Mobile Broadband dongle

Harriers9

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Philip
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I'm away at a friends house in IOW in August and they don't have the internet so I'll be getting a dongle to use.

I've looked at the EE Osprey in PC World at £11 for 30 days. I asked the assistant if, once the 30 days is up, could I use my own sim card from my phone in it he said no. Was he correct?

Do I have any other options? I'm actually with Vodaphone btw.
 
If your phone provider allows and your phone has the option you can make your phone into a router and connect via that.
 
Does that £11 cover the initial cost of the Osprey, or are you signing up to an annual contract ?

Yes he is correct, you can't unlock the device so it is tied to EE

I have one and have to say they are good, I paid some money up front to own the device and
have a relaxed monthly contract that I can cancel at any time, very useful when out and about and I need a connection
 
If your phone provider allows and your phone has the option you can make your phone into a router and connect via that.

I asked that question in PCW and he said that it would be expensive due to being charged twice for the same amount of data. One for the phone and again for the laptop.

Does that £11 cover the initial cost of the Osprey, or are you signing up to an annual contract ?

Yes he is correct, you can't unlock the device so it is tied to EE

I have one and have to say they are good, I paid some money up front to own the device and
have a relaxed monthly contract that I can cancel at any time, very useful when out and about and I need a connection

Actually I got that wrong. It should have been £14 inclusive of data for 30 days and £11 when I want to use it again. I asked him if I didn't use the Osprey for another 6 months would I just be able to re-activate it and he said no I would have to buy another sim card at £11 or whatever the going rate is then.

So if I bought an unlocked one off the Bay then I could use my phones sim card then?
 
Don't know why you would be charged twice, if you contract allows for tethering you would be using your data allowance.

If however you use that allowance quickly it may get expensive which is why it may be better going the route of getting an unlocked dongle and a sim with enough data.
 
I asked that question in PCW and he said that it would be expensive due to being charged twice for the same amount of data. One for the phone and again for the laptop.

He is talking out of his rear.

You can set your mobile for tethering and connect another Wifi enabled device to it to share the data.

Some companies limit the amount of overall data you can use for tethered devices but they don't charge twice.

If you go over your limit, they may apply a charge but you won't be charged twice.
 
It's surprising how much free wifi is available one way or another.
I often get emails on smartphone when in town with data turned off.
I'd try your phone hotspot now, see how it works - I find surprisingly well on Virgin PAYG - but some of them don't allow it on a contract
 
I asked that question in PCW and he said that it would be expensive due to being charged twice for the same amount of data. One for the phone and again for the laptop.
Total utter nonsense. I tether my laptop to my phone all the time, got a 36GB/month contract on that exactly for that reason. When we were in the New Forest earlier in the month there was no Wifi but I had full 4G in the cottage so my whole family connected to my phone.

So if you have the data arrangement on you phone anyway, and you only need it when you are there as well, then why would you want two data contract, two devices to charge etc....It is different though if you had say a small team and you couldn't guarantee for you to be there. For that purpose I had for a task force team a suite of flightcases with laptops/printer and WiFi data dongle at the ready. But for personal use, nah....
 
My phone contract clearly states "No tethering"
But would they actually know if I did?
 
My phone contract clearly states "No tethering"
But would they actually know if I did?

Probably,

At work we allow data on our Blackberries but no tethering.

It's physically possible, as we found out when bills had "other data" on them and we asked what it meant.

Users had to pay for the unauthorised data usage.
 
I just tried tethering and I used 8mb of data in a minute connecting to my ASUS tablet

I have 1GB of data on my contract so over a 4 day period how much would I use if I used it for a hour a day?
 
I just tried tethering and I used 8mb of data in a minute connecting to my ASUS tablet

I have 1GB of data on my contract so over a 4 day period how much would I use if I used it for a hour a day?
Impossible to say, totally depends on what you are doing. Duration is not the primary indicator.
 
It'll be to see how Kidderminster Harriers are doing basically and updating the website that I run for them.

Sod's law she (my beloved) wants to go and visit her father in Godshill on the first day of the season. So I'll have to update the site the previous day with the preview and then keep track via FB, Twitter and radio on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully someone will be doing the match report for me but I still have to upload it through the system. Emails too.

I think I might be using quite a bit of bandwidth tbh.
 
I have an Osprey Mini 2 with me. Was £24 with a 6Gb preloaded SIM on EE.

Got it unlocked for 99p via the Bay.

Am in Ireland on a 3 Ireland all you can eat data package at €19 per month which is working fine. It will work on the same deal in the UK on the 3 at home deal . My IPad has a 15Gb/£15 monthly 3 UK deal which allows me to roam in Ireland via 3 at home deal. I have had this deal a while but runs out at the end of August. You can pick up the 3 Ireland all you can eat deal via EBay. The seller registers it in Ireland an you get the At Home service in the Uk. At some point 3 Ireland may drop the all you can eat data deal but it was there when I last looked. My 3 uk phone is great over here for calling home and same the other way for my 3 Ireland phone.

It is financially the cheapest for me and as I am traveĺing I use mobile broadband 90% of the time, it just works. The Ipad data is an added time limited bonus.
 
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