Is this a cheap way to get mobile broadband?

JennyP

If you are an existing Orange customer, you can apparently get mobile broadband (only 500Mb but that's enough for me) for £5 a month with a free dongle.

I can't see anything to stop me getting a PAYG SIM for 97p from Orange then getting this offer.

Or is this too good to be true and there is a catch that I'm just not spotting?

Esqui

I expect you probably have to top-up the PAYG sim by a certain amount every few months. But other than that, I don't see anything.

web_ferret

Just check what you get charged if you go over the 500mb limit.
People on here have had some very large bills, even on PAYG as they unwittingly got £50 "credit" as their account was debited instead of the service just stopping.
Don't register a credit card against the dongle and you will be fine.

d123

JennyP wrote: »

If you are an existing Orange customer, you can apparently get mobile broadband (only 500Mb but that's enough for me) for £5 a month with a free dongle.

I can't see anything to stop me getting a PAYG SIM for 97p from Orange then getting this offer.

Or is this too good to be true and there is a catch that I'm just not spotting?

Having a look at the Orange site, the £5 offer seems to be for existing contract customers and involves a minimum of an 18 month contract.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/mobile-broadband

or is it listed elsewhere on PAYG?

JennyP

You're right. I phoned them and they said they couldn't do it just for PAYG mobile phone customers - I had to have a contract. Then my mum kindly said she would swap to them anyway as their contract deals are miles cheaper than what she's on at the moment. I rang them back to sort it all out and they said I could have the £5 a month mobile broadband WITHOUT taking out a contract!!! That got me all confused and I said I'd think about it! Doh!

The other option for me is get a PAYG Sim for a Vodafone dongle. I have a dongle as I did have a mobile broadband contract with Vodafone. They said I could swap that to PAYG so I cancelled the contract but now they're saying they were wrong and I can't! Vodafone don't sell the SIM only - but Ebay do!

Im_just_careful

It all depends on the background to your question.

If you intend to use the mobile broadband in addition to broadband access (cabled or WiFi) in fixed locations then the "never expire" Vodafone SIMS which you can find on Ebay could be excellent.

This deal (no longer available) meant that your top up lasted for ever not just a month as is typical for PAYG broadband.

If you will be using the mobile broadband lots then this is less of an issue and a deal which is cheap per volume of data (1GB, etc) would be better.

There is also the network coverage issue to consider. Contrary to what some people state there is no "best" network, it depends on where you want to use it.

Try mobile broadband in the location(s) that are important to you before committing to a contract.

Snakeeyes21

if you want cheap mobile broadband then get a 3 dongle and a 3 payg mobile sim card, then add the unlimited internet addon, it costs £5 a month and it will give you around 2gb of usage. it works fine in the dongle.

Thats if you can get a decent 3 signal where you want to use it.

JennyP

That sounds too good to be true! What's the catch?

d123

JennyP wrote: »

That sounds too good to be true! What's the catch?

it is only supposed to be used with a phone and not as mobile broadband, if or when they catch on they will more than likely kill the simcard, so it's best to use it with a free PAYG sim.

The proper add-on with 3 is £10 per month for modem use.

shinydiscoballs

JennyP wrote: »

That sounds too good to be true! What's the catch?

bad customer service!!! Mobile broadband through 3 is good until it goes wrong - they have a call centre in india and they are useless!!!

kendalls_cave

bad customer service!!! Mobile broadband through 3 is good until it goes wrong - they have a call centre in india and they are useless!!!

Agreed I've no issues with connection - but thier CS are really appalling