4G Mobile Broadband

Spogchait

I’m hoping that someone can help me understand my best options here.

i have moved to a rural location.  There is a strong 4g signal on three and so far I have been tethering, but it’s a faff not having a full time signal and the phone battery being drained etc.

Three will offer unlimited data 4g mobile broadband, 24mth contract £20 per month.

But ID mobile (same signal as three) offer a data only sim at half the cost. AND, it”s a monthly contract which is attractive to me.

So, am I being bonkers to think that I could buy my own hub or mifi device and use the ID Sim?  Has anyone here done this?

What would be the pitfalls, and can anyone recommend the right hub/mifi?

GrumpyDil

If it's being sold as a data only sim then I would say nothing. Incidentally I did what you are suggesting a few years back using a normal sim with unlimited data for best part of a year without any issues. That was probably in contravention of the mobile contract so I was always expecting to be told to stop but never was. 

flaneurs_lobster

Where are you seeing an ID Mobile data-only plan? Can't find it on their website. And anyway, as @GrumpyDil says, using a normal SIM in a mobile router is unlikely to cause any problems unless the data consumption is huge.

Spogchait

Sorry, @flaneurs_lobster, you’re right, it’s not a data only sim, it’s a sim only deal so has minutes and texts included.  Would that still work?  I saw some brilliant monthly deals on a site called mobiles.co.uk.  So it’s a normal sim.  I really won’t be using much data, No gaming, limited streaming.

Lorian

A smarty (three) data SIM would be another option if they have any good deals at present.

peterhjohnson

I've been using Three (direct) for about 5 years with a wireless router. It was great when I moved house, just  plugged it in at the new place and off I went. Their deals are cheap and they (?still) throw in a free router/hub. That's the good news. The less good news is that it's flaky and annoying.

1. It has always needed a reboot every couple of days. If you don't reboot, random sites become unavailable until you realise what's going on and reboot
2. (More geeky) It sometimes changes your IP address - lots - certainly more than once a day. Sometimes within seconds!
3. (More geeky)  Accessing FTP sites (typically used to update websites) have become particularly flaky. You log in OK, change directory and then it dies.

So if you are doing very ordinary domestic Internet things and you don't mind having to reboot quite often, it may be OK for you

For me, I'm now looking for an alternative  mobile broadband offer, not Three or using their network. As I have no trouble with my main mobile on EE, I'm probably going to use them

housebuyer143

peterhjohnson said:

I've been using Three (direct) for about 5 years with a wireless router. It was great when I moved house, just  plugged it in at the new place and off I went. Their deals are cheap and they (?still) throw in a free router/hub. That's the good news. The less good news is that it's flaky and annoying.

1. It has always needed a reboot every couple of days. If you don't reboot, random sites become unavailable until you realise what's going on and reboot
2. (More geeky) It sometimes changes your IP address - lots - certainly more than once a day. Sometimes within seconds!
3. (More geeky)  Accessing FTP sites (typically used to update websites) have become particularly flaky. You log in OK, change directory and then it dies.

So if you are doing very ordinary domestic Internet things and you don't mind having to reboot quite often, it may be OK for you

For me, I'm now looking for an alternative  mobile broadband offer, not Three or using their network. As I have no trouble with my main mobile on EE, I'm probably going to use them

Funny you mention this as I had all these issues with 3. I had none of these issues with EE, apart from the non static IP address.