Confused about 3G broadband

Ladyhawk

Hi -

I recently got fed up with Virg!n media and cancelled my subscription totally. I now would like to move to 3G because I don't really need the phone aspect of line rental etc. So - could someone explain how it works and how I can calculate how much data I will require? I don't download films or music and don't use iplayer or anything like that. Very occassionally I will view youtube... but that is rare. I do use skype though.

I was thinking about going with Orange as I am already a mobile customer of theirs but would be happy to be convinced to go with another provider.

Thanks for your help.

PlutoinCapricorn

I cancelled my BT landline a while back and have only used 3G mobile broadband since then. I highly recommend it, provided that you live in a place where the signal is good and don't expect top speeds.

I would start by getting a dongle with a prepaid allowance: that way, you can try it out without committing yourself to an expensive contract. You can get dongles and prepaid SIMs on eBay.

I can get by on around 2gb per month: I don't play games or download films and music, just an occasional YouTube.

Badger_Lady

I pay £15 a month for 15GB data on the Three network. It's a one-month rolling contract, so I can cancel at any time without penalty. I originally started with 5GB but, being a relatively heavy user, I ran out of allowance and when I called Three they upgraded me.

My problem is that the network seems to get overloaded in the evenings in central London, so I really struggle to do anything - it's far too slow It's great for travelling round the UK though.

Ladyhawk

Thanks Pluto, I think I can get decent coverage... so think your suggestion sounds good.

Thanks Badger Lady.

What type of things do you do that makes a person a heavy user?

PlutoinCapricorn

Badger Lady, I am in central London and although it used to be slower in the evenings things improved after an upgrade last year. I agree that it is like fast dial-up but it is good enough for me.

I am upstairs, near a window and use dongles on the long cables, as Three advise.

daleski75

I looked into this as well with 3 and decided the speeds fluctuated way too much for my liking and yes you pay line rental and more for broadband on top of that but at least you are guaranteed (sometimes) a rock solid connection.

It's good as a test but not sure if it works 100% to actually ditch BT and your adsl.

Badger_Lady

Ladyhawk wrote: »

What type of things do you do that makes a person a heavy user?

Mostly downloading programmes onto iPlayer Desktop!

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Badger Lady, I am in central London and although it used to be slower in the evenings things improved after an upgrade last year. I agree that it is like fast dial-up but it is good enough for me.

I am upstairs, near a window and use dongles on the long cables, as Three advise.

Yeah, I do all this (7th floor) but it really does shrink down to 0.3mbs at peak time... I can't even get gMail to open in its standard format at that speed It may be related to living in a building with 90 other people who only have 3G...

nokia1100

Badger_Lady wrote: »

I pay £15 a month for 15GB data on the Three network. It's a one-month rolling contract, so I can cancel at any time without penalty. I originally started with 5GB but, being a relatively heavy user, I ran out of allowance and when I called Three they upgraded me.

Is this a product I could ask them for as a new customer? Not too bothered about PAYG or 24 month contract, or the equipment supplied as I would get a 3G router. How much were you paying for 5GB?

Mark_In_Hampshire

If it's cable that you've cancelled I fear you may be disappointed with the speeds you get with 3G.

That said, we've used it for years (we can't get cable) and used to get 6Mbps to 11Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream with a 3 E367 Premium modem mounted outside the window.

I've recently had a roof antenna put up and got a new router, though sadly I couldn't find an HSPA+ capable one on the market, so ended up with just an HSPA one which can only do 7.2Mbps down. So now the speed is stuck at about 6Mbps down day or night. I'll get an HSPA+ one when they come on the market. To clarify this is the sort of router you put the SIM card in, there's no dongle, the E367 dongle by itself is 21Mbps+ HSPA+ capable but didn't like being rained on all the time. It isn't supposed to live outdoors. The change was worth it here because it's our only and primary connection and the speed increase from getting it in just the right position made a huge difference.

I'd always suggest starting out on PAYG if you can, buy the dongle, see if it works (crucial: needs to be near the window or outside for best speeds, for instance, the dongle wouldn't even work at all downstairs here), and make sure you can take it back if it does not. Good signal is one thing, number of people using it/congestion is another. We live in a rural area 2.7km from the cell which can't be congested if it always hits the same speeds all the time. Very unlikely to be so lucky in a built up area.

3 have a so called one month 10GB plan, but there's a major catch to it - if you go over the 10GB the charges are punitive. We stick with PAYG which is £25 for each 7GB and we use about that much a month. When it runs out it just stops working, it doesn't begin mounting a huge bill in the background.

They also have a 15GB plan but that does have a 2 year contract.

I work from home, use it for email, browsing, FTP, radio streaming and watch the occasional TV programme on it. In addition our laptop and phones connect to it. 7GB is enough for us.

Three is the one with the best coverage (allegedly, though it only matters where you are) and is the cheapest overall for heavier usage. It's also like any other connection - not visibly throttled on any activities, the images on pages don't get compressed like on T-Mobile (don't know about Orange) etc.

So in conclusion, we get very much faster speeds than ADSL is capable of here, and it's much cheaper than ADSL because there's no line rental.

But, to have the permanent well performing setup without having to bring the modem in from the outside and keep getting the positioning just right (it matters) I spent about £350 on the kit including the man to get up on the roof and put the antenna up for me, and it's still only 6Mbps which is pretty pants considering cable starts at 10Mbps. But it's good value for money compared with the useless ADSL we can get (less than 2Mbps) and means we can have a broadband connection that's usable without having to move back somewhere cabled.

Skype works fine, can be a bit laggy, but then I've always found VOIP like that even on good connections with business grade services.

But again, we're in an uncongested rural area and that's key to the performance.

im-lost

nokia1100 wrote: »

Is this a product I could ask them for as a new customer? Not too bothered about PAYG or 24 month contract, or the equipment supplied as I would get a 3G router. How much were you paying for 5GB?

to get the 15gb one at the cost of the 5gb rolling contract you first need to buy the 5gb one.

http://store.three.co.uk/view/product/ql_catalog/threecatdevice/2291

choose standard dongle 5gb 1 month £15.99

you can get £24 back via quidco for this contract.

if you need it straight away go to a 3 store or currys which also sell them.

Once its received and within the first 4 or 5 days, phone up to cancel the
5gb plan, they will offer to upgrade you to the 15bg plan for the same price monthly, usually 15gb for £15.99 requires an 18 or 24 month contract.

why do it within the first few days? well quite simply you aren't on a billing cycle for the first few days, usually around 4 or 5 days, check your account at my3.three.co.uk and it'll say when your allowance reloads, if you upgrade to the 15gb plan before you enter the billing cycle the 15gb will become effective from the billing cycle date, if not you will have to wait until the following month