is a dongle what i am after?

homealone_2

i have a very limited tech knowledge so please go easy on me. i travel alot for weekends around great britain, where i can gain access to my netbook/laptop for free in their bar or lounge. but when i want to use it in comfort of my bedroom to catch up on corrie, they charge approx £10 for a 24 hr period. some more. by picking up on bits of info and looking on this forum i have understood that a dongle could be the answer? i think they can be bought either with credit on or for free when you then need to top up credit??? is this right? if so where is the best place to get one?? also i gather they come on all kinds of providers like 02, vodaphone etc ?? i have an 02 mobile on a payg as i was getting fed up of paying contract rent etc. is it really as simple as buy a dongle, put credit on it and plug into your usb and off you go?? or as i fear have i oversimpilified it? could someone give me the small child version please??

Sparx

Yes, you are after a 3G Mobile Wireless USB Dongle; you literally plug it into a usb port; install the drivers for it which would come on a CD or Windows may automatically install itself; then away you go!

Here's an O2 one I would recommend; http://shop.o2.co.uk/promo/o2mobilebroadband/tab/Pay_and_Go

Hope that helps.

kwikbreaks

Except that the bandwidth caps make them rather unsuitable for video streaming.

boxst

Yes you do want a dongle but as mentioned above video streaming is quite bandwidth intensive.

I would recommend Three as they have reasonable prices for contract: http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/

Steve

DCFC79

You would want a hefty download allowance but depends how much you would stream

Linton

I use the Orange dongle quite a lot. Its great for email and web surfing, but I dont think large scale downloading is really practical.

debitcardmayhem

Use it in the lobby (if it's free) and download there, then go to room and watch later. Otherwise use the big laptop in the hotel room for live shows, I believe it's called a Telly. Also before the weekend save the stuff want to watch before travelling, on your home broadband,cos it will be cheaper .

nearlyrich

Watch out with O2 I had one for about 6 months and I never found one place in any hotel where it worked! I have a 3 dongle which just works no problem.

debitcardmayhem

nearlyrich wrote: »

Watch out with O2 I had one for about 6 months and I never found one place in any hotel where it worked! I have a 3 dongle which just works no problem.

Thats because you use 3 star hotels :rotfl::rotfl:

stilltheone

Personally, I would buy an unlocked dongle for around £20 or a cheaper one for less than £10 and then unlock it yourself(if necessary).

That way, you can use any data SIM that has coverage in your location, rather than being locked down to a single network.

A good place to start(if you are a girl) would be this Pink T-Mobile USB stick 120 for £9.78. It's easy to unlock(instructions within the forum). With your first top up of £2, you will receive 30 days of mobile Internet access. After the 30 days it's up to you. You can choose from their packages of £2 a day, £7 a week or £15 a month or if you have unlocked it, pick up a few 3 month validity 3GB SIMs from eBay for £7.

homealone_2

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Use it in the lobby (if it's free) and download there, then go to room and watch later. Otherwise use the big laptop in the hotel room for live shows, I believe it's called a Telly. Also before the weekend save the stuff want to watch before travelling, on your home broadband,cos it will be cheaper .

thanks for all your advice. it is to be mainly used for watching tv. not all hotels have a telly in the room and over christmas whilst away my mum is anxious about missing her soaps. have not heard about the downloading of programs, is this an easy thing to do then and where would you find them... on iplayer and the other catch up websites i am guessing. but could be wrong