Dongle advice

pennyshahin_2

Hi i'm thinking of buying a dongle for my laptop, i'm moving in with family they don't want to change their phone around , so i will be using a dongle all the time to search the web , i spend quite alot of time browsing, emailing, download songs very occassionally, watch you tube sometimes, what would you guys recommend as a monthly gb plan that i should go for to cover what i do, sometimes i might browse in the evenings for 4+ hours, and i use AVG and update it everyday will this eat into my allowance ,who do you recommend 3, vodaphone,orange,t mobile all advivce gratefully received- i'm in the stevenage area

Snakeeyes21

Im on 3's 15gb plan but they have put the price up to £25 on a 24 month or £30 on a 18 month contract.

I got it when it was £20 a month but with a £5 discount for existing 3mobile customers so £15 a month, ive never had connection or speed issues.

I get a constant 2mb+ download speed, im connected / surfing for quite a bit of the day, use voip so all my calls are through it, when im not using it other family members are so it has constant use, I download quite a bit as well.

Ive worked out from my usage that general browsing uses around 35- 50mb an hour which with just browsing would give 300 - 350 hours usage a month.

Ive just had a look on the 3 coverage checker and your area looks fairly similar to mine so your reception should be good.

You can also get £100 from quidco for the broadband packages.

PlutoinCapricorn

You can get a 3 network dongle pre-loaded with an allowance of 12gb for £69.99 from Dixons. You could try this to see how much you use per month: it will last until either you use up all the allowance or 12 months maximum. You do not need to register or take out a contract, but you can go online and see how much is left.

I made a 12gb dongle last for 11 months.

macman

pennyshahin wrote: »

Hi i'm thinking of buying a dongle for my laptop, i'm moving in with family they don't want to change their phone around , so i will be using a dongle all the time to search the web , i spend quite alot of time browsing, emailing, download songs very occassionally, watch you tube sometimes, what would you guys recommend as a monthly gb plan that i should go for to cover what i do, sometimes i might browse in the evenings for 4+ hours, and i use AVG and update it everyday will this eat into my allowance ,who do you recommend 3, vodaphone,orange,t mobile all advivce gratefully received- i'm in the stevenage area

Why does getting ADSL broadband mean 'changing their phone around'? If it is a BT line, you can just get broadband with whichever ISP you wish, without any effect on their phone.

dylanuk

Im on 3's 15gb plan but they have put the price up to £25 on a 24 month or £30 on a 18 month contract.

I got it when it was £20 a month but with a £5 discount for existing 3mobile customers so £15 a month, ive never had connection or speed issues.

I get a constant 2mb+ download speed, im connected / surfing for quite a bit of the day, use voip so all my calls are through it, when im not using it other family members are so it has constant use, I download quite a bit as well.

Ive worked out from my usage that general browsing uses around 35- 50mb an hour which with just browsing would give 300 - 350 hours usage a month.

Ive just had a look on the 3 coverage checker and your area looks fairly similar to mine so your reception should be good.

You can also get £100 from quidco for the broadband packages.

There's a review of the 3 15gb package here http://www.chooseisp.co.uk/broadband-.../mobile/3-pay-monthly-15gb.asp

It is the biggest usage allowance available at the moment. When it first came out you could get it for £15 - so £25 is quite a lot, but on the other hand if you end up streaming a lot it would end up much more expensive to get a cheaper package and then end up going over your usage limit.

PlutoinCapricorn

In answer to the PM, I can only say that it is possible to make 12gb of prepaid 3 network allowance last for 12 months. I work at home so am online many hours each day. My internet access costs me around £5 per month now, and I have no landline.

When I told someone that, he said that he used more than 12gb in one week!

If you don't play games or watch films, and don't download a lot of music, you could manage on 1gb per month. Some websites have a lot of pictures and moving ads etc. that do use up the allowance. I have Bullguard and it downloads virus several times per day with no problems.

If you want very high speed internet access and a big allowance then these dongles are not suitable.

jermyn

Hello All out there. I could do with a little advice on mobile broadband sticks. I want to get my parents onto the internet and am thinking this would be the quickest and cheapest way to do it for someone who will only use it very sparingly. They all seem to have their problems so am looking for someone with 1st hand knowledge of how good they are.

macman

Totally depends on what 3G reception is like at the property. This should be the only factor in your choice.
They are not a substitute for ADSL broadband, and do not compete on cost if they already have a landline.

PlutoinCapricorn

Penny, in answer to your PMs (there is no real need for them: the q&a may be useful to others in this forum and you may get better replies ) I don't know anything about plans or selling on eBay as I have never done either.

Some people have taken out expensive long term contracts for mobile broadband and been disappointed with the speed and usage so it is best to be careful before committing yourself.

I suggested a prepaid dongle as a cheap way of seeing how much your usage is and what your reception is like: you can get 1gb, 3gb, 12gb and 24gb pre-loaded. As you have discovered, Dixons is the cheapest 12gb at the moment.

jermyn

Having looked @ a few replies and posted a thread myself, my conclusion is: Don't expect too much from a dongle, Don't expect it to be the same as a phone line based broadband connection,Use it for essential internet access only i.e. emails and a bit of shopping(ordering from places like amazon and such, looking for holidays maybe and even checking your online banking) and if you get a reasonable connection signal you should be ok. It's better than dial-up but it's not proper Broadband.

crystals2632

I am on vodaphone its great as you are not tied to any contract, top up on line, but I only use for website viewing and e-mail. I am on quite a lot though. Top up cost 15 quid.:)