Short term Tethering

StockportGerbil

Folks :-
I am working away for a week shortly. The area I'm working does not have wifi and the EE signal (who I'm with) is horrible according to their coverage map (and tethering would use all my data anyway.) But three have good coverage there.

I'll have a couple of laptops in use simultaneously and I have an old smart phone I'd like to use as a dedicated hotspot with a 3 sim in.

At a guess I'll use a couple of GB.

What's the most cost effective way of doing this? I tried talking to a salesman in the three shop yesterday who was keen to sell me a mifi type device with 3 data contract... I believe the PAYG does not support tethering and if I go for a 30 day contract the salesman said I was tied in for at least two months.

Alternatively is giffgaff the way to go and is the 3GB data in the goodybag all usable by tethering? (And are they still on O2 as O2 coverage looks OK.)

Thanks

Kevin

corf999

Google for 6gb Ee preloaded data sim, I think they are available at about £15

Edit, sorry I saw your ee comment, if ee is bad three is likely to be the same. there is an O2 preloaded data sim available, not sure about Vodafone.

joeluken

StockportGerbil wrote: »

Alternatively is giffgaff the way to go and is the 3GB data in the goodybag all usable by tethering? (And are they still on O2 as O2 coverage looks OK.)

Whilst giffgaff is an O2 OVNO data is often slow or unusable especially during the day. The problem is due to the limited national bandwidth (data per second) giffgaff rents above the masts from O2. When this is oversubscribed and the data per second cap reached O2 drops the packets. This means I can have a full H+ signal but unusable internet so signal coverage is moot.:(

Im_just_careful

If "3" coverage is likely to be good I would buy


"THREE Pay As You Go Mini SIM" 1GB prepaid from Currys or, if you have time, the same from Amazon .


Take a giffgaff SIM if you have one, I keep one just for data in areas where o2 has coverage and others don't. My experience of giffgaff is that the practical performance is similar to T-Mobile's 3G network (neither are fantastic) and generally "3" is better IF you have coverage.


Better by miles is EE4G (once again IF you have coverage).

Im_just_careful

Also, yes, for any giffgaff package that is not "unlimited" you can use the data any way you wish (tethered, in a MiFi, on a phone, in a tablet...).


The few remaining unlimited packages require you to consume the data on a phone.

SnowTiger

It's difficult for a mobile network to detect tethering. Detection of it would be guess work.

I tether using Three when I'm in the UK, using their PAYG all-you-can-eat data add on. It's offered as an option when you top up and costs £15 a month.

Don't use a MIFI unit - they'd know it was tethering. I use an old Android phone.

Terry98

SnowTiger wrote: »

It's difficult for a mobile network to detect tethering. Detection of it would be guess work.

Don't use a MIFI unit - they'd know it was tethering. I use an old Android phone.

How do they know it's a MIFI?

Mobile network providers supply MIFI units so they must allow tethering from a MIFI when you are using their network.

SnowTiger

Terry98 wrote: »

How do they know it's a MIFI?

Mobile network providers supply MIFI units so they must allow tethering from a MIFI when you are using their network.

They can work it out from the device's IMEI (serial number), which the network will be aware of.

I recently put my new O2 SIM into the Nexus 4. When I log in to my account online, O2 knows I'm using a Nexus 4.

Networks allow MIFI devices to be used, but some specifically (attempt to) discourage/bar tethering; as with Three's all-you-can-eat data tariff. It's only all you can eat when used from a handset.

glentoran99

Terry98 wrote: »

How do they know it's a MIFI?

Mobile network providers supply MIFI units so they must allow tethering from a MIFI when you are using their network.

more than likely from its MAC code

Terry98

SnowTiger wrote: »

It's difficult for a mobile network to detect tethering. Detection of it would be guess work.

What about the IMEI of the phone/MIFI?

SnowTiger

Terry98 wrote: »

What about the IMEI of the phone/MIFI?

They'd be able to detect you're using a MiFi router.

But if you tether using a mobile phone it would appear to the network that you're only using the phone handset. They wouldn't know what you have tethered to it. They might be able to guess, based on usage and usage type.