Are dongles any good?

Are dongles any good?

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The only reason I have a home landline is because of broadband. Like most, I use my mobile. I am thinking about getting rid of the landline at home.

I have never used dongles before. Can they replace landline broad band? My plan is use the dongle both at home and at work. I pay £15pm for broad band at work (office)

I do not dowmload films or music. Though I do not understand when they say 3GB download limit. Would this apply to emails/internet browsing?

Are dongles good replacement for landline broad band?

Thanks

Replies (17)

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Rebecca Benneyworth profile image
By Rebecca Benneyworth
18th Oct 2010 10:26

Try it out first

I have dongles on two different air time providers. I have used them out on the road but spend almost 100% of my time tearing my hair out as it takes so long for even a single web page to load. Most of the people I talk to find that even 3G coverage is much much slower than broadband - and that's when you have a good signal.

If you can borrow one and try at home and office to make sure that the signal is good enough I would strongly recommend that; then you can see if you have the patience to work with it.

I would also recommend that you price up an "unlimited" contract as charges if you go over useage can be very high - I once incurred around £70 in a month downloading Budget material! Even without films and TV online, if someone sends you a photo it can be several MB and start eating into your limit. Generally there is no really good way of keeping a track on your useage and unlimited might be better.

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By User deleted
18th Oct 2010 10:45

Mobile phone tether ...

Alternatively try tethering a mobile phone - although a lot depends on the mobile and your contract

For one example (Android) see PdaNet - http://pdanet.en.softonic.com/

 

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By cverrier
18th Oct 2010 13:42

I wouldn't

3G internet (via a dongle) isn't going to be anywhere near as good as your landline connection - even if you live in the centre of a big city.   Forget what it says on the adverts.

The monthly data-cap (3 Gigs) will be fine for normal email usage provided you don't have people sending you HUGE data files.

 

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By carnmores
18th Oct 2010 14:31

i have 3 wifi hot spotter

its not great and i would go for a fixed connection every time

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FT
By FirstTab
18th Oct 2010 17:54

Another mistake avoided

Thanks for the response. I was taken in by the adverts on dongles. They are not a replacment (yet!) for the landline broadband. Once again AW community response has stopped me making a mistake. Thank you.

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By carnmores
18th Oct 2010 18:28

i am about to try another one - glutton for punishment

so hold on

the aternative might be BTopenzone / BTFon - you may want to have a look at that and trial it - its not the same as a landline connection exactly but pretty close

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Rebecca Benneyworth profile image
By Rebecca Benneyworth
18th Oct 2010 18:47

BT Openzone

Brilliant little dodge. I have a subscription to this too! If you have BT broadband you can get Openzone for £5 per month. It's not unlimited capacity but it is quite good.

I find the only problem with it is some hotels that have it (Ramada Jarvis do, and some Holiday Inns at least) use such a low strength booster that I have to sit in the bar (that's my excuse anyway) to get a signal. Paddington station - on concourse (2 million people) good reception - first class lounge, not a sausage! But at least it's cheaper than £30 a night that some hotel chains charge!! Quite a few motorway services have it too - although the move to free hotspots is starting there.

So in short - look for your hotspots and make sure you can use it there & off you go.

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By carnmores
18th Oct 2010 19:19

see you in the bar at Paddington then

burp...

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Sarah Douglas - HouseTree Business Ltd
By sarah douglas
18th Oct 2010 19:33

See if you can get a better deal on your broadband

Hi 

When I signed up for my I phone .  I had been paying £15 with BT .  O2 offered me for a year £2.50 a month which they kept too , this year its now £7 as a O2 mobile user .  Be Un Ltd and others do better deals .  Also take a look at a all in one package phone, tv, broadband.  Because I moved to O2 for bradband  Bt then offered it to me a  £11 pounds.  

On the subject of costs for telephone and Broadband  BT also have a good deal where it is £4.95 a month for all your landline calls including 0845 numbers and 0870 numbers ,  considering how much we now need to speak to HM that is quite good.  Both things have taken my broadband and phone costs down.

As an office we also use skype video calling which is free and our clients seem to like it .  Most new computers have a camera in them, and is useful if you are not wanting to pay for extra lines.

The skype is also great for online conversations when asking general questions as it keeps  that  away from your email which is usually overloaded.

-- Kind Regards Sarah@ Douglas Accountancy & Bookkeeping Services, Glasgow

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Rebecca Benneyworth profile image
By Rebecca Benneyworth
18th Oct 2010 19:37

Not til I've got a bit more hair!

Scary sight at the moment - white stubble (still too short to be a No 1 according to OH), and put on two stone. I thought chemotherapy would be the ultimate diet!! Sadly 4 moths of steriods has done the opposite. Just ordering a marquee to wear for Christmas. Trying to stay out of circulation - and another 5 weeks of radiotherapy to go!

Oh well, roll on 2011!

