Tablet, 3g Dongle?

warwicktiger

I am moving to France soon, initially to a rented house with no phone or broadband. Can I use a 3g dongle to connect my tablet to the net? I am confused by the options available, I need one that will work in France, will not be downloading loads of data, just house particulars as I look for a place to buy so a pay as you go system would be fine, provided I can top up in France, any reccommendations please?

paddyrg

I'd worry about it when you get to France TBH - international data is eyewateringly expensive.

Go to a French mobiles shop, get a mifi kind of thing, and give it a SIM card. It will in turn create a battery powered wifi hotspot you can take around with you.

radu_

paddyrg is right about the cost of international data and the mifi suggestion he made is a good one.

However, if you have a smart phone you could just buy a local Pay as you go SIM with data and tether to your tablet (basically turn your phone into a router).

I do this all the time when I am abroad and never had any issues.

Hope that helps1

jaydeeuk1

Buy the huwei 5332 for £25 from tesco (should appear again in stock soon) unlock for a couple of quid

http://www.tesco.com/direct/t-mobile-huawei-e5332-mobile-broadband-wifi-pay-as-you-go/521-1751.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=521-1751

or £29 from vodafone.

I think three allow users to use their contract data in france, hk and other countries as if they're in the UK, but you'll need a contract that supports tethering (and I'd confirm the three and I'd also add in a limit too) like their one plan 30 day rolling one for £23 a month (possibly the ultimate internet sim plan @£12.90 too but I'd check first)

warwicktiger

OK, thanks, have bought a dongle, £29.99 from PC world inc 1 month 5gb data, second and subsequent months £15 pm, will have to recheck sim and maybe replace when in France.

Thanks to all

buglawton

Three does not allow roaming at reasonable rates in France without at least a £5 per day add-on. Any cheap dongle bought in PC World will likely be locked to one UK network. These dongles are a bit of a faff to unlock.

What you really need is an unlocked MiFi as posted above and make sure you can receive and view SMS messages with it, as French local networks use this to send you an activation code.

Additionally, MiFis can be rented locally all inclusive in France for around £40/week if you hire a car - catch is, you are limited to something like 2 hours usage per day as I recall from using Budget/Sixt.