Mobile Broadband

[andrewb]

As entwisi says it is entirely down to the signal in your area. Even vodafones supposed 7.2 will be mostly in London or major city centres I suspect.

I've used a dongle from Three £15 for 3Gb (Can get pay as you go but need to pay £50 for the usb device). Where I was near Hull it was very good signal and I always found the 3g device to be faster than standard broadband connections, especially when I was using the Hull provider Kingston Communications!

However I only found it fast when I was in HSDPA areas or 'turbo' as Three call them. In standard 3g areas it definitely wasn't as fast as home broadband connections.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by entwisi

Not as fast as what though.

I was taking about networks not broadband. Wireless is not as fast or as reliable as wired networks. Then again if we are talking broadband 802.11 g might only just cope with my 20 Mbits/s download speed (when I get it).

802.11n is not as fast as a standard wired 100Mbits/s network in real terms either. They like to pretend it does 300Mbits/s but not in real throughput tests it doesn't.

As far as security is concerned you said yourself the other day that the countries biggest ISP, BT has set its customers up with an encryption method that can be relatively simply cracked. I had a read about that and could not believe how stupid they have been.

WiFi is good for when you can't use wired. As long as you don't expect it to be ultra reliable that is

[flashy]

my contract was up with my broadband, i've just cancelled with BT both phone and broadband (have had to give 30 days notice) and there's a £6 cancellation fee to pay

i want to go with pay as you go broadband, dont want a contract, just want to be able to top up whenever i want to

anyone any ideas of which one to go for? i know i will have an initial lay out to buy the stick and then whatever to top it up

which is the best?

[Neil]

Why do you want to do it?
Is it not more expensive?
Do you have Virgin cable?

Does your dad not have broadband? You could share.

[flashy]

yeah mi dad has broadband, this is how i see it.....

i'm going back to work
my broadband cost me £14.99 a month now
my line rental for my landline is £11 odd a month, then i have my calls on top (about £40 a quarter)
so thats £25.99 a month without my calls
i pay ABOUT £130 a quarter for broadband, line rental and calls (plus VAT plus the charge for billing you)

if i buy one of those pay as you go stick things for about £50 (argos) i can top up whenever i want, no contract and no pressure on TO top up

i want to be saving money when i go back to work, not having more money to fork out than is necessary

[Mick]

If your dad has broadband then you could both go wireless and share his broadband and cost.
its surprising how far a wireless signal will reach

[flashy]

lol, he's not technical enough to realise all this Mick, and what happens when we fall out? which we do every other month, he's just as evil as me and would block it lol

but i know what you mean

[entwisi]

plus its breaking teh T&Cs of teh supplier

the big thing is to make sure you get a good signal on whatever network you go with at the places that you need it(home, work, etc). Be warned that a good voice signal does not equal a good data signal.

depending on your mobile contract, with Voda you can get 500mb for 5 quid a month contract or 7.50 a month as and when and use your phone as a modem(phone dependant but most modern phones will do it). T mobile do web n walk for 7.50 for 1 gig but it seems they let you go to 3 gig occasionally(according to me colleague here). not sure about Orange or O2

[Neil]

Originally Posted by entwisi

plus its breaking teh T&Cs of teh supplier

Which I believe you do when you use your phone as an access point

[Neil]

Check the download limits carefully Shaz

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by Neil

Which I believe you do when you use your phone as an access point

Not on Vodafone at least.

[andrewb]

Originally Posted by flashytart

yeah mi dad has broadband, this is how i see it.....

i'm going back to work
my broadband cost me £14.99 a month now
my line rental for my landline is £11 odd a month, then i have my calls on top (about £40 a quarter)
so thats £25.99 a month without my calls
i pay ABOUT £130 a quarter for broadband, line rental and calls (plus VAT plus the charge for billing you)

if i buy one of those pay as you go stick things for about £50 (argos) i can top up whenever i want, no contract and no pressure on TO top up

i want to be saving money when i go back to work, not having more money to fork out than is necessary

If you are after real 'mobile broadband' as in the USB stick to plug in your laptop, and want pay as you go, I think Three is the best option, providing you have good 3g or 3g+ signal in the areas you want to use it.

Its £15 for a 3Gig cap or £10 for a 1Gig cap, which you can just topup whenever you want, however it only lasts a month each time.

Have a look at 3 - Mobile Broadband - HSDPA coverage areas for a coverage check. Click the radio button next to 'HSDPA' as that is the one you're really interested in having coverage for if you want true mobile broadband speeds, basic 3g doesn't quite cut it in my opinion.

[entwisi]

Originally Posted by Neil

Which I believe you do when you use your phone as an access point

As Cyfr has also said, not on Voda. I checked when I was taking out my contract as this one one thing I particularly wanted to do. My colleague here reckons he too checked with T mobile and does use it regularly.

[flashy]

i dont want it for a laptop, i just want to use it on my pc, i can plug it into my usb port on this cant i?


when it comes to it, its all about saving money

my mate has one plugged into her pc, thats on 3

[entwisi]

They all work on USB whether its your phone or a Dongle. Your phone can also usually do it over bluetooth or in the case of some super duper phones like mine as a wifi access point.