Wifi without a phone line - student problems

toffee'n'tom

Hi there

My daughter has just moved into her student accommodation. Unfortunately she and no one else has wi fi. Is there any way we can get wi fi without having a phone line?

thanks

FreddieFrugal

toffeentom wrote: »

Hi there

My daughter has just moved into her student accommodation. Unfortunately she and no one else has wi fi. Is there any way we can get wi fi without having a phone line?

thanks

I tethered my mobile phone to my laptop and used the mobile data from the phone to get on the internet. Most phones have this option in settings.

I had unlimited internet on the payasyougo plan I got when I bought the phone.

You could also purchase a mobile dongle, plugs into computer and uses mobile data network to get on internet, just like tethering phone.

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/what_is_a_mobile_dongle/

Price comparison

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband/mobile-broadband/


Phone route, Three have some good value deals including 'all you can eat data'

http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones

Could work out considerably cheaper than getting a dongle. They tend to charge a lot for a very small amount of usage.

Get a three SIM and you can get 300 minutes, 3000 texts and unlimited internet for £20 a month. Something like that would be perfect, then she just needs to tether her phone to computer (easy peasy, just search online for how to do it on her specific phone) that's without a contract, so you can just choose not to buy the add on for certain months if unneeded

Sorted

agrinnall

Virgin will do broadband without a phone, but I think it's quite expensive, particularly for a shorter contract.

bluesnake

Relish - a 4G service that operates in certain parts of London that is very reasonably, although it reportedly drops out a lot, so watching streaming stuff may be difficult.

If the issue is with phone line contracts, then Pulse8 offer 1 month contracts including line rental https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/

NiftyDigits

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

I tethered my mobile phone to my laptop and used the mobile data from the phone to get on the internet. Most phones have this option in settings.

I had unlimited internet on the payasyougo plan I got when I bought the phone.

You could also purchase a mobile dongle, plugs into computer and uses mobile data network to get on internet, just like tethering phone.

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/guides/what_is_a_mobile_dongle/

Price comparison

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband/mobile-broadband/


Phone route, Three have some good value deals including 'all you can eat data'

http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones

Could work out considerably cheaper than getting a dongle. They tend to charge a lot for a very small amount of usage.

Get a three SIM and you can get 300 minutes, 3000 texts and unlimited internet for £20 a month. Something like that would be perfect, then she just needs to tether her phone to computer (easy peasy, just search online for how to do it on her specific phone) that's without a contract, so you can just choose not to buy the add on for certain months if unneeded

Sorted

The 'unlimited Internet' is for mobile phone use. Tethering is limited.

NiftyDigits

Huawei 4G Mi-Fi, 15GB of data, 30 day contract
You can connect up to ten devices. So others can pay to use her WiFi. Allowing only certain MAC addresses to connect....to prevent people sharing the password.

There is also a 25GB per month option

You can keep it running for as little as one month, by calling to give EE your 30 day notice on the day of activation. From thereon using it with whichever data SIM that you wish, including PAYG. If he data needs are few, she can use the MiFi with a cheaper PAYG data SIM.

FreddieFrugal

NiftyDigits wrote: »

The 'unlimited Internet' is for mobile phone use. Tethering is limited.

There are ways of masking the fact that you're tethering so the operator thinks you're just using mobile data though

As long as you don't go mad and use RIDICULOUS amounts of it.

It's worth looking around as it may be better value to do pay as you go. Depends on the Add ons available, how much OP's daughter uses her phone, and how much internet she's likely to need to use. If she ever has to do a massive download, just take her laptop to the University library or whatever and use their wifi. That's what I did. She'll be paying enough to be there anyway!

NiftyDigits

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

There are ways of masking the fact that you're tethering so the operator thinks you're just using mobile data though

Perhaps you can let the OP's daughter know....

FreddieFrugal

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Huawei 4G Mi-Fi, 15GB of data, 30 day contract
You can connect up to ten devices. So others can pay to use her WiFi. Allowing only certain MAC addresses to connect....to prevent people sharing the password.

There is also a 25GB per month option

You can keep it running for as little as one month, by calling to give EE your 30 day notice on the day of activation. From thereon using it with whichever data SIM that you wish, including PAYG. If he data needs are few, she can use the MiFi with a cheaper PAYG data SIM.

That's not too bad actually. Especially in comparison to some of these REDICULOUS 4gb for £15 deals around.

Apologies for the caps whenever I type ridiculous it tries to autocorrect it to caps.

NiftyDigits

FreddieFrugal wrote: »

That's not too bad actually. Especially in comparison to some of these REDICULOUS 4gb for £15 deals around.

Apologies for the caps whenever I type ridiculous it tries to autocorrect it to caps.

Perhaps because you mis-spell it. No auto-correct in the second line where you have spelled it correctly.

Your phone is trying to tell you something. Maybe it's getting angry because you mis-spell it often.

AndyPix

+1 for the 3 PAYG option.

FYI Niftydigits,
The way that the network try to "restrict" teathering isn't by traffic inspection, but rather by metering the use from software on your handset.

Simply jailbreak the phone and put stock android back on it, or even simpler, just get a cheap android payg phone from a different provider, unlock it, and then put your 3 sim card in, and teather to your hearts content. The carrier will be non the wiser

I have been using the second option for almost 6 years