Help needed with portable wifi.

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Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
BT have over-charged me on my bill for the last time!!!

The broadband speed I get from them is about 0.2-0.3 Mb :angry: and I've never made a call on the phone (it's there purely for the Broadband :cursing: )

They were charging me £29 a month (a discount they agreed because the speed in my area is so low) for their service (BB and Line Rental) but have just put it up to £42

So I've decided that I've had enough and for that money I must be able to get a portable solution.

I've always gone for an unlimited package for peace of mind but I can't find any providers that do this with the portable stuff.

According to BT my average monthly use is 13 GB so I was looking at the little box from 3 HERE. £18.99 for 15GB a month (although I'm not mad about the 24 month tie-in).

Just realised that I can get 2 of them (30 GB) for less money than BT charge me :cursing:

Can anybody tell me if they know of a better solution/deal? I'd also have to get a N wifi dongle for my PC as it has no built in wifi so any info on those would be appreciated too.

Just so you know - the speed that BT give me is the same for everyone in my area due to aging copper wires so changing providers (wired) won't help. I did try to join Sky as they were considerably cheaper for the same service but apparently they can't provide broadband in my area :sad:
 

kipster

Guru
Location
Hampshire
One of the girls in the office uses one for home working as she was in a similar boat with BT, it works very well. I don't think you'll need a dongle or wifi lan card as you can connect the device to the PC via USB anyway. This is unless you find a sweet spot for signal strength that is away from the PC, but then you need to keep it charged. If the device does need to be away from the PC, consider a wireless LAN card, I've found them to be better than wifi dongles and you can always add a bigger antenna if needed.
 
These are superb little devices.

I use one on an occasional basis, so have no contract, simply either add money to the pot or buy new cards, the latter being cheaper than topping up!

It connects wirelessly with a simple password.

The only issue is coverage. I have been in places in Scotland, the Lakes, Kent and Hampshire where reception is poor enough to make it unviable
 
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Gary E

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
Thanks for that. Can anyone confirm that I don't need a wifi dongle to connect to my PC and that it can just be plugged in? I was just about to buy a USB wifi adapter dongle but it would appear that I may not need one :smile:
 
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Gary E

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
It's going to be for all my internet use, so iPad, PC, Laptop and mobile.

To be honest I think that £18.99 for 15Gb is quite reasonable. I just hope that BT have worked out my average monthly usage correctly (at 13Gb) in which case it'll be enough. BT have screwed up everything else though so we'll see :angry:

BT - £42 a month
3 MIFI - £18.99 a month

should have switched ages ago :sad:
 

kipster

Guru
Location
Hampshire
On the older ones you could use it as a wired connection, much the same as a USB connected modem, no reason to think this will be any different, plus wifi for the other devices.
 
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Gary E

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
That's great, thanks Kipster. I wont bother buying a wifi adapter dongle then until I confirm it's still the same :smile:
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Have you checked your 3 network coverage?
 
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Gary E

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
Cheers guys, I took the plunge and ordered one earlier. Coverage of 3 is not great here but it's faster than the 0.2 mb that I get from BT lol.
 
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