Need PAYG wifi dongle to take laptop on holiday in UK - suggestions?

usignuolo

We are shortly going on holiday in the UK - in a rented cottage in a village in Suffolk. The cottage does not have cable or wifi etc but it is a large village which does plenty of mobile phone signal (my friend lives there).

I have a PAYG phone (Orange) which suits me fine as I work mainly from home. I do want to take my laptop on holiday and make extensive use of it for some family history research I am doing while away. I need to get a PAYG dongle, Prepaid I suppose,to use for internet connection and downloading while away. Any suggestions on best way to go about this?

DCFC79

Have a look on orange website and ask orange as they might be able to do a deal for you. What network is your friend on as id get a dongle for that network.

NeverAgain_2

A village in Suffolk may not have a third generation (fast) signal for mobile broadband.

There are coverage maps on the providers websites, but I've found them to be of limited value - you won't really know until you get there.

Makes sense to ask your current mobile provider, but having had experience of various company's dongles, I would suggest Vodafone, they and O2 are the best for coverage.

As a general tip, use the dongle on the end of a short USB lead, the dongle works better away from the laptop, and the lead can act as an aerial, improving the signal.

If you have some longer USB leads, take those with you because you may get a better signal still if you can position the dongle outside, running the leads through an open window.

Wannie_2

For mobile broadband:

Go to Site Finder, click on the map and pop the relevant postcode in the box.
A map should appear, hopefully with some blue triangles.

You'll need to click on each of the blue triangles in turn, reading the details.
What you are looking for are UMTS masts under 'type of transmission' within 500 metres of the place of intended usage and the name of the operator.

paddyrg

Be aware Suffolk is a lacework of mobile data dropouts. If you use a longer USB cable, get an 'active' cable which costs a bit more, but has a synchronising buffer built in - makes the world of difference.

althas

Orrr go for a mobile wifi

I bought a http://threestore.three.co.uk/payg/dealsummary.aspx?offercode=DSLPP527 a few months ago to use with my various devices (iphone, android tablet)

Check the web site for network coverage whatever you decide to buy. When I got mine, it came with a 3gb/3 months SIM. A few people on Amazon sell those SIM's seperate, or reload with something else if it matches what you want

macman

The cottage may have a perfectly good mobile signal for calls, but no 3G whatsoever. Check out network availability before you waste your money.

fwor

You need to consider how often you will use it. If, like me, you only intend to use it a couple of times a year and don't want to be stuck with a contract, the options are (or were when I looked 3 months ago) very limited.

For example, Orange have some ridiculous arrangement where it's possible to pay for just one month, but then you have to pay again to "resubscribe" if you let it lapse for a few months.

The only PAYG that I found usable was 3, as they were the only ones where you could top up for 30 days @£10 and then leave it with no credit for months without a problem.

Of course that does assume that 3 have coverage where you intend to go...

mttylad

I'd check for three too, I have just been to Dorset in a caravan and o2 was useless so I had to use three..
CHeck it out first, ask the cottage owner for some local contact details and see if you can find out more about the working networks in that area.