Mobile broadband help please

chocolatepennyfarthing

Mainly wants it to keep in touch with friends via msn and facebook, would they be ok for that.

downshifter

I don't use facebook but do use msn, it's fine for that.

DS

LeeSouthEast

Bear in mind even if Vodafone say they cover it, that only means 'outdoors'. If your son isn't averse to sitting in the garden to use the laptop, then he might get away with it. If it's a real blackspot as others have said, there is no guarantee Vodafone will have a usable signal there. The Coverage Checkers are only computer-guesstimates.

I'm in a "Very Good" Three coverage area, yet it takes 20 minutes to load each website. Thank god it's half price or I'd feel truly shafted.

downshifter

Goodness, that's horrendous, I've never had anything that slow since before the days of 28k modems. It's taking me no time at all to check emails and return here when I get a new notification of this conversation. And that's with cooking the tea at the same time.

Hang on while I get the pepper. As I said, mine is much the same as the dialup I've just cancelled, it's really fine.

No idea where you;re going on hol, come to the Peak District instead!

DS

elljay20

downshifter wrote: »

I beg to differ re 3G. I can't get much of a mobile signal at home, max is only ever 4bars 2G but I am using mobile broadband right here right now in my kitchen. Peak District. At the moment I'm getting around 2-3 bars 2G mobile signal and downloads are fine - a bit slow but around the same as dialup via the housephone. If he just needs it for emails and surfing it would be fine. Not for gaming or large downloads unless you leave it on all night. It's fine for these forums too!!It's an orange dongle. It's on contract so I don't know about payg, but this might help in terms of signal.

The other thing is that .if you go out and about sightseeing he can always download important emails etc while in a town or whereever and read them later.

DS

are your phone and dongle on the same network? also differnent handsets pick up varying signal strength as well. If your phone is a 2g phone it will only be running on 2g coverage.

anyway, my point is that it's pointless having it if there is only worth having if there is 3g coverage. i've sold them on all networks and my exerience is that if there is no 3g signal the modem will time out before it even loads a page:rolleyes:

op, if you ring voda and get them to do a coverage checker for you to confirm there is signal as they can do a more detailed search than i can but it looks promising!!

LeeSouthEast

Tell me about it. I average about 4kbit/s. "Broadband" my a**e.

Thankfully it's only for emergencies and when I'm away!

elljay20

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Bear in mind even if Vodafone say they cover it, that only means 'outdoors'. If your son isn't averse to sitting in the garden to use the laptop, then he might get away with it. If it's a real blackspot as others have said, there is no guarantee Vodafone will have a usable signal there. The Coverage Checkers are only computer-guesstimates.

I'm in a "Very Good" Three coverage area, yet it takes 20 minutes to load each website. Thank god it's half price or I'd feel truly shafted.

sounds to me like you have the wrong settings. i had a 3 dongle and it would only get 1 bar at home in the window but it still run as fast as if it had full bars. some of their modems pre install the old software which runs slower, if you call them you might be able to get the faster settings installed, they will be able to talk you through it.:D

downshifter

Yes it's the same network, (both orange) and the phone in other areas gets 3G+ (is that hsdpa or some such initials?) and Edge and 3G (Frightful as a phone though - LG Viewty). If I were you both I'd be asking for my money back, the speed you get is dire. At home I can only get 2G, no normal broadband, no freeview etc etc I could go about the joys of country life. But the dongle really is fine.


Normally I'd say the only way to do it is try it though that's hard if it's just for a hol. Maybe contact someone where you're staying and see what sort of mobile phone signal they get would be best.

downshifter

Agree with Elljay, there must be a problem with the settings.

DS

macman

chocolatepennyfarthing wrote: »

We are going on hols for a couple of weeks in summer and son is desperate to take his laptop. The place we are staying at you have problems getting a mobile phone signal and there is no landline phone.
Would be be possible to get mobile broadband there? As I would only want this facility for a month at the most does anyone know the best company to go with if this is poss? Can anyone give me an idea of cost of usage of this as well as I dont want to face a big bill at end of hols for it.
Thanks.

If you can't get a mobile signal on any network you are not going to be able to use mobile broadband at the same location either, or at least certainly not a 3G signal, without which it's pretty pointless.