UK wirelss broadband - short term
 

Travelling to UK later this year and just wondering what my options are to get an internet connection for short duration contract perhaps using a wireless USB modem or similar.
Any info or leads greatly appreciated.

Any of the pay as you go 3g USB dongles will get you connected, but they'll be expensive if you start downloading lots of movies/music. Our mobile carriers are Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Three.

What is "short"? A day, a week, a month, a year?

SD

SD,
Probably about two weeks. Short time I know to start up an account but really need to keep the internet access on my computer going..

Are you going to be in one fixed location, or moving about a lot?

In the former case, there may be an available access point (for example, in a hotel).

If you're on the road, then it means a WiFi dongle on a cellular network. Not cheap, but the good ones work well.

A wifi card - PC Card or USB - is obviously essential.

I would think that for that length of time you would be better off looking for standard wifi hotspots rather than 3G.

You can use a mix of either free (e.g. McDonalds), paid on the spot (e.g. Hotels, Wetherspoons, voucher-per-drink) or using a roaming payg account like Freedom4 (previously known as BOZII) or BT Openzone.

SD

I was in UK for 5 weeks in April/May this year, and initially looked at buying a 3 dongle, as they are substantially cheaper than in Australia!

Having gone through every one in the PC store (can't remember the name) and not found one that would work, I gave up. The store checked each one on their PC's (mine's a Mac) and also had each one fail :bored:

So I finished up using wireless networks, which worked just fine around all of England (and a bit of Wales ;)). But if I'd got a working dongle, it may have been more convenient in the long run :ok:

I had a 3 USB mobile broadband device. This had no contract and gave me 12gb for £100 and lasts for 12 months. I believe they also have smaller data packages for less money. Worked really well for me, I ended up using about 600mb per month, using the internet every evening.

I also think they have a 14 day return policy which would be handy.

If you have an iPhone 3G/3Gs, possibly look at an O2 data SIM and 'tethering'?

Alternatively, keep your eyes open for cheap deals nearer the time. There was a deal last week for a free 3-mobile USB dongle with a PAYG deal on one of the websites I saw.

I dont want to rock the boat at the moment but tethering is about the worst option cost wise you can go for.

Can anyone tell me if these dongles are "locked" to the service provider? I want to get one for a short term visit, but would also like to continue using it when i travel and use local chips.

Thanks

Mutt

Tethering an iPhone is the worst deal you can go for. That's the wacky iPhone contract on O2 in the UK.

Tethering my HTC seems to work just fine - I've not been charged a penny (yet) for using it with my laptop. It comes within the "reasonable use" unlimited Internet.

However, I understand a USB dongle is a lot faster. £100 for 12GB for 12 months doesn't look all bad. I don't know if they'd offer a 2-month deal (or whatever).

Thanks very much for the advice. "3" have a 5Gb dongle deal for 15 GBP which seems pretty good. Also the coverage maps are good for the areas I need (Andover and Winchester) but not St Helier :(

From the UK, yes - but since he's coming from the US maybe AT&T are cheaper than O2's wallet-rape? (to "initiate" the tethering) - and then a basic O2 data PAYG SIM would give in-country charges?

I must admit though, I haven't tethered either (due to the rubbish cost) so have no idea if this is how they initiate it. IIRC an unlocked iPhone could have a 3rd party app to do tethering anyway.

Oz actually, WA is abbrev for Western Australia.
Bigpond in Australia also have a dialup roaming system which cost wise is also pretty astronomical not to mention the dramas of finding a line to connect to.

Apols, I thought it was Washington.

Yeah they are but can be unlocked quite cheaply or even for free depending on which one you get.