Mobile broadband

[Shorty]

Does anyone have any recommendations for any mobile broadband providers?

 

Looks like I might be without my usual service for up to a month and a £5-15 rolling contract with a dongle might be my only option to stay online during that gap. Internet's pretty important for work and my g/f's job search so I can't really go without it.

 

Ideally I'd love a service that will allow me to keep downloading things like software updates, maybe even music and TV shows, but after a quick look around the bandwidth caps seem fairly strict and I expect the speeds would be crappy too.

 

Anyone got any experience with any of them?

 

Also, mobile hotspots are coming in iOS 4.3. Will the speeds on mobile broadband dongles be the same as the 3G I can get through my phone?

[Cube]

For comparison's sake, this is my Sky Broadband:

 

 

(Which was around 3Mbps last August. I need to look into why it's so awful now - the router claims 4.9Mbps download and 0.77Mbps upload)

 

And this is the same laptop connecting through my HTC Desire HD through WiFi. I'm currently on The One Plan for Three (Unlimited Mobile Internet & Wireless Tethering and no Fair Use Policy):

 

 

You'll probably get a better connection in cities, too.

 

I've also played Xbox Live through my phone - the connection was decent but the strict NAT is a problem.

 

Edit: As for dongles, I believe that 3 have one for £15 a month (plus £5 for the dongle) that's a 1 month minimum contract.

Edit2: forgot to mention that the dongle has a 5GB limit.

Edited February 9, 2011 by Cube

[david.dakota]

Three is the only company offering unlimited mobile broadband - and that's, as mentioned, on The One Plan. That plan is designed for phone use - I'm not sure if personal hospot use for other devices would infringe their Ts and Cs.

 

Three also have other mobile broadband packages - up to 15gb. In fairness, given my quite heavy use on landline broadband, that should be plenty (I use around 8-10gb per month). I'd recommend either getting a MiFi unit or personal hotspot options on Android 2.2+ phones and forthcoming on iPhone. Dongles are so limited.

 

Speed is always hit and miss - one side of your house could receive a perfect signal, the other rather naff (MiFi would help with this, as you could put the MiFi unit in the best side). Out and about, Three are not great - although I believe they're soon to be able to hook up to T-Mobile and Orange signals as part of the conditions imposed on their merger.

 

I know when my bro went for Three Mobile Broadband, they offered a no quibble guarantee - if he wasn't happy with the service, just return it. His speeds are about 1.5mbps in a town suburb. Having used it here (very rural) we'd get around 1.8 mbps.

[Cube]

Three is the only company offering unlimited mobile broadband - and that's, as mentioned, on The One Plan. That plan is designed for phone use - I'm not sure if personal hospot use for other devices would infringe their Ts and Cs.

 

The One Plan allows tethering. The majority of other contracts don't.

[Shorty]

Hm I was thinking of getting an Orange dongle, but I would want to have more than one device on at a time and I guess that wouldn't be possible with one. Well, at least with these things it's a quick process so it can wait. iOS 4.3 supposedly on the way on Feb 14th so I'll wait and see about that....

 

How can they really tell the difference between tethering and normal useage anyway? If you're just browsing the internet, anyway.

[david.dakota]

Orange plans max out at 1gb, which is probably fine for emails and brief surfing.

[Raining_again]

3 has the best service in terms of connection/speed & cost.

 

But don't expect anything more than the odd update download, because it is very slow downloading (fine for browsing) and the allowances can be pretty small... before you know it you are nearing the limit

 

I have a 3 mifi and its the best thing ever. The usb dongles are pish because they take so long to load whereas the mifi is just like a router in terms of connecting! (but you do have to charge the mifi's battery)

[Shorty]

That does look great, but at £40 for the device it's not an ideal solution for my sitch.

 

3 look good but also the most expensive for a 1 month contract, with it being £15.99 plus £4.99 for the dongle.

 

Well, thanks to everyone for their input I guess I will have to accept that I will be doing little more than browsing the web for a few weeks.

[McPhee]

This:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Broadband-Ready-Preloaded-iPad/dp/B003Z0T3X2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297306004&sr=8-1

 

Along with this:

 

http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SUSB3G3

 

Amazon also do a 1GB SIM, but at £4.99 not such a great deal. The 3GB lasts for up to 3 months, the 1GB for only one month.

[Shorty]

Hey that's not a bad deal at all. Funny that it's been mislabeled as an iPad SIM when it's not small enough, that's really knocked the reviews. And I could take DVDs in to trade for the dongle.

 

If I use a dongle, anyone know if I can I use bridging to get more than one system online at a time?

[Jimbob]

Just did q quick test of my main broadband, and considering i'm on BT with a 20mb connection this is what it came up with

 

 

When i had to use the Mobile broadband, i ended up using T-Mobile PAYG internet. As it was only for a short time, and didn't want a contract out of it.

 

Overrall, it wasn't too bad to use. Speed was a drag, but hey. I only used it for visiting here and checking e-mails.

Edited February 10, 2011 by Jimbob

[Shorty]

Wha?? How can you be getting 38Mb on a 20Mb connection? Did you try that more than once?

[McPhee]

I get 2Mbps tops on the landline. Mobile BB with Three tends to be 3-4Mbps.

 

You can bridge the connections, yeah. Tye SIM itself won't limit the number of connections (got mine in a MiFi and can use several devices at once).

[Jimbob]

Wha?? How can you be getting 38Mb on a 20Mb connection? Did you try that more than once?

 

I ran it 3 times over the course of an hour, and it came back around the same each time. I know it is crap, so i tried it again hours later. This time, got the accurate result. Which i got on 3 different speed test sites, which i used after the original result

 

[Cube]

For comparison's sake, this is my Sky Broadband:

 

 

(Which was around 3Mbps last August. I need to look into why it's so awful now - the router claims 4.9Mbps download and 0.77Mbps upload)

 

Just wanted to randomly mention this. The router was on the opposite side of the house to where the phone line is, so there was a long cable between that and the router. This was because my Grandad had a non-wireless computer there.

 

They now both have laptops and wanted the proper router closer to them (they had to connect to a secondary booster router which was a bit buggy). So I moved it to next to the line. Due to it's location it means that I still get a connection of 3 or 4 bars our of 5, which doesn't seem to degrade my speed as now:

 

 

It doesn't affect the upload speed as that IS the maximum upload speed. Which is rather shocking.

[McPhee]

Try PingTest.net

 

If you aren't getting any packet loss then yeah, the connection strength of the WiFi doesn't matter. It's only when you drop packets that connection strength comes in to play (stronger connection = fewer dropped packets. It does not = faster connection).

[Cube]

Try PingTest.net

 

If you aren't getting any packet loss then yeah, the connection strength of the WiFi doesn't matter. It's only when you drop packets that connection strength comes in to play (stronger connection = fewer dropped packets. It does not = faster connection).

 

0% packet loss. Looks like that long cable was really poor quality.