4G as a replacement for slow ADSL

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EricHart
EricHart Posts: 22 Forumite
in Small biz MoneySaving
Hi,

We have really slow broadband, less than 1meg, and mobile signal is hit and miss. I have tried all networks.

I have been searching for an alternative using 4G but all I see are these mifi things, I tried a friends and it wouldn't connect at all.

Satellite is one option but seems expensive.

Has anyone had any success with business 4G and is it any better than normal 4G?

Do the networks offer a professional installation with something outside to boost the signal? I cannot see anything looking at their sites.

Any help would be great.

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  • bobsmum
    bobsmum Posts: 77 Forumite
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    We are in a rural area with poor ADSL (we're lucky to get 1.5Mbps on a good day) with long poor-quality phone lines and fibre not yet available. We have a small business, and did investigate satellite - too many drawbacks including cost. As EE mobile reception here is pretty good (transmitter tower in next village), about 18 months ago we tried a data-only sim in a mifi (Osprey thingy?) and were blown away by the speeds - 12-15Mbps straight away.

    Data limits may be a drawback (ours is 30GB a month for £18.49 + VAT - as we don't stream that's ample for us, we use only 20Gb maximum). I'd rather have data limits on a fast 4g service than slow unlimited broadband. We found the mifi needed charging too often so about 6 months ago we bought a mains 4G router (TPLink Archer, several other makes available) and now routinely have speeds of 40-45Mbps. Also upload speeds are much improved too. The router needs a very occasional reboot which is easy to do.

    Once we had the mains router set up we cancelled our landline broadband and haven't regretted it at all. A bonus is we could take the sim out, pop it in the original mifi and use it away from home too.

    We haven't needed to worry about any extra antenna, but I think you can buy external ones if you need to boost the signal.

    Hope this helps.
  • J_B
    J_B Posts: 6,453 Forumite
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    bobsmum wrote: »
    We are in a rural area with poor ADSL


    Same here


    We use https://www.airband.co.uk/
  • ukbill69
    ukbill69 Posts: 2,789 Forumite
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    ee home broadband 4g is good for us. Ok up and down with speed, but overall very pleased and very fast.
    Kind Regards
    Bill
  • EricHart
    EricHart Posts: 22 Forumite
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    Thank you all for your help, I will see what I can come up with.

    Knowing my luck I will get a good 4G services sorted and then Fibre will arrive :)

    I will let you know what I end up doing.
  • laurmurph
    laurmurph Posts: 51 Forumite
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    Has anyone looked into the “Better Broadband Voucher” scheme for rural users? Our MSP suggested it but it looks like a con. While we’d get an external aerial installed for the 4G signal for free under the scheme, we’d have to pay £33 per month for very limited data contracts when we already pay only £20 to Three for unlimited data.
    I’m looking for info on others who’ve looker into this.
    laurmurph
  • coffeehound
    coffeehound Posts: 5,689 Forumite
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    edited 13 February 2019 at 10:35AM
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    I recently arranged a 4G installation for my elderly parents who live in a remote location. They qualified for the free installation under the scheme, worth about £600. The tariff gives them 100GB per month for around £30 which seems fair and is far more generous than the satellite system they used previously. That was so slow it was virtually unuseable and a true rip-off.

    The proper permenant installations use aerials that can work with even weak 4G signals, which is not the case with dongles and mini routers.

    Well worth checking whether you qualify for the support. It’s up to you whether you think it’s good value.

    .
  • EricHart
    EricHart Posts: 22 Forumite
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    I now have a solution that is suitable for me and my business.

    Having tried all the usual solutions and domestic tariffs, which I should warn that the networks are now catching on to, 3 wouldn't provide a VAT invoice unless I was on a business tariff for example.

    In any event, I spoke to a few providers that offer a business service and the best I found was this company:

    http://www.melbek.co.uk

    They are designed for temporary solutions and in particular construction sites, however they do have permanent installations for customers if you ask.

    Its not cheap but I can say that it is fast and reliable, they seem to know what they are doing and I can manage my connection from their portal, plus no contract!

    I know this wont be for everyone, but I couldn't put up with it any longer, I must have wasted so much time over the last few years.

    Anyway, I hope this is of some help to you.
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