Temporary Internet access while in between homes?

[Greenfairydust]

I sold my flat and I am moving to a rental for about 6 to 8 months while I purchase a new house.

I am trying to find a way to get internet access set up in the rental flat without having to tie myself up into a long term wifi contract or a BT landline as I will be moving again soon.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do?

I have been reading about Dongles and Mi-fi that seem to give temp internet access for a laptop but I am a bit lost at all the options...

I can use cafes or the local library for the first few days to work but that obviously can't be a permanent solution. Any advice much welcome!

I used my phone with unlimited data and hot spotted it

You can get a 4g or 5g router from three or ee (depending on the signal at your location) which has a sim card inside it like a phone does. You plug it in and connect to it like any other WiFi but it doesn't need a phone line or cables. And you can take it with you if you go somewhere else. We got one when we moved and actually never went back to cable broadband as it's really fast (and cheaper). Full fibre would be quicker but we don't have that here yet.

@Techno56
''You can get a 4g or 5g router from three or ee (depending on the signal at your location) which has a sim card inside it like a phone does. You plug it in and connect to it like any other WiFi but it doesn't need a phone line or cables. And you can take it with you if you go somewhere else. We got one when we moved and actually never went back to cable broadband as it's really fast (and cheaper). Full fibre would be quicker but we don't have that here yet.''

Thank you! That's what I was looking at online today so It is good to hear someone with a positive experience of using these. I don't think I can get 5g where I am going in Kent so it will have to be 4g :)

Ours was only 4G to start with and then they upgraded the mast. It was still quick enough for my husband to WFH and for my son to do gaming online.

I think if you want to play shooting games on busy servers it might not be quite fast enough to escape lag but that's quite a niche interest really 😁

I should add a caveat here, we can see the mast from our front window! So I guess it does depend on your location but if your phone data works then so will the WiFi.

We had a mobile WiFi modem from Vodafone on a monthly rolling contract for about £35 per month. It was good enough to run 2 laptops, fire stick, an iPad, and 2 phones off it without any issues. I seem to remember finding a website where I could check the coverage for the postcode. I found Vodafone irritating to deal with but the broadband did work well enough to work from home, do zoom or Teams calls.

I'm in the same position as we're having work done on our house and we've moved into a rental property for 6 months. I google it and found Now we're paying monthly it had a £65 upfront fee but it was cheaper than doing a 12 month contract and just finishing early. Took about 2 weeks to set up. I WFh some days and my teen games and we didn't think the mobile single would be good enough. No problems with NOW so far.

I bought a GlocalMe as my family travel quite a lot and we can use it abroad but it also works in the U.K.

Might be worth checking, especially if you or close family travel a lot.
I have found it brilliant so far, but only used overseas. The reviews say the U.K. part is as good though.

To add, I think the signal checker is on the Ofcom website, where you can compare coverage by provider by putting in your postcode

In the end I got a 4G wifi router from EE. Easy to set up & use.

It is working well so far and I have had no issues with working from home, watching films and so on.

Good to know - I'm assuming that, like a regular router, it needs a mains power supply? I've been thinking about mobile broadband options in case of power cuts, as I work from home.

Yes it does need the mains. The only option in a power cut is hot spot off your phone but the battery in that (or the laptop) wouldn't last long I don't think

I've used a dongle with a Smarty sim, plugged the dongle into a USB plug making it a modem and then connected my devices to the wifi. its a 1 month contract so you arent tied in for long, Currently £18 per month for unlimited and about £10 for the Dongle on eBay

To check what your signal is like if you put your postcode into the Three signal checker as Smarty is run on the Three network, www.three.co.uk/Discover/Network/Coverage

Ive had great experiences with this, only for the fact I need a landline in my now permanent home I would have stuck with Smarty,

Hope this helps.

It had no problems running my house cameras and doorbells, so 6 cameras and 2 doorbells, plus streaming on 2 TVs and 4 alexas, also my phone, tablet, laptop and other devices with no strain at all

Your Internet provider should supply you with a dongle so you have Internet whilst you wait for them to do whatever it is they need to before you get proper Internet again.

When we moved BT supplied us with a dongle to use free of charge as we both work from home. It did the job for the 10 days before our proper Internet was sorted.

Good job my DH and ds aren't Mumsnetters @ILoveAllRainbowsx as they would love to get one of those Jackeries. In reality my DH has a powered wheelchair with some mega batteries on it, so if we had to, we'd tap into that. Plus we have a load of external battery packs as well.

@tribpot you can just plug it into your laptop to charge it.

@toastfiend
''Your Internet provider should supply you with a dongle so you have Internet whilst you wait for them to do whatever it is they need to before you get proper Internet again.''

I am actually renting for 6 months while my new house purchase go through then I will set myself up again with a proper internet provider once settled in my long term home.

I’m in a similar situation but needed decent wifi for wfh. I’ve just gone with BT as they had a half price deal and have just accepted I will need to stay with them when I move house. (You can stay on your contract).

previously I had Zen as they were one of the few that offered it on a rolling month by month basis but j don’t know if they’re still doing that and when I looked this time the price wasn’t as good as BT

Transitioning between homes can indeed make setting up traditional broadband cumbersome, especially with long-term contracts and installation delays. A practical solution is to opt for a short-term internet rental service that offers flexibility without the need for a landline. MovingInternet.co.uk specializes in providing temporary home internet with unlimited data. Their service requires no installation—simply plug in the device, and you're online. This is particularly beneficial for stays ranging from a few weeks to several months, ensuring you remain connected without the commitment of a lengthy contract.