best internet dongle for my dad

mrs_baggins

my dad's 83 and has decided he wants the internet via his laptop. Thought I would buy him a pay as you go dongle to avoid monthly costs and to see if he likes it. He would be mainly using it to look at pictures and golf stuff and maybe only for an hour a time but I have no idea on capacity as I am on a package where I use what I want

[Deleted User]

Hi,

you will need to find out which one gives best coverage for your dad's area, have a look here, you can check the various providers with the postcode checker, then you can look for best package.

If you have a look in phones board, you will find an internet section there for more help.

Aiadi

I would buy one of the MiFi dongles from Three as it will not even need to be connected to his laptop and would work as a WiFi hotspot. You can then unlock it and use whatever SIM you would want depending on the coverage in your dad's area.

Donnie

Aiadi wrote: »

I would buy one of the MiFi dongles from Three as it will not even need to be connected to his laptop and would work as a WiFi hotspot. You can then unlock it and use whatever SIM you would want depending on the coverage in your dad's area.

Why? It would mean more expense and more maintenance.

£50 with a £10 monthly cost with 3. Even more outlay if unlocked for use with another SIM..

Do be sensible.

It could be cheaper to get ADSL.

The OP can buy an unlocked USB modem for £20 and use any SIM anyway.

danthemoneysavingman

I use orange, good coverage and fair speed. Current deal with cashback available (prob others too) is £40 cashback on a 30-day notice deal. Worth checking Quidco & TopCashBack to reduce costs. Don't reckon he'd need more than the 500MB allowance as a very light user, which is rather cheap
HTH

Donnie

danthemoneysavingman wrote: »

I use orange, good coverage and fair speed. Current deal with cashback available (prob others too) is £40 cashback on a 30-day notice deal. Worth checking Quidco & TopCashBack to reduce costs. Don't reckon he'd need more than the 500MB allowance as a very light user, which is rather cheap
HTH

500MB is nothing. I used that in a few days whilst I was travelling in Oz.

Anyway, there is no 1 month 500 MB Package using Orange. It's a 1 GB package. £30 for the dongle and £10 per month.

Aiadi

Donnie wrote: »

Why? It would mean more expense and more maintenance.

£50 with a £10 monthly cost with 3. Even more outlay if unlocked for use with another SIM..

Do be sensible.

It could be cheaper to get ADSL.

The OP can buy an unlocked USB modem for £20 and use any SIM anyway.

Who said anything about £50 and then £10 a month??? I got mine from argos for £39 on PAYG with £10 initial top-up. Unlocked it for £5 and can use it with any SIM for laptop or iPod touch without needing it connected and with no software installation. Furthermore, it allows me to leave the dongle near the window or even outside in areas of poor reception indoors and be able to get a signal. I think this is very sensible indeed......

Donnie

Aiadi wrote: »

Who said anything about £50 and then £10 a month??? I got mine from argos for £39 on PAYG with £10 initial top-up. Unlocked it for £5 and can use it with any SIM for laptop or iPod touch without needing it connected and with no software installation. Furthermore, it allows me to leave the dongle near the window or even outside in areas of poor reception indoors and be able to get a signal. I think this is very sensible indeed......

So let's look as how it works in your teenage mind....

£40 for the MiFi plus a compulsory £10 top up. That is £50. If they want to continue using it on '3', that will be at least £10 per month.

Just in case you were thinking of arguing; From the Argos website:

This product must be purchased with £10 airtime, this will automatically be added to your transaction in store.

The product is no longer available, but here is a Link.

Maybe you can suggest to the OP as to where they can get the Huawei 5830 unlocked for £5 in their area as well as any new firmware and software they might need. Let's not forget to get the new instruction as to how to set it up.

Oh yes, it's nice that you can put in next to a window so as to get the best signal, but what happens when the battery runs out?

I can tell that you haven't even reached university age, as they teach you to think before putting pen to paper.

Let's just say that it might not be the best solution for an 83 year old.

