Which Wifi for student

[pubrunner]

Hi All,

My son is off to do a one year Master's degree; we've found what we think is ideal accommodation, but it doesn't come with any provision for WiFi.

I've suggested, that he could connect his laptop to the internet, by using the 'Hotspot' from his iPhone ?

Or is there a better option ?

Thank you for any guidance provided.

[DorsetSparky]

pubrunner said:

Hi All,

My son is off to do a one year Master's degree; we've found what we think is ideal accommodation, but it doesn't come with any provision for WiFi.

I've suggested, that he could connect his laptop to the internet, by using the 'Hotspot' from his iPhone ?

Or is there a better option ?

Thank you for any guidance provided.

There may be a limit on this. You can buy a dongle that provides its own WiFi hotspot. Alternatively, seeing as we're in 2025, I would suggest that accomodation that doesn't even provide WiFi is certainly not ideal, and rather, pretty lacking.

[Jamescrs]

Seems strange student accommodation doesn't have a wi-fi provision but as mentioned above I would look at hotspotting from the mobile unless he is using some serious bandwidth reguarly in which case a wireless mobile hotspot maybe more appropriate.

[BlueMR2]

Does it come with wired internet?

[wyson]

Buy a mifi device. You don’t want to hotspot from your phone long term. You’ll just muller your device. Get something designed for it.

[Mr E]

Is there decent cellular coverage in the location?

wyson said:

Buy a mifi device. You don t want to hotspot from your phone long term. You ll just muller your device. Get something designed for it.

Not clear how this damages/wears out a phone. It’s what it’s designed to do.

A 4g/5g capable router might have better antenna and therefore better performance.

[juggsy]

I went to university in the very early 2000s and we had a wired internet connection, seems bizarre there’s absolutely no internet provision. Are you sure there isn’t a wired Ethernet or even a phone line they can utilise?

[Downward]

Just had a Huawei 4g device with £10 Lebara sim with UL data that lasts a month.
Could buy half a dozen sims and he can just change them when the month is up bearing in mind they have a month off for christmas and finish May till september

[GlenMH]

Downward said:

Just had a Huawei 4g device with £10 Lebara sim with UL data that lasts a month.
Could buy half a dozen sims and he can just change them when the month is up bearing in mind they have a month off for christmas and finish May till september

They are closing that loophole. Revised T+Cs state only 5 SIMs per handset in a 12 month period.
Get one of the Money Saving Expert deals: Lebara are currently doing 50GB/month for £1.50/month for months 1-7 and then £9.90/month after. But there is nothing stopping you cancelling at the end of month 7 as it is a 30 day contract.

Get a proper 4g/5g router and provided the coverage on Voda is ok, then that should work well.