O2 PAYG mobile broadband - 'The Cloud' access

Suplex_Backbreaker

Does anyone know how the WiFi part of this works? ie. Do you get a time limited/data transfer limited access to 'The Cloud' when you buy some bandwidth for the 3G service or do you get general (essentially 'unlimited') Cloud access when you first sign up for the service?

Also, what are the general opinions on mobile broadband - the O2 one seems the best PAYG one to me and it's ideal as I only occasionally will need to use it. Any pitfalls or better deals?

TIA.

peregrin

You get unlimited access to the Cloud hotspots for your period that you buy the broadband pass for - It's probably buried somewhere subject to fair use limits but I think it'd probably be fairly generous - how much time do most people spend in hotspots?

I haven't tried O2 Mobile Broadband yet but my first impressions are marred by the fact that they don't let you credit your account by voucher - only by credit/debit card. Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3 let you credit your account by buying a bog standard voucher. It sort of negates some of the benefit of PAYG mobile broadband in my opinion.

Again, the best deal comes down to what your requirements are. O2 and T-Mob are flexible that you can buy cheap "day passes". Vodafone has the flexibility that your data is available until you use it and not subject to an expiry, and 3 is cheap and probably provides the best value package for a regular user (7Gb for £25) but only works in 3G service areas, whereas the others work in 3G and 2G (but with suboptimal performance).

GaryS

I have the O2 mobile kit and afaik the wifi is unlimited use during your time period as per previous post.

I am still in the 50 days money back guarantee period and I am not sure yet whether or not I will be keeping it.

The service provided is ok, no problems with connecting or speed issues, just not too happy about the time limit.

Suplex_Backbreaker

Just got the o2 dongle anyway - I only need it for occasional use so I'm not terribly worried about the payment methods etc. The ability to pay for a day/ week/ month was just a better idea for my usage pattern.

Mind you - it's trying to install a crappy o2 connection manager when I plug it in ... Based on previous experience with connection managers I'd prefer to use 'raw' drivers if possible and manually select connections. Anyone got any tips 'bout where I could find native XP drivers? The actual Huawei E160 drivers seem to be bundled into an install executable and not seperately installable so it's all or nothing!