Wireless internet with a mobile

[Scramble]

Seen a deal with 3 or O2, plug in thing to g on internet.

As you can tell I don't have a clue, it was about £10 or £15 a month. Is it the smae as braodnband, is it crap and drops out all the time, do I have to have a contract with a mobile?/??????

I think this is it with 3 mobile

I don't get it.
Do you use the dongle with a mobile phone, or is it a stand alone thing?

If I pay £10 does that mean I can surf the web for 30hrs, and send texts from computer???

Am I missing the point hat you actually have to have a 3 phone??

It's a stand alone USB modem (a Huawei E220, if it matters) which has its own SIM card. For a tenner a month you get 1GB and for £15/month you get 3GB.

I tried one for a day in Edinburgh. At the computer end it was fine, and pretty easy to install. However, despite getting fast 3G connections, the actual bandwidth I managed was rubbish: 400kbps in the office and 40kbps (slower than a dial up modem) at home. I think 3 have a rubbish internet backbone.

I took it back for a full refund. Others have reported better experiences, but it seems to be very, very dependent on where you are - which rather mocks the idea of "mobile" broadband.

I am waiting for roaming WiFi services (T-mobile, BT Openzone or the Cloud) to get a bit cheaper.

Thanks trying to figure out the best way to get my laptop online, would like to be able to use wifi/????

There are three main wifi operators: T-mobile, BT Openzone and The Cloud. They all do a bit of cross-availability. At the moment T-mobile seems to do the best deals, if you already have a mobile from them.

However, it's not much use in the house, unless you live next to a hot spot (I dream of living next door to Starbucks) in which case it might well be a viable replacement for home broadband.

I normally buy a 24-hour T-mobile pass (for a tenner) when I'm away for work.