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Thread: Mobile broadband, any good?

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    Squirrely tigerboyce's Avatar
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    Mobile broadband, any good?

    Hey guys,

    Within the next week I'll be moving into my own rented flat, and having received the postcode yesterday I have begun looking at the various options for getting it connected to the internet. But being the only occupant and within itself that probably not using the internet too much im revising the options I have...

    There is a phone-line installed, and no cable as far as I know, so I'm pretty much stuck with (I think):

    Getting a line from BT (£13) and then broadband on top (£10+)
    Finding out with Virgin if there is cable/finding out with the landlord if I can (£13)
    Mobile Broadband (£varies)

    I am familiar with the first two options, having used both in the past, but I am a complete novice when it comes to mobile broadband and how good it really is. For starters how does it work? Can I get it through my mobile, I'm planning on taking out a contract if this is the way as im using pAYG right now and looking to move up to contract smartphones. Can I access the internet on my PC through this and how does that work?

    If so is it actually viable to do so? My main activities are fairly standard but do generally play online games often, but is set to change with a full time job.

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    Insomnia Robscure's Avatar
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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    Quote Originally Posted by tigerboyce View Post
    Hey guys,

    Within the next week I'll be moving into my own rented flat, and having received the postcode yesterday I have begun looking at the various options for getting it connected to the internet. But being the only occupant and within itself that probably not using the internet too much im revising the options I have...

    There is a phone-line installed, and no cable as far as I know, so I'm pretty much stuck with (I think):

    Getting a line from BT (£13) and then broadband on top (£10+)
    Finding out with Virgin if there is cable/finding out with the landlord if I can (£13)
    Mobile Broadband (£varies)

    I am familiar with the first two options, having used both in the past, but I am a complete novice when it comes to mobile broadband and how good it really is. For starters how does it work? Can I get it through my mobile, I'm planning on taking out a contract if this is the way as im using pAYG right now and looking to move up to contract smartphones. Can I access the internet on my PC through this and how does that work?

    If so is it actually viable to do so? My main activities are fairly standard but do generally play online games often, but is set to change with a full time job.
    Forgive me if I'm on the wrong track here

    If you're referring to something like a USB broadband pay as you go, 3G network, etc... Then my experience has been bad, I had Vodafone's 3G... It's extremely slow to load even webpages let alone to do anything else with, and it had a bandwidth usage limit.

    Read all of the details first and make sure you check into the limits and speed and what people have said. It will most likely be impossible to game on such an internet connection.

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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    Depends on how good a 3G signal you get in your house location, but for some its as good or better(!) than an ADSL - take a look at this thread:

    http://forums.hexus.net/networking-b...-use-home.html

    Providing you have good 3G reception in your house, the only real downside (apart from download limts) is the high pings,
    3G broadband is poor for online gaming.
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    Jay
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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    in the North West it's really patchy, I can't really say I have had any good feedback although my 3G phone has never really let me down.
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    DDY
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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    Mobile broadband can be awesome when you've got a good signal, otherwise you'll get this:



    I just ran this test at my home where 3G reception isn't great.
    Last edited by DDY; 14-11-2010 at 12:34 PM.

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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    Hmm I would be moving to the northwest....

    Pings wont matter too much, I'm used to bad ping and don't play fps anyway just eve really.

    Not really sure which is better though in terms of which, either dongle or tethering, as I mentioned I have no experience of either but I thought that I might be able to just take out a new contract and use tethering to get internet access... Or a dongle from 3

    I'm just opposed to getting a a phone line for no use other than the internet, plus the earliest I could get it done is dec 1st so not only will I be paying for something I wont use, also I'll be waiting for the privilege too.

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    DDY
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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    I hope you’re used to getting kicked from servers because with a ping of over 400 (like I did on a moderate signal) you’re going to have a virtual sore bottom.

    Having one contract for calls and data would definitely be the most cost effective solution if you tether but I find ‘direct’ solutions for mobile broadband such as USB dongles or internal WWAN card provide the best performance; with O2 I managed 6Mb/s 50ms on my Dell E6400 with its onboard 5530 mobile broadband card sitting under a phone mast where I struggle to acheive pings better than 100ms and speeds of 3Mb tethering on my HTC Tattoo. The poor performance could just be the phone and operator (Orange) since I managed better stats with a MiFi (3G).

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    Squirrely tigerboyce's Avatar
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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    That's what I was thinking, there is a £10/month contract I could get with T-mobile, which includes unlimited (3gb) internet use and pretty low minutes and texts but I don't use much minutes or texts at all, and then I can pay £300 and get a HTC Desire HD with all that and use it to tether to my pc. ( I was planning on a new phone soon anyway)

    I'm just worried about how well it will perform though, not sure if its worth going with to see if its fine and then continue, or to just take out a normal connection at a later date if its not enough. same applies to a dongle but the short contract ones are fairly pricy

    I might just have to shell out the £30 for full phone and broadband use.

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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    Double check the T-mobile terms and conditions, when I took out a contract the basic internet packages for phones specifically disallowed tethering. Might have changed now though.

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    Squirrely tigerboyce's Avatar
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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    Yes it does mention that, but a rep seems to think different stating that its fine within the fair use data allowance..
    http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/discus...6dd2137000728a

    Hi JeroldD

    As with all handsets which include WnW Plus (always on internet including Android) tethering on the X10 is allowed and the data used counts towards your 3GB per month data allowance.

    Tether to your hears content (but not over 3GB per month that is)


    Barry
    T-Mobile Forum Team

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    Re: Mobile broadband, any good?

    Thats interesting, just checked the T&Cs and android phones come with web and walk plus, rather than the standard web and walk, so looks like tethering is allowed.

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