Experiences please good and bad about using these. Currently in Spain with very unreliable site wifi. Another resident has a Vodaphone dongle giving 50 gig per month on a monthly contract at £30 / month ( plus original cost of dongle) the speed is acceptable and I'm considering doing the same. But reviews are very mixed and VF service comes out pretty badly. Would like to hear any views of VF and O2 or others. Thanks
4G Dongles in France Spain
- Thread starter RayS
- Start date
Now that your phone use in Europe is part of your UK contract, would it not be an option to tether to your mobile and buy bolt ons if you don't have the data allowance.
I was in Spain, Portugal & Gibraltar in December and used my O2 contract phone for e-mails, calls, texts, watts app, video conference and browsing with no probs and no added costs as in previous years.
Or get a local sim card deal for data only if they are cheap enough.
I was in Spain, Portugal & Gibraltar in December and used my O2 contract phone for e-mails, calls, texts, watts app, video conference and browsing with no probs and no added costs as in previous years.
Or get a local sim card deal for data only if they are cheap enough.
Same here , l used my phone in Holland last year on my normal contract on my mobile , emails, calls & WhatsApp etc with no extra charges.
................+1
I agree with the others and don't really see the point of dongles any more.
I use a smart phone and can buy extra data over and above the monthly allowance if needed.
If a larger screen is needed I use the phone for internet access and tether it to a tablet or laptop.
If you find yourself on a site that has good wifi when abroad, a VPN is useful as it allows you access to websites that are geographically locked to a set area.
I agree with the others and don't really see the point of dongles any more.
I use a smart phone and can buy extra data over and above the monthly allowance if needed.
If a larger screen is needed I use the phone for internet access and tether it to a tablet or laptop.
If you find yourself on a site that has good wifi when abroad, a VPN is useful as it allows you access to websites that are geographically locked to a set area.
We've previously used a dongle in Portugal but it only worked in that country.
Now we've got smart phones we use them for browsing, emails etc but I was interested to read Gafferbills comment above about tethering a laptop to the phone. Could you explain how this is done?
Now we've got smart phones we use them for browsing, emails etc but I was interested to read Gafferbills comment above about tethering a laptop to the phone. Could you explain how this is done?
PaulT said:
This is an EE web-page but the same applies whoever the provider is
:
http://ee.co.uk/help/add-ons-benefits-and-plans/wifi-and-tethering/tethering-your-device
Anseo said:
With a contract most SPs will allow you to tether. However on PAYG many will not. EE, O2 and 3 will not allow you to tether on PAYG - can't speak for VF - but some MVNOs will. GiffGaff (on O2) for instance will allow anyone paying up to £10 a month (or £12 on data only) to tether. How do you tether on data only? Well technically not tethering but it applies to mi-fi units.
For the record we were using a Huawei mi-fi in North Norfolk (near Holt) on EE last October on a very scratchy signal and I was pulling 45Mb/s. EE 4G is undoubtedly the best but that is probably because they are providing the infrastructure for the upcoming replacement for the Airwave emergency services radio network so are having to install something like 380 additional site in England and Wales to give the geographical coverage (as against population coverage) that the emergency services need.
We have a "3" phone SIMM only contract with a high data allowance and the right to tether. It has so far worked well in all areas of France yet used in, making bothering with site wifi no longer a requirement for our needs, though that has not required "streaming". The main quantity of data consumed is reading Daily Telegraph, my wife's daily fix. As an observation, we have found coverage in rural France noticeably better provided for than we have in the UK.
Gafferbill said:
The link refers to Android phones but IPhones can do it as well using pretty much the same approach to setting it up. I have a 8gb data allowance with my EE SIM contract but it can only be used in UK, whereas my wife has 5gb with full EU roaming. So for both SIMS we pay less than £12 pm in total. So when in the EU I hotspot/tether mine to hers, or would buy a data pack as a one of purchase to cover the trip. But so far I haven't needed to do this. In UK the biggest burden on my data is my grandkids who set up the hotspot when mum and dad won't top up their allowance.
To ensure that we don't run out of battery I always have a portable power pack topped up.
I am currently with vf.and wife is with ee.in the past 2 years we have noticed a considerable amount of change in the reception going from ee was the best but now find that vf are the best,i did go into a vf shop and look at the said dongles and there are various packages avail and 1 was the 50gb.it was noted that if you are a vf customer it reduces to £25(plus dongle) but also a discount was given on that too.
We do use a stream sat box for when away and was going to buy 1 to try but found that our stream box only uses minimal data so wasnt needed and only use our hotspoy on phonne now.Incidently i have a 8gb on phoen and that lasts me a month easily.
We do use a stream sat box for when away and was going to buy 1 to try but found that our stream box only uses minimal data so wasnt needed and only use our hotspoy on phonne now.Incidently i have a 8gb on phoen and that lasts me a month easily.
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