Free wireless internet and cheap 3G broadband article discussion

Lynsey

I'm looking at a mobile broadband for my son.
So far I've seen a 3gb per month deal via Vodafone for £15 per month (12 months contract) and with a £90 cashback via Quidco/CBK etc.
How much usage will he get with 3gb and can he limit his usage to only 3gb so as not to get any unexpected bills.
He uses BBCi a lot, so how much surfing can he expect??

Any better deals, or cashback deals like mobile phones etc.??

Many thanks for any help,

Lynsey

jbet

Lynsey wrote: »

I'm looking at a mobile broadband for my son.
So far I've seen a 3gb per month deal via Vodafone for £15 per month (12 months contract) and with a £90 cashback via Quidco/CBK etc.
How much usage will he get with 3gb and can he limit his usage to only 3gb so as not to get any unexpected bills.
He uses BBCi a lot, so how much surfing can he expect??

Any better deals, or cashback deals like mobile phones etc.??

Many thanks for any help,

Lynsey

bumping this one up as I'd like to know the answer too

novice-saver

iplayer and capped downloads isn't a healthy mixture.


Somebody shoot me down if I'm wrong, but as memory serves these figure are correct:

An hour on iplayer is about 600 mb

So 5 hours (5 x 600) is about 3 gb ( 1 gb being 1024 mb)

If you were prepay, it would stop when you used it all up.


On contract you get charged anything up to 10 p per mb over the cap, depending on your provider...

that's 1024 x 10p per gb or £102 (!)

the cheaper ones are £10 per gb over the cap.


Don't go there.


Having said all that though, you can check easily enough how much you've used, and when your billing month ends.

liam8282

Ok I am currently looking to get broadband, however, I am having a few problems.

First of all I don't have a landline so cannot get most of the broadband connections straight away.

Next, I applied for virgin yesterday, but for some reason they are asking me to pay a £100 deposit, which I will get back after the 12 month contract, (I think this is due to previous tenants in my house not paying bills, so now I am suffering for it), so I told them I wasn't happy to pay the deposit and would rather have the £100 in my own bank account.

So now all I think that is left is the mobile broadband option?

Could anybody give me some advice on which would be the best option to take? I only have a laptop and would use the internet for general browsing, and also some downloading of music (say about 10 albums per month?)

Would I be best going for a pay as you go option, or getting a contract, and which are the best options available at the moment?

Any advice would be appreciated thanks.

Lynsey

novice-saver wrote: »

iplayer and capped downloads isn't a healthy mixture.

Having said all that though, you can check easily enough how much you've used, and when your billing month ends.

I've been told BBCi is streamed so is different to a download, the same as youtube, is this correct??

Is there anyway to cap it at 3gb rather than relying on checking up??

And is there a better deal??

Lynsey

novice-saver

OK.

I'm not sure how much less streaming is - it needs someone to measure it.

The "dongle" I have some knowledge of belongs to my daughter and is not where I can easily access it (it's a 3 prepay, so we know what it will cost).

the figures when I made the decision to buy from the 5 main providers were:

3 - either prepay or contract. prepay stops when you've used it up. contract is 10p per mb over your limit which might be £10 for 1gb, £15 for 3gb, £25 for 7 gb

O2 - contract only, £20 for 3gb. 20p per mb over limit (£200 per gb !!)

Orange - contract only, £15 for 3gb. 1.46p per mb over limit (£15 per gb)

T-Mobile - contract only £15 for 3gb, or £35 for 10gb. Not capped, but "future restrictions may be applied"

Vodafone - contract only £15 for 3gb, or £25 for 10gb. £15 per gb over cap.

The contract rates vary depending on length of term - 1 year, 18 months, or 2 years.
Longer contracts have "free" dongle.

Prepay 3 dongle is £50 in the shop, I believe price can be bettered with Costco cashback.


Caps may have changed in the last few weeks.

Lynsey

Thanks I've been into Vodafone today and I don't think 3gb will be enough. I will have to decide whether to pay the extra £10 for the 10gb, or wait for a better offer/cashback deal.

Lynsey

poindexter

I've just tried to take advantage of the £7.50 per month 5GB free dongle offer from 3 via Quidco, but the package only seems to offer the dongle, there is no mention of monthly web usage that I can see. I admit to being lost when it comes to mobile packages, can anyone please help me with how to complete the purchase?

Lynsey

poindexter wrote: »

I've just tried to take advantage of the £7.50 per month 5GB free dongle offer from 3 via Quidco, but the package only seems to offer the dongle, there is no mention of monthly web usage that I can see. I admit to being lost when it comes to mobile packages, can anyone please help me with how to complete the purchase?

You get 5gb of usage. I was told it equates to around 140/150 hours per month for basic surfing/emails etc.

Have a look here; http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...=739033&page=3

and mainly here; Full story over here...

Hubby has just ordered for son and I'm fairly worried.

Lynsey

poindexter

Lynsey wrote: »

You get 5gb of usage. I was told it equates to around 140/150 hours per month for basic surfing/emails etc.

Have a look here; http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...=739033&page=3

and mainly here; Full story over here...

Hubby has just ordered for son and I'm fairly worried.

Lynsey

Thanks for the warning, but got to say I had heard bad things about 3 but am currently on the pay as you go £10 per month for 1GB mobile broadband package and no problems so far. I'm interested in this new package as its a much better deal than the one I'm on.