Dongles - am I out of touch, does everyone just tether?

Finch7

Hi, I am looking into internet access for remote working on a laptop. It is crucial that it works due to the business requirement.

I just assumed this was done through a Dongle and I needed to look into deals, but given there is pretty much silence on this site and others, I wondered am I hugely out of touch - is the way to go to Tether?

I don't know how much usage the system would need but I would assume its more than a normal contract would offer. Also I don't think the current EE contract we have allows tether/hotspot.

Any help would be hugely appreciated, I thought I was 'on it' tech wise but now starting to feel slightly ancient.....

[Deleted User]

Just look down the page at any subject that says tethering (there is one 5 or 6 posts down) or MiFi or 4G router like this thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5968228/4g-router-with-unlimited-threeuk-sim-is-this-correct

JJ_Egan

<I out of touch, does everyone just tether? >

A few do most dont .

almillar

Many mobile contracts allow tethering (not all, 3 are especially guilty), and with data allowances getting bigger all the time, just using your phone as a WiFi hotspot is very handy. What is your allowance at the moment? Windows 10 allows you to identify your phone's WiFi network as a 'metered connection' and won't download updates etc whilst on it to save your precious data. There are also umpteen Wifi networks in cafes etc round the country if you're able/willing to use those.

techquest

Tethering can be useful, I used it a few weeks ago when BB and telephone, went down at the house. As JJ Eagan says, most people don't.

I agree with what almillar has said, save that you can check the box so W!0, microsoft in this case, will let you download over metered connections, again I used it as in my 1st sentence, and even though it was over metered connection the data usage was still minimum.

if it's anything financial related I would prefer to use my tethered than anyone else's public WiFi spots, in your case for business it also might be the safest way.

As far as I know EE offers tethering as standard on all of its plans, whether Pay Monthly, SIM Only or Pay As You Go, and you can use any or all of your monthly data towards it.

To turn on Tethering

Android: Settings menu. Look for Network & Internet – Hotspot & tethering and switch on ‘Portable Wi-Fi hotspot.’

iPhone: Look for the ‘Personal Hotspot’ option in the Settings menu.

Windows Phone: Settings menu and tap ‘Internet Sharing’. Turn the slider next to Sharing ‘On’ and under Share over select Wi-fi. Give your phone a name and set up a password.

Reverse the process to turn it off.

Only allow known devices to use it, there should be a check box or button in there somewhere to do so.

If your going to use it get EE to put a spend cap on it so you don’t get any unexpected huge bills.

glennevis

I used to do a lot of tethering when out and about. Needless to say, don't use the default tethering password.



I purchased a cheap android smartphone which I bought on eBay for £12 incl postage. It had a cracked screen, not a problem since it sat on the table doing its stuff. I disabled a lot of the built in apps to miminise data usage by the phone. Windoze laptops will need configuring so they don't romp through the data (disable OS and app auto updates, etc.).

To keep an eye on data usage I installed an app on the phone called 3gWatchdog. A widget will check data usage in (near) real time and disable data use before going over quota.

Takmon

almillar wrote: »

Many mobile contracts allow tethering (not all, 3 are especially guilty)

Just to clarify what are you saying 3 are guilty of?

They allow you to tether up the amount of data on your contract and people with unlimited data are subjected to a 1000Gb Fair Use Policy which seems fair to me.

glennevis wrote: »

I used to do a lot of tethering when out and about. Needless to say, don't use the default tethering password.

On Android each device has a unique tethering password as default so your don't necessarily have to change it.

Finch7

Thanks very much for this, its given me the options to have a look.

Its a large business system but its for logging on remotely on the laptop, I would use local wifi if it was available but lately found there are many times I am not near a public hotspot. I think tethering for a week and seeing what the usage looks like, might be the way forward, it is hard to know how much it uses on the things I would be doing.

Thanks again!

almillar

Just to clarify what are you saying 3 are guilty of?

Not allowing tethering on a lot of their tariffs. Once you buy 'x' GB of data per month, it should be yours to use as you please, IMO. I know they do have tariffs that allow tethering, but plenty of people are on tariffs that don't.

Neil49

Finch7 wrote: »

Thanks very much for this, its given me the options to have a look.

Its a large business system but its for logging on remotely on the laptop, I would use local wifi if it was available but lately found there are many times I am not near a public hotspot. I think tethering for a week and seeing what the usage looks like, might be the way forward, it is hard to know how much it uses on the things I would be doing.

Thanks again!

Just to stress what almillar said above - change your Windows 10 connectivity settings to metered connection in order to minimise data usage.

Cisco001

almillar wrote: »

Not allowing tethering on a lot of their tariffs. Once you buy 'x' GB of data per month, it should be yours to use as you please, IMO. I know they do have tariffs that allow tethering, but plenty of people are on tariffs that don't.

you notice three changed the policy??

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/10/three-uk-quietly-removes-tethering-caps-from-4g-mobile-plans.html