Broadband Options for Rental Property

[jbswagger]

Hi,

Me and my family of 5 are moving into a rental property for up to a year while our insurance company dry out and fix some extensive damage.

Does any know of any options to getting broadband. No need for a landline, but we use Netflix and Amazon prime and general Internet and email.

Thanks

[randlemarcus]

Talk to your current provider - they may be able to flex the contract, so you don't have a 12month contract on a place you are going to be in for less than a year. Do you need internet at the old place? If so, I suspect the prospect of two contracts will please them enough to be flexible.

[jbswagger]

Thanks for the reply.

We are out of contract with BT, our current supplier.

Will give them a call and discuss, but was wondering as were going to leave BT anyway, if there were any other options, especially not using a BT line.

Edited by jbswagger on Monday 25th April 10:18

Edited by jbswagger on Monday 25th April 10:40

[Kyp]

I was in a similar position last year; put a Smarty sim with unlimited data in a spare phone and used that as a hotspot for around 6 months; brilliant and no contract required.

[jbswagger]

Kyp said:

I was in a similar position last year; put a Smarty sim with unlimited data in a spare phone and used that as a hotspot for around 6 months; brilliant and no contract required.

Thanks for the heads up about Smarty, will look into it.

Aplogies if a stupid question, but can you connect our Wifi printer to stuff like Smarty sims. If you can, how do you do it.

[Kyp]

Re. the printer; yes we had ours connected via wifi; setup using the printer menu was fairly straight forward if I remember correctly!

[jbswagger]

Cheers.

Did you use a phone as a hotspot or mobile broadband dongle?

[Captain_Morgan]

Use a 4g/5g router…

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Kyp]

jbswagger said:

Cheers.

Did you use a phone as a hotspot or mobile broadband dongle?

I used a spare smartphone I had knocking about as a wifi hotspot, or as captain morgan says, you can purchase a 4g/5g router but I'm too tight for that!

Smarty uses the 3 network so check the signal in your area using their website just to make sure you have a decent mobile signal, and you're good to go. Just shout if you need any help!

[jbswagger]

Cheers, will check the signal and take it from there. I'd also, like to avoid the expense of a router

[jbswagger]

I've checked the coverage checker with 3 site and it says only 4g is available at the property. Will this be OK or should I try and find a network with 5g

EDIT: Doesn't looK like there are any 5g networks in the town.

Edited by jbswagger on Monday 25th April 12:17

[Kyp]

jbswagger said:

I've checked the coverage checker with 3 site and it says only 4g is available at the property. Will this be OK or should I try and find a network with 5g

My phone was 4g only but worked a treat so I would say it's not a problem; I suppose it worked well for us as we live in a bungalow and there are just the two of us! Do any other family members have unlimited data on their phone contracts? If so it's a doddle to tether a laptop/desktop to a phone which may help your situation.

Edited by Kyp on Monday 25th April 12:26

[jbswagger]

Thanks.

Unfortunately, no one has unlimited data on their phone contract.

[NDA]

Captain_Morgan said:

Use a 4g/5g router…

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

This.

Don't have a 'data' contract - just a regular SIM only deal - it's what I did and managed for a year on that.

[nyt]

I used: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-AI-Cube-Unlocked-W... - worked well

Be sure to select a SIM from a company that has good coverage in the area that you're moving to, Only vodafone gave me a reliable connection.

[nyt]

jbswagger said:

Thanks.

Unfortunately, no one has unlimited data on their phone contract.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/three-5g-unlimited-datamin-text-12month-sim-ps16-per-month-ps65-quidco-premium-cashback-ps1058pm-effective-cost-at-three-3925184

[jbswagger]

Thanks for the heads up

That's a 12mth contract whereas another option has no contract.

[NDA]

I tried to get to the bottom of a 'data contract' Vs a regular SIM contract. It seems to be the case that a data contract is designed for businesses for more than 20 simultaneous connections - but none of this was properly confirmed or written down anywhere. Seems to be a bit of a grey area.

A regular SIM only deal - either PAYG or a 12 month contract, seems to be the way to go. As others have said, try to test which airtime provider has the best coverage at the property. If, by chance, it's '3', go for a SMARTY contract, they're very competitive.

[LeeM135i]

When WFH Covid started I picked up a Vodafone 4g data sim and transmitter box thing as our home broadband couldn't handle both of us on Teams/Skype/GoToMeeting. The connection was good and where we live far faster than the cable broadband we have.

I have now cancelled it but it was around £25 a month on a rolling one month contract with unlimited data. I just plugged it into a power socket in my office and connected my laptop / TV to it. Only real issue is the WiFi range wasn't that great so if I went somewhere else in the house I had to take it with me instead of leaving it in the office. You can get a bigger more powerful WiFi transmitter if needed.

[jbswagger]

Thanks all info