Moble broadband

[FiveStar]

To get mobile broadband from one of the phone networks (O2, T Mobile) do you need to have a mobile phone contract with them? Or can I have my mobile phone with O2 and my mobile broadband with T mobile?

many thanks

[PDV]

I've got mobile broadband with Vodafone and a mobile contract with o2. When I took out the broadband I just signed up to a new contract so you can have it anywhere you want. Beware of international roaming charges though!

[bigTee]

Three have some great mobile broadband deals at the mo.

[crofty1984]

bigTee said:

Three have some great mobile broadband deals at the mo.

I went to the carphone warehouse and got a 3 "dongle" on contract and a free laptop. Phone is through work, so in answer, no.

[illmonkey]

Got my dad a three dongle. You pay £50 for it, then you buy data. The data packs last 30 days (unless you buy a "special" year long one)

1GB - £10
3GB - £15
7GB - £25

Not a monthly bill, as he only needs its for 3 months. And doesnt have a BT phone line.

[crofty1984]

illmonkey said:

Got my dad a three dongle. You pay £50 for it, then you buy data. The data packs last 30 days (unless you buy a "special" year long one)

1GB - £10
3GB - £15
7GB - £25

Not a monthly bill, as he only needs its for 3 months. And doesnt have a BT phone line.

Fook! Wish I'd had that deal!

[Brown and Boris]

I have just bought a package with 3 via Maplins


http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=22638...


£99 for 12 months and 12Gb including their slightly better Dongle. As I read it I get 12 Gb to use in the next 12 months which usiots me as I am a sporadic low user user


I looked at the contract deals. Best seemed to be T mobile but most ofer some discount for exisiting contract customers.

[mybrainhurts]

Looked briefly, bit the stinging charges for exceeding your limit put me off....

[smack]

What is 3's coverage compared to the bigger players? And fallback to GPRS - it uses Orange?

[crofty1984]

smack said:

What is 3's coverage compared to the bigger players? And fallback to GPRS - it uses Orange?

Mine's cripplingly slow sometimes. Though I didn't have much choice as it's the only one that'd let me roam for free.

[bigTee]

smack said:

What is 3's coverage compared to the bigger players? And fallback to GPRS - it uses Orange?

on par!

[misterduncan]

crofty1984 said:

illmonkey said:

Got my dad a three dongle. You pay £50 for it, then you buy data. The data packs last 30 days (unless you buy a "special" year long one)

1GB - £10
3GB - £15
7GB - £25

Not a monthly bill, as he only needs its for 3 months. And doesnt have a BT phone line.

Fook! Wish I'd had that deal!

Blimey!

I got a free dongle and 18 months with a 3GB cap per month from Three.

Half price deal online cost £7.50 / month with a further £12.50 cashback from Quidco, so less than £7 per month.

Very good it is too.

[voyds9]

Had my 3 dongle for about 5 months.
£15/month for 3Gb and free dongle.
Coverage better in certain areas than others but usable everywhere.

Surf here, CTF, Facebook and Inselkampf all day everyday and use approx 800Mb per month.

[Morningside]

Try three. Click on their online technical support and ask a few questions. I did and got their standard dongle for £40 PLUS a £10 gift pack via a promotional code

[W17GLE]

I've got T-mobile mobile broadband it is a lot more reliable than the three mobile one my mate has. his drops connection regularly and its rather slow. I have the 3 gig a month package for £20

[falcemob]

smack said:

What is 3's coverage compared to the bigger players? And fallback to GPRS - it uses Orange?

Coverage is the same but the signal can be dire in places, the problem is it seems to be dire in more places than it's not.
I have moblie BB with them and it's £7.50 for 5GB PM. The 5GB soon goes though and after that I think it's 10p per MB.

[R360]

I have the Three pay as you go one. The dongle costs £50 and then I just get £10 worth of top up which gives you 1gb data. The coverage is pretty good tend to get average download speeds of around 2mb.
The claimed download speed is 7mb but I have never got anywhere near that.

[Robin Hood]

I wanted something to use for a few weeks now 'n then when away from home. Bought a "3" Starter Kit from Carphone Warehouse yesterday which suits me fine. Dongle with 12GB and 12 months in which to use it, £97.86. Can top it up if it doesn't last the year or alternatively after the year expires.

[Ross_]

Girlfriend has the 5gb per month via Three for £7.50 a month (half price as thats who her mobile is with aswell)

seems reasonable any time we have used it - signal / speed wise , she doesnt really download anything tho just for browsing the web / emails

R

[thunderbelmont]

I have a business o2 contract, and have a "unlimited mobile broadband bolt-on" at the cost of about £6.85/month plus vat. When they say "unlimited, they mean a gig or two, just don't take the piss. Mind you, my business contract runs at around £200/month (for six phones sharing 1000 minutes)

I have a "Three to go"(one of the original two tarrif's) 3 phone which does HSDPA, and I use that as a bluetooth modem if I need it. that costs £5/month for "Add Internet Max". I use that if I'm in an area where there's poor o2 coverage with no 3G. If I don't use it, I don't get billed after the month has passed.

Three falls back to Odinge if it doesn't have coverage of it's own network, though that'll only be GPRS, EDGE at best (56K). They used to fall back to o2, and still may do, not sure of their roaming agreement in the UK.

I have found Voda's 3G network lacking, with very poor data latency. Up to 3 seconds in some cases, which makes it poor for VoIP applications.

3's is probably the fastest network, but don't try to use it for filth, they block this IP's and re-direct you to their own premium suppliers!