Aiadi

Donnie wrote: »

So let's look as how it works in your teenage mind....

£40 for the MiFi plus a compulsory £10 top up. That is £50. If they want to continue using it on '3', that will be at least £10 per month.

Just in case you were thinking of arguing; From the Argos website: The product is no longer available, but here is a Link.

Maybe you can suggest to the OP as to where they can get the Huawei 5830 unlocked for £5 in their area as well as any new firmware and software they might need. Let's not forget to get the new instruction as to how to set it up.

Oh yes, it's nice that you can put in next to a window so as to get the best signal, but what happens when the battery runs out?

I can tell that you haven't even reached university age, as they teach you to think before putting pen to paper.

Let's just say that it might not be the best solution for an 83 year old.

Not in reply to you as you are obviously an idiot that is not even worth a reply but for the benefit of the OP.

As stated earlier once unlocked (can be very easily done on your computer with minimal technical know-how) you do not have to stick to any one single provider. Look here: http://www.zibri.org/. All the other software is very simple to use and freely available online. As for the battery running out, then there is something called a charger (which is beyond Donnie's level of understanding) that comes with it and would help in this regard.

Also the purpose of a 'techie forum' is to get advice from others as well as offer help in return and if one is stuck at any point then they can post or PM and other people (apart from the few morons like Donnie who just post for the sake of making themselves feel important) will be more than happy to help. Whatever the OP decides and if they need any help then just PM or post here and I will be more than happy to help them as much as possible.

danthemoneysavingman

Donnie wrote: »

500MB is nothing. I used that in a few days whilst I was travelling in Oz.

Anyway, there is no 1 month 500 MB Package using Orange. It's a 1 GB package. £30 for the dongle and £10 per month.

Well, that's your experience. I was referring to what THEY stated likely use would be.
Merely trying to be helpful - not posturing!

Donnie

Aiadi wrote: »

Not in reply to you as you are obviously an idiot that is not even worth a reply but for the benefit of the OP.

As stated earlier once unlocked (can be very easily done on your computer with minimal technical know-how) you do not have to stick to any one single provider. Look here: http://www.zibri.org/. All the other software is very simple to use and freely available online. As for the battery running out, then there is something called a charger (which is beyond Donnie's level of understanding) that comes with it and would help in this regard.

Also the purpose of a 'techie forum' is to get advice from others as well as offer help in return and if one is stuck at any point then they can post or PM and other people (apart from the few morons like Donnie who just post for the sake of making themselves feel important) will be more than happy to help. Whatever the OP decides and if they need any help then just PM or post here and I will be more than happy to help them as much as possible.

I think the idiot is the one that doesn't seem to realise that it has to be user friendly for an 83 year old.

You need to tell us how this solution will be better for an 83 year old that a simple unlocked modem for £20. No need for unlocking and firmware updates.

You initially argued with my costings, but now it seems that you have dropped that argument without acknowledgement.

So it is £50 plus unlocking fees and time spent on unlocking and updating firmware.

Why? Unless you know they need such a device, why are you recommending that they spend more than the £20 that I have quoted?

Just because you are excited with your new acquisition, doesn't mean that it is suitable for all.

As to your assertion that I know nothing about the subject. I certainly know that I can unlock both a Huawei e5830 and the new Huawei E585 without paying a penny to anyone. So clearly my knowledge on even that subject is deeper than yours.

Either way, the extra time and expense using your solution is totally unjustified in this case.

A USB modem doesn't need a separate charger, nor does it need to be unlocked, nor do you need to replace the firmware or to pay £50 alone for the unit.


Your idea is pure folly.

What would be far more sensible is using 02 LLU in conjunction with Quidco and an O2 mobile telephone user. A year's contract would cost less than your frankly unnecessary 'solution'.

As I suggested earlier little one.... Don't just fixate on a single solution, but learn to look at all possibilities and then try the suggest the best. Rather than excitedly suggest what works with your iPad.