Dongles-discussion thread.

[MARTIN3030]

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread on these.

 

In particular it would be good to hear your experiences.

 

 

Which one is the best ?

 

What are the deals ?

 

Pros and Cons ?

 

Where best to buy ?

 

any experiences ?

[locutus]

There are no hard and fast answers to this. All have good points, and all are rubbish if you have no coverage!

 

I'm a little out of touch so not 100% sure on all the latest offers.

 

T-Mobile never charge you more than your contract (they do throttle speeds tho if you use over 3 gig in 1 month)

 

3 have a device called "mifi" that is like a portable hot spot.

 

Vodafone PAYG you pay for an amount of usage (£15 for 3 gig) so for people who use internet infrequently this can work out very cheep.

 

Personally, I haggled 1 gig of usege on my mobile handset, which supports up to 7.2meg speed (I normally get about 2 - 3 meg, which is plenty fast enough for me) and I can connect my mobile handset to my computer and use it that way. Not bad for a freebie!

[Blondmusic]

Ive got 2 T-Mobile dongles, one on contract which my brother now uses and pays me for, the other is pre-paid for a year on the home access scheme.

 

Ive never had any major problems recently but last year i had nothing but trouble with my contract dongle.

 

I was cleaning one morning and unplugged the dongle to shut the pc down and give it a clean. When i switched the pc back on and plugged the dongle back in a red light came up on the dongle. The pc didnt even make a noise when i plugged the dongle in either which is odd. I phoned T-Mobile who told me to send it back to them. They sent me a pre-paid envelope (Royal Mail Special Delivery which took a week to arrive) so i could send it back. Within 2 weeks they sent me a refurbished dongle which came up with the red light when i plugged it into my sisters laptop and refused to work like the last one.

 

Again i phoned T-Mobile who sent me a pack so i could send it back. I sent it back to them then didnt hear anything for several weeks. I phoned them and they said my dongle had been sent out and was in a Royal Mail office waiting to be collected. I had to phone Royal Mail with the reference number and they told me it was at an office in London (i live in the North East of England!) and i could collect it whenever i wanted.

 

I called T-Mobile back telling them where the dongle was then they called me back when they had checked it out. The guy on the phone was really sorry and told me that i had been without my dongle for long enough so he arranged to send a new dongle out which was couriered to me the next day. He said it was too much carry on re-directing the other dongle to me so it was better to send the new one.

 

I did get the dongle the next day and have had no problems since. It seems to work better on my laptop rather than my desktop pc (which is to be replaced this year) but i am happy with the service and the dongle works great.

[locutus]

Something else you can get from t-mobile is a sharedock 100. I believe these are subject to a 2 year contract (or were when I worked for them a year and a half ago).

 

Now I don't know your circumstances, but if your brother is happy, and gonna stick with them for another couple of years maybe you could upgrade his contract and either keep the sharedock yourself if he has wireless internet at home or let him have it if the t-mobile is the only internet he has. Of course that is all up to you, just a thaught

[buzby]

These are NOT broadband replacement devices, and should never be used as an alternative to a cable or ASDL provided connection. Data transfer rates depend on the traffic on your local cell site and the time you access it - so if you need mobile data, they are fine - but not otherwise.

[postggj]

ive used the 3g dongle for the last 2 years,

i have no landline and it works fine

 

lousy customer services though

[buzby]

ALL dongles are 3G!

[postggj]

well 3 mobile

 

you know what i mean:)

[maroondevo52]

I've got a 3 dongle, only used it when my computer went awal, no probs

[Blondmusic]

I cant afford to get a landline put in my house at the moment so i have to rely on the dongle for interent access. I only use it for emails, facebook and CAG really so im not a heavy user of it.

[locutus]

I get 500k broadband down my phone line and 2 to 3 meg over 3 on my better half's phone. If speed were important to me, I'd probably ditch the land line. As it is I prefer to play the odd game online with friends, so ping time is more important and the ADSL slightly has the edge.

[MARTIN3030]

I cant afford to get a landline put in my house at the moment so i have to rely on the dongle for interent access. I only use it for emails, facebook and CAG really so im not a heavy user of it.

 

This was my position following 3 claims for charges with VM

I had no BT line and so was forced to get a dongle as a stopgap.

I will send you pm with some info-I cant post here at this mo.

 

Will post shortly.