Rural internet advice (Plusnet & Vodafone)

Chino

flashg67 said:

I'd respectively disagree with 'Using a phone SIM in a dongle is usually contrary to the phone contract T&C'

Welcome to the Internet where most make random assertions of fact on the basis of no evidence other than their own preconceptions.

GrumpyDil

One option is to buy a proper mobile router and attach an external aerial. 

We had that previously and obtained speeds of 78mb down on a standard o2 sim. Agreed that true data sims are far more expensive but we used an unlimited phone sim for a year on a cashback deal which bought the cost down to around 15.00 per month. A lot of months our downloads were in excess of 500gb but never had any emails about excessive usage or using the sim in a mobile router. 

Although others' experiences may be different. 

QrizB

QrizB said:

SophieLoui23 said:

Does anyone have an answer to my second question regarding the Vodafone dongle thing please 😊

Using a phone SIM in a dongle is usually contrary to the phone contract T&C.

Looks like I'm out-of date, apologies to @SophieLoui23 - Ofcom changed the rules in 2018:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/bulletins/competition-bulletins/all-closed-cases/cw_01210

https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/sim-cards-for-your-tablet-dongle-router-or-iot-device

quantum

GrumpyDil said:

One option is to buy a proper mobile router and attach an external aerial. 

We had that previously and obtained speeds of 78mb down on a standard o2 sim. Agreed that true data sims are far more expensive but we used an unlimited phone sim for a year on a cashback deal which bought the cost down to around 15.00 per month. A lot of months our downloads were in excess of 500gb but never had any emails about excessive usage or using the sim in a mobile router. 

Although others' experiences may be different. 

Can you point me to the sort of device you mean please? I'm in need of internet and have been wondering if I can use 4g instead. Is this something I can put a 4g sim into?

matelodave

you could have a look here https://www.4g.co.uk/news/best-4g-router/ or have a trawl of t'internet.

You dont have to get a deal, you can buy a 4g router from anywhere and put your own sim in.

jbuchanangb

My son-in-law lives in a very remote rural location, with no landline connection. He uses 4G broadband from Three, with external directional aerials pointed at the nearest mast. Gets about 100Mb/s download speed.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/04/how-to-choose-an-external-4g-or-5g-mobile-broadband-antenna.html

matelodave

This is a useful steer towards which operators might provide service where you need it. - https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage as it gives you the oppoertunity to do a quick visual comparison. Non of it is guaranteed but it's a stsrting point to see if you are in with a chance.

In the end, the only way is to try it out at the location where you want to use it.

Unfortunately the checker confirms what I already know about where I live, Three is OK, EE is a bit iffy and Vodafone and O2 are hopeless