Mobile phone & broadband

dasanderson

Hi all

I am a regular browser of the internet but not a highly technically literate person.

I currently have a landline with BT and broadband with AOL, I'm not in contract with either. I'm currently reviewing my household finances and giving consideration to getting rid of my landline and broadband, and then replacing it with a good mobile contract (I was thinking about the £15 per month sim only deal with Orange on a 30 day contract basis, with unlimited UK landlines) in conjunction with mobile broadband.

With regards to my internet usage as mentioned earlier, I'm a regular user but really only for general surfing or emails, not downloading films or music.

I would be grateful if anybody could offer any advice on the above. Specific questions that come to my mind are:-

Can mobile broadband fulfill my internet requirements and would there be a noticeable difference in speed?

If I do go down the mobile broadband route, do I really need to go on contract or is prepay worth considering?

Can anybody suggest any good contract or prepay mobile broadband providers/deals based on personal experience?

Are there any further considerations that I have missed around not having a landline?

Thanks in advance for any answers to the above or further advice given around the issue.

kwikbreaks

Were you wanting to talk as well as use the internet? Most mobile phone contracts exclude tethering the phone to a computer for internet access and some of the mobile broadband contracts prohibit VOIP use.

The main consideration for mobile broadband is will it work at all where I live.

dasanderson

Sorry, looking at my original post maybe it wasn't too clear.

Just to clarify I was considering getting a mobile phone on contract for telephone calls and mobile broadband on a separate contract or prepay.

kwikbreaks

Isn't that going to work out considerably more expensive than you have currently?

mk-donald

Worth factoring in to your computations, at TODAY's net prices:
1) o2 Home Broadband LLU Premium (on your BT phoneline) with 3m free and £70 cashback = just £20 for next 12months (your contract commitment) - IF it's available on your exchange. o2 Standard (modem speed capped at 8Mbps) is even cheaper = just £17.50 for that first year (but fewer perks too)
2) o2 Mobile Phone contract or PAYG will give you the above net-price (otherwise £5/m more as no o2 mobile discount on your o2 home BB each month)
It's how they try to cross-sell
See my other postings for more details/net-costs/mobile phone discount tips.

MKD
A 2.5yr o2 Home BB Std subscriber.

macman

Mobile broadband is not an adequate substitute for ADSL or cable broadband unless you are a very light or infrequent user. In most cases the speeds will be considerably less. Unless you can get reliable 3G or HSDPA signals then it can be little better than dial up.

johnnyroper

macman wrote: »

Mobile broadband is not an adequate substitute for ADSL or cable broadband unless you are a very light or infrequent user. In most cases the speeds will be considerably less. Unless you can get reliable 3G or HSDPA signals then it can be little better than dial up.

mobile broadband can be perfectly adequate for general surfing and emails,with my 3g signal it is better than my home broadband.
my home broadband is fairly crap at about 1meg on a good day.
mobile broadband would not be any good for large downloads etc.

a decent option would be to do same as me get iphone on contract and jailbreak it with spirit and set up free tethering,no need to worry about warranty a restore with itunes should it play up will remove the jailbreak so apple are non the wiser.

kwikbreaks

johnnyroper wrote: »

mobile broadband can be perfectly adequate for general surfing and emails

The operative word there is can. Ihave mobile BB and it works well in some locations but in others it is useless - dialup speeds at best and constant disconnections. Any buyer of mobile BB for fixed location use has to ask themselves if they feel lucky.

johnnyroper wrote: »

a decent option would be to do same as me get iphone on contract and jailbreak it with spirit and set up free tethering,no need to worry about warranty a restore with itunes should it play up will remove the jailbreak so apple are non the wiser.

Wow that sounds really money saving. Can I ask what the iPhone cost and what the calls+unlimited data contract costs.