richardg

anyone use pay as you go mobile broadband?

my mobile reception is crap (orange) where we stay in boscombe now and then and was thinking about getting payg mobile broadband for my laptop. that would enable me to use the web, obviously, but also to use my skype for phone calls when we're there, instead of having messages delivered 2 or 3 days after we get home.

1) does anyone have any pointers for mobile broadband (ie what to avoid) and
2) anyone have any experience of reception in boscombe (ie is Three likely to be any good there, or should i just go with O2/vodafone)

TIA

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

I bought a 3 payg broadband dongle only to find they dont cover our area! lol

if 3 cover your area let me know ile do you a great price, I paid £39.

Snazy

Would you be able to use your mobile to tether instead ?

richardg

that's what concerned me....would be nice to hear from someone in bpscombe/bournemouth as to whether the coverage is any good. i've seen a few stickered up classics around there, and quite a few more recent modded scoobs, so was hoping there would be someone on here from the area...

richardg

the short answer is yes (i have an SE c902 - i think that's the model - i'm crap with mobiles!), but i'm after a sep dongle for payg mobile broadband. tethering a mobile if mrs g were there and i were at home would be a bit of an ask. she is by no means a techno-cripple (in fact her degree was part programming, whereas i am a humble surveyor ), but she doesn;t have the patience i do with technology

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

http://www.three.co.uk/_popup/Covera...ename=boscombe

between good and very good signal apparantly mate

richardg

thanks shaggy. funnily enough that map shows us on the edge of good/variable, so may have to have a rethink....or i suppose i could just wait until i get there and ask in one of the local shops, on the basis that i will be bringing it back within the hour if they lie to me

ScoobyWon't

I've got a Vodafone dongle. It's no worse than what I get from BT broadband's oversubscribed local exchange, and it's cheaper.

£15 credit lasts me just over a month, that's used maily to surf SN, BOTW, planetf1 and look at pics on guesshermuff and isshefilthy. Mainly the latter two

RRH

I bought a three payg dongle but got sick of putting £15 of credit on, using it for a couple of days, then it having expired next time I wanted to use it; it expires after 30 days.

I gave that one to my mate and bought a 12gig prepaid three dongle, which is good for 12 months

sparkykev

I used my Vodafone dongle between Christchurch and poole along the coast and it connected via 3g and it worked great.
Using it for general surfing and email, not watching movies or downloading music, after a few hours usage, i used something like 70p credit.
Last week i was in snowdonia, and the signal was poor, so it was not so good.
The advantage of Vodafone is your credit doesn't have an expiry after a month, so if your a light user, you can carry it over, and don't need to topup.

richardg

went with o2 in the end but....
....couldn't set the damn thing up the first time i tried. after an expensive call via a mobile to o2, they told me to wait an hour or so as there were problems with the top up system,
....then after waiting an hour, i tried again. the system happily took my money but didn;t give me anything for it,
...so i rang the shop who sold me the modem. they suggested i call o2 and i suggested they call o2 or i would bring the modem back to the shop and discuss it with them,
...shop called o2, shop called me. i waited another hour,
...then i discovered that depsite having been charged for the top up and receiving nothing, there was nothing i could do about it so i called the shop again. no answer, so i called them again. repeated that 5 or 6 times and eventually spoke. 10 mins later i had access.

there was a time yesterday afternoon when i was ready to take the modem back to the shop and make an issue out of it, but can't be @rsed now. seems to be working ok