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Dongle Solution for Community Meeting Room?

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Hello

We are a small charity group of volunteers who have rescued an old building in the village and turned it into a community hub. We hope to attract local groups and businesses to our meeting space but recognise that we need to provide wifi facilities. Problem there is that there is no phone line into the building and to get one would mean digging up the road.

We are looking at a mobile wifi solution which would seem to offer the access we require (but with a 10 device restriction) and at a decent annual cost.

See

https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/phones-broadband-and-sat-nav/broadband/mobile-broadband/4gee-mini-pay-as-you-go-mobile-wifi-10148773-pdt.html

The meeting space can accommodate up to 18 people so we need to think whether or not the 10 device limit will be a problem. We need also to think about the issue of folk in meetings using the facility for downloading large files. This may not be a problem as we think the facility will be used for smaller local groups but just thought it worth asking.

Can anybody spot a potential problem with the EE approach?

Other than the EE solution mentioned above, has anybody any alternative suggestions?

I ask this as it is likely that there are other groups such as ours facing the same issue and who would benefit from some advice.

Comments

  • Before buying an EE MiFi you should get someone on EE into the building to test the reception. If it's poor then a MiFi solution won't be good enough for 18 people let alone two.
  • pramsay13
    pramsay13 Posts: 2,142 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I used something similar for teaching IT classes but the one I used had (I think) 40GB of data allowance a month.
    It works very well as long as you get a decent signal for that network.
    Up to 10 devices at a time should be okay as 18 could still sign on but just not be able to all use it at exactly the same time.
    2 GB a month is not nearly going to be enough though, so you will need to think about the data limit.
  • Something like this would be good
    http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/HomeFi?memory=0&colour=Black

    It can be used with a separate external aerial which can help with old buildings- the aerial could be at the window and the mifi unit could be on a desk nearby.

    21825.jpg

    As others have said- try before you buy- check online coverage and use a mobile from that network in the building before you buy.

    With these things you can buy the antenna and the router direct - this means you can take a 30 day contract and see if it works.
    baldly going on...
  • Plus
    Plus Posts: 434 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    It might be worth trying an 'unlimited' deal, if you can find such a thing. Or a deal where it goes slow if you exceed your allowance but doesn't charge more. Then run it for a few months to gauge your usage.

    You probably still want some cost control so people can't chew through your credit downloading videos or software updates (which their computer might do without them realising). Professional access points can apply a bandwidth limit per-connection (like the ones in chain hotels that ask you to pay extra for faster internet), which you might not be able to do with a simple mi-fi device.
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