home and use T-mobile dongle when away with no problems at all. We still have the Virgin anti virus loaded on the lap top and it causes no problems.

Graham

PS Apologies to any spotty faced 16 year old know alls we have on the forum, I like them really, I used to be one. ;D

[wendy]

Thanks, Glen, we'll have to look into that - I'll visit the shop next time that I am in town.

Graham, I think that you will find that Virgin and T-mobile are in cahoots!
Virgin Media
Another newbie to the mobile broadband scene. Virgin Media offer a straightforward dongle-only deal that gives you a 3GB download allowance without any connection fee. The speeds aren’t the fastest around, but as they use the T-mobile network you can expect good coverage across the UK (although, unfortunately you can’t access T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots).
That was from a mobile broadband site
It wasn't a spotty youth, but a nice young lady (according to John) who seemed to have some idea of what she was doing.

[niloc]

Hi Wendy

This sounds very strange to me as I have a Vodafone dongle and use Virgin networks both at home and another location, every day. The dongle took little time to set up once I added Voafone to the 'send by' list on Outlook, and has worked perfectly wherever I have tried it.

My son also uses both a Vodafone dongle and Virgin broadband and also has no trouble. I think you can e mail in questions to Vodafone so that might be a better route. Good luck

Colin

[yamaha]

Thought I'd change my usual habits, and this time post something sensible for a change!!

Just had a Maplin flyer, and see they are offering a 3 dongle for a reasonable £20 saving :-

www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=225907&C=Newsletter&U=09P03-6&T=11905513

I've been reading this thread with interest, as just after Christmas I treated myself to an Asus
Eee PC 901 GO from eBay - the lady had bought it as a present for her husband, but he apparently didn't want it!! I seems as though it was part of an Orange contract, together with an Orange contract sim card - it has a slot for it, like in a phone. Needless to say, the card wasn't included in the £200 delivered price - so have been trying to get an ordinary PAYG Orange card to work in it - but without any joy so far. I was thinking that a built-in sim would be a lot more accident-proof than a dongle sticking out the side, just waiting to be clouted!!

Brilliant bit of kit, though - very pleased with the Asus - 10in screen, and no fragile hard drive to worry about damaging - it uses solid-state memory for storage. I'm still undecided which provider offers the most flexible deal - and the goalposts seem to be continually changing, making the decision even harder. Am also finding how many GB of download allowance I would need/use to be a difficult-to-calculate additional problem!! I'm sure Sue, who is "computer not interested" would be delighted if I had my head immersed in the laptop whilst being away camping - I'm bad enough at home........I find eBay magnetic!!

I'm convinced that whenever one decides on buying something, a week later a better offer comes along, more suited to what you wanted - sod's law.

Very interesting thread, though - please keep it going!!

Mike

[lunnie]

The pills are in the post Mike!!!!!! hope they make you feel better, cant be sensible, we are not use to it lol