PAYG mobile broadband

**Chris** · 07-06-2011, 20:59

I have an iPad with an empty SIM card slot. I don't want to rack up a lot of data charges though - really I just want to be able to pick up and reply to business email when out and about. Web surfing can wait for home, or a wifi-equipped cafe.

I've had a go at looking over the various networks' websites but frankly their offerings seem designed to confuse, or at the least to push bundles that I neither need nor want.

Can anyone help me strip back all the marketing and identify who has the best deal, and how much it's going to cost me?

Having checked network coverage maps against my most regular haunts (remember I live in rural nowhere-shire, so 3G coverage is not guaranteed), Orange seems to be the best, followed by Three. Coverage is a significant factor in all of this.

Anyone got any ideas?

And, while we're at it, recommendations for a decent affordable case with good protection?

Yes, I know, I want the moon on a stick. But you lot are so giving.

DocDutch · 07-06-2011, 21:03

okay I would go for 3 as they look like the better for just pure data.
http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadb...Pad_data_plans

case have a look on the fleabay you'll bound to find something there.

SnoopZ · 07-06-2011, 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocDutch

okay I would go for 3 as they look like the better for just pure data.
http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadb...Pad_data_plans

case have a look on the fleabay you'll bound to find something there.

I have a 3 dongle too and use it if i need to.

I put £10 on it but it does only last 30 days, other providers may last longer, but 3 gives me great signal at home.

danielf · 07-06-2011, 21:42

I've got a data tariff on O2. £3 per month gives me a 100mb allowance. I think you'd struggle to find anything cheaper.

dilligaf1701 · 07-06-2011, 22:18

I have 12 months internet on my iPad with tmobile for £15. The imitations are 500mb a month streaming and unlimited emails / web surfing.

As for a case now that I have my zagmate you are more than welcome to the official iPad 1 case I have if you like.

**Stephen** · 07-06-2011, 22:32

I have a monthly iPad deal with three and I think they offer the best value and largest amount of data.

**Paul M** · 07-06-2011, 22:43

We have both three and O2 for use on holiday, and have generally found three to be more reliable, and pretty much the cheapest as well. Our newer dongle also runs at 7.2M as opposed to 3.6M for the other three and O2 we have.

**Matt D** · 07-06-2011, 23:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

I put £10 on it but it does only last 30 days

That's rather annoying. I remember when PAYG phone credit used to be like that, "use it or lose it" etc. It's a pity we're not yet at the point where PAYG data credit just stays live like normal PAYG phone credit now does, with no expiry.

danielf · 07-06-2011, 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt D

That's rather annoying. I remember when PAYG phone credit used to be like that, "use it or lose it" etc. It's a pity we're not yet at the point where PAYG data credit just stays live like normal PAYG phone credit now does, with no expiry.

I have an old TMobile dongle that had no expiry originally. £10 per Gb IIRC. Then they wised up. Newer Dongles lost credit every month. Mine got changed to 'lose it if you don't log in for 6 months'. I'm sure I've lost it now. Anyway, 'Use it or lose it' appears to be the past rather than the future for data.

heero_yuy · 08-06-2011, 09:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt D

That's rather annoying. I remember when PAYG phone credit used to be like that, "use it or lose it" etc. It's a pity we're not yet at the point where PAYG data credit just stays live like normal PAYG phone credit now does, with no expiry.

Vodafone used to have a no expire 3G dongle so long as you accessed using it at least every 180 days. Fortunatly I bought one of these about 18 months ago as a backup when VM goes down or to get mail etc when I'm away from home. Came with £15 on it. (1 Gbyte) I still have about £7 left after all that time.

Where I use it most (West Cornwall) I can only connect to a slow 2G network hence the low usage.

Interestingly I recently discovered that if you have a virgin.net or virginmedia.com e-mail address you can use VMs smtp servers with your normal VM ID and password(s) to send the mail. Very handy as it avoids having to use webmail.

**Chris** · 08-06-2011, 09:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

I've got a data tariff on O2. £3 per month gives me a 100mb allowance. I think you'd struggle to find anything cheaper.

That's a real pity .... I'd love the cheapest, but in my part of Scotland their 3g coverage is shocking, the moment you leave Glasgow city limits. And as I don't live in the city, and spend very little time visiting the city, I'd end up with something cheap and unusable.

Does anybody know what, if anything, Virgin Mobile does for micro-sim-only customers? I don't want to sign up with them while they're still stuck on T-Mobile (same problem as O2 around here - next to no 3g coverage at all) but once they get access to the full Everything Everywhere network they might be tempting. TBH I've wanted to move both our 2g handsets over to Virgin for years, and it's only the fact that they're carried on T-Mobile that's stopped me.

dilligaf1701 · 08-06-2011, 09:27

Don't let the micro sim thing worry you. You can convert an ordinary sim easily enough

Before I had my tmobile micro sim I was using a sim cutter to cut three Sims down. I had a job lot all with 1gb on them but full size sims.