Internet USB Dongle - Advice/Help Wanted

rowan_3

Hello All,

I am moving house soon and as a result will no longer have the internet, I want to buy a pay-as-you-go Mobile Internet USB dongle but need some advice/help!

My criteria:

1 - Pay As You Go (i dont want to be locked into any 12 month contract)
2 - Cheap Dongle
3 - Cheap Monthly fee

I will only be using this for emails, facebook etc! So i am not interested in downloading anything and i dont need a huge 500mb or 1gb allowance..

So can anyone help/advise me? Thanks MSE

chris1973

My advice, is to keep a VERY open mind about who you choose to go with, and be prepared to change, perhaps more than once!. For example, for the last few months i've enjoyed a decent signal and 3G Broadband level access from '3 Broadband', however since the 12th May, this access has been turned off and has simply vanished, and '3' simply cannot be arsed to give a reply / explanation or any service updates

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2469645

So in short, what i'm saying is not rely on one provider, because what works 100% today will probably not work tomorrow through no fault of your own, especially as networks are being merged, sites being decommissioned and (like my experience) areas simply losing access after so called 'upgrade' work for no reason whatsoever :eek:

For this reason, i'd advise that you get a cheap 'n' cheerful dongle which has been unlocked to any network. This means that you can just buy (or get given) cheap / free sims from the networks, put them in the dongle and top up and surf, and if one service stops working, you can simply switch to another network.

If you can get a cheap Vodafone sim of the no expiry variety (Ebay / Tesco / Amazon) it makes a good back up in case your main network stops working. Besides, with no expiry it may take you more than 30 days to use 1gb of bandwidth in which case the Vodafone sim is the one for you. Sadly you can't get these new any more, but Voda still honour the original £15/1gb no expiry deal, so if you can find one from the above suggestions, then this may be your best option.

Some networks want to sell you the dongle for £25, £30 or £40 each, and if you get an unlocked dongle then there is no reason to buy one each time you change networks (and you WILL 'cos they are that crap and unreliable)

Certainly don't be tempted to go for any contract, the networks don't deserve that level of loyalty!.

Donnie

If you have access to a machine with Windows XP and T-Mobile have signal in your area, you can buy the T-Mobile 120 for £30. This includes a £10 credit. The first £2 of which will give you 30 days of unlimited usage.
This dongle can be unlocked at no cost by following the instruction here.

Then you have the choice of continuing to use T-Mobile or using another network's SIM. Also, you can still buy the Vodafone 1GB SIM cards for £10 or less.

Snakeeyes21

Depending on what the reception is like where you live I would suggest you get a 3 dongle, you can check coverage in your area here http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband

The dongles cost around £20 from tesco, next, littlewoods etc

Then get yourself a free 3 mobile sim card here https://www.three.co.uk/Pay_As_You_Go/Free_SIM/Order_a_free_SIM

Get rid of the sim that comes with the dongle, and put the free one in, topup £10 then go to your online account at www.three.co.uk/my3 go to the addon section and choose the unlimited mobile browsing add on, it costs £5 a month and gives you around 2GB of usage, you need to add it every month because it doesnt automatically renew.

This add on isnt avaliable on the usual broadband sim so you need to use the mobile sim to get it.

Doing it this way is by far the cheapest way to get mobile internet for low users.

Money_Doctor

thanks snakes so £5 a month gets 2gb every month? could this be changed at all or is it attached to the sim u buy?

rowan_3

Thanks Snake..

I also found that Carphone Warehouse are doing an O2 dongle with 1GB free allowance (to start with)... Costs £20

So maybe i can substitue the 3 Dongle for the O2 one! Use the 1gb and then unlock the dongle to use with my new 3 sim...

Donnie

rowan wrote: »

Thanks Snake..

I also found that Carphone Warehouse are doing an O2 dongle with 1GB free allowance (to start with)... Costs £20

So maybe i can substitue the 3 Dongle for the O2 one! Use the 1gb and then unlock the dongle to use with my new 3 sim...

Do you know as to whether the modem needs to be unlocked and how much it costs to do so?

rowan_3

I know that all phones from carphone warehouse are unlocked so theres a 50/50 it may already be unlocked...

As to unlocking it, i think there are tutorials online... I'd need to look into it!

Scrounger

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

Depending on what the reception is like where you live I would suggest you get a 3 dongle, you can check coverage in your area here http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband

The dongles cost around £20 from tesco, next, littlewoods etc

Then get yourself a free 3 mobile sim card here https://www.three.co.uk/Pay_As_You_Go/Free_SIM/Order_a_free_SIM

Get rid of the sim that comes with the dongle, and put the free one in, topup £10 then go to your online account at www.three.co.uk/my3 go to the addon section and choose the unlimited mobile browsing add on, it costs £5 a month and gives you around 2GB of usage, you need to add it every month because it doesnt automatically renew.

This add on isnt avaliable on the usual broadband sim so you need to use the mobile sim to get it.

Doing it this way is by far the cheapest way to get mobile internet for low users.

Very good advice Snakeeyes.

You can get a FREE 3 sim with £10 credit here:

http://www.gomobileuk.com/free-3-sim-card/

...and it comes with 150MB free Internet. :beer:

I'm using one now on the 2GB/£5 bundle (from the free credit).

Scrounger

johnnyroper

if you happen to have an iphone you could get free internet tethering through it.
if not do a search for mobile broadband in google it brings up all the different packages and tarrifs to choose from.

dave_on_the_save

Scrounger wrote: »

Very good advice Snakeeyes.

You can get a FREE 3 sim with £10 credit here:

http://www.gomobileuk.com/free-3-sim-card/

...and it comes with 150MB free Internet. :beer:

I'm using one now on the 2GB/£5 bundle (from the free credit).

Scrounger

Will any 3 PAYG dongle work with the PAYG SIM Card or should I be looking for a particular one?

Cheers

DOTS