EE's Mobile Wifi plans - any pitfalls?

Johnmcl7

I have a friend who currently cannot get ADSL due to their location so instead has satelite broadband which is slow and expensive, after seeing the performance of their daughter's phone on EE (there's an Orange base station near the house) he was asking for advice on switching to mobile broadband.

Initially he was thinking about an Ipad with cellular modem as he wasn't familiar with the options available so I advised him to have a look at the mobile wifi devices as that would allow him to use any wireless device including a standard Ipad. I used one of the early 3 'mifi' devices and aside from having a fairly basic display, it worked extremely well so I'm looking for people's experiences with the current EE mobile wifi devices in terms of ease of use and reliability as I wouldn't want to recommend one of these devices and then it turn out not to work well in practice.

I realise one of the main issues is the higher cost of data and I've explained to the person that 'unlimited' usually isn't but they're paying a lot of money for their current service and not getting much for it so they're fine with paying a similar amount of money on a mobile broadband package if it's going to get them something much better.

Thanks,
John

Frozen_up_north

There are pitfalls with mobile phone networks and data. Basically if you primarily want to browse the web and exchange e-mail it is fine. However the speed drops significantly at peak times during the evenings and depending on where you are using it, can drop to almost nothing.

Here in rural East Yorkshire using an iPhone 5 on the 3 network I can download at a peak speed of 20 Mb/s most mornings, yet in the summer at a seaside resort one Saturday evening it was too slow to even check e-mail. Recently I was able to download the Windows 8.1 upgrade (3.64 GB) in less than an hour at breakfast one weekday morning using the iPhone 5 and tethering via WiFi (an iPhone 5 can create a local WiFi "hot spot" which can be shared with up to 5 devices such as Kindles, laptops, etc).

EE will probably be similar to 3 in regard to peaks and troughs in data speeds.

Currently, 3 offer their "One Plan" at either £15 or £18 per month depending on your choice of a 30 day plan or a 12 month one. Using this plan you can tether and enjoy unlimited data downloads (up to 1 TB/month or more, according to their own web site). The One Plan is hard to beat for a combined package.

I have used a MiFi device on 3 with a pay as you go SIM card, it wasn't as fast as the iPhone and you were limited as to the amount of data (3 GB for £10, which lasts 30 days). The cost of PAYG SIM cards can soon add up, but might be OK for short term use.

EE will have similar packages/offers, although nothing to match the One Plan if you want a lot of data and tethering,

Earthworm

Having used 4G now for the best part of a year I would say if signal is good the service still works really fast during peak times for browsing, videos etc. It is always faster than my home broadband.

That said... P2P sharing is massively restricted to a few kb per second making it pointless. For browsing, videos, small downloads etc I have no issues and I tether to a few devices.

It will cost more than home internet though by a considerable margin so if they get it make sure they don't do it in a store to give them a cooling off period.

Johnmcl7

Thanks for the replies, I'm looking more for specific experience with the mobile wifi units EE offers.

In terms of choice it's only EE that has reception where they are and the current satelite performance isn't much better than dial up speeds, they can't get ADSL due to the distance from the exchange. I just want to make sure their mobile wifi units are reasonably reliable and not too fiddly, I do very much agree that they need to make sure they buy it from somewhere they can return it to if they're not happy with the system.

John

gjchester

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

I just want to make sure their mobile wifi units are reasonably reliable and not too fiddly, I do very much agree that they need to make sure they buy it from somewhere they can return it to if they're not happy with the system.

Most places won't accept a unit back once used.

You could consider a £50 PAYG one on EE give it a month and worst case flog it on vi eBay or AVForums.

If it works get a sim only contract.