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By pauljohnston
21st Oct 2010 11:48

Depending

on where you live if cable passes the door Virgin offer just broadband for about £6pm and it is fast

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By julie.severn
21st Oct 2010 12:47

Alternative broadband

Not sure where you live, but we can only get a very poor version of dial up (38kb on a good day and everyone else thinks 3mb is slow - don't know they're born etc).

Anyhow, as we're in Wales, we've applied for a grant to get satellite broadband (still waiting to hear, fingers crossed).  Hopefully if it turns out to be good enough we can hopefully use VOIP phone system and shun BT altogether - no need for a phone line at all you see.  Same as you at the moment, pay them £13 a month and only make about one phone call a week.

Tried dongles but no use, none of them have decent coverage yet - even being indoors apparently affects the signal.  Had to walk half way up a hill the other side of the brook just to get internet on my mobile.

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By tim hervey
21st Oct 2010 14:39

BT Fon / BT Openzone

Rebecca - great to see and hear you're back in circualtion even if not in public just yet. I wish you a speedy recovery.

I have BT Total Broadband for home use and ages ago subscribed to BT Fon which basically means electing in to allow one's own BT router (Hub) to be shared by anyone in close proximity without compromising one's own home service or security. Sign up is free and in return i get free access to 1.6 million and growing hotspots worldwide. Google BT Fon for more information.

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By sallycox
21st Oct 2010 14:50

Your Health

Hi Rebecca

So very glad to see you are still on good form with your postings on Accounting Web.

I always look out for yours, as you obviously put a great deal of thought & effort into things before posting them on AW for us all. It is most pleasing that you are well enough to still be doing this. Keep it up, I know I speak for many when I wish you well & hope that you will be OK.

With very best wishes

Sally Cox (ATT Branch Rep, CIOT/ATT East Midlands)

 

 

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By ggriffit
21st Oct 2010 16:12

Is 3G better than Broadband at home?

Hi, I have done a little bit of research and some usage testing into this very subject, as I travel alot and would say the following from my own experience:

I have replaced my broadband at home, I was getting max. 1.8Mbs download les than half that upload, BT said I was on an 8Mbs line/contract ulimited use and I was less than 2 miles from the digital exchange. I put a 'sniffer' which is a program to test bandwidth speed. Follow the link to test yours, http://www.bandwidthplace.com/   this checks your current actual speed not what the provider tells you in their marketing/sales splurb. After you find out your speed, you can as previously stated get a 3G dongle for test of a friend or colleague. I found Vodafone best for useage and speed but it is location dependant, I get 7.2Mbs with 3G and I live about 12 miles from the nearest big city. Clearly mobile data is fast in certain locations more so than I have found with WiFi but the mobile providers are getting wise and it is hard to find an unlimited tariff now (rule of thumb if you have a good signal on your phone then it will be the same for the dongle). The Three Network has 15GB tariffs for £15 pounds I think, also vodafone has a good variety of business tariffs but always check their websites for the current offers. You could also as a test use your mobile 3G phone as a modem via the lead that connects it to your laptop to test the 3G speed at home first (your handbook will tell you how). There is another alternative a sort of best of both worlds perhaps and that is to use a WiFi/3G/UTMS combi router which alows you to use both WiFi and 3G together and it allows devices with just WiFi capacity in the home or office to connect to a faster 3G network if requirred. So if your home or office has a poor WiFi it allows the WiFi devices phones/PDA’s and laptop/desktops to use the faster 3G network so one router can support upto 5 concurrent computers (maybe more test it). Linksys and Cisco and Netgear all make this type of router,  I bought mine from PC world for £120 pounds. So when you ask your mobile provider for your 3G data sim card you need to ask for a PCMIA adapter which fits the slot in the top of the Wifi router and or, the PCMIA slot in your laptop if you have one. Normally older laptops do, otherwise go for a normal 3G dongle which fits the USB port and has all the software already loaded. Tip: disable or disconnect from your WiFi first, disable the virus protector, plug in the dongle and follow the onscreen instructions. When your computer reboots the virus protector, should be reactivated automatically. The 3G dongle will automatically connect to the network and you should see the speed anything from 1.8 to 7.2Mbs next year early 2011, Vodafone is launching 14Mbs then it truely will be a no brainer to switch to 3/4G. I assume then they will get you on usage never will be in the customers favour it seems. I hope this has helped................... 

 

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By ggriffit
21st Oct 2010 16:22

Is 3G quicker than Broadband at home?

Try these bandwidth tester web sites also for variation, you will see they all vary.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/broadband-speedtest/

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/speed-test.asp?kt=1166&gclid=CLCNi5Oh5KQCFU1h4wod4WgfJQ

You should get a good indication from these, I found the one I posted in my earlier answer inconsistant.

Thanks

 

 

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By carnmores
22nd Oct 2010 12:00

Rebecca

ive seen how lovely you look on your webcasts, any way a temporary weight gain is often unavoidable in these situations so dont beat yourself up about it or hide your glowing light under a bushel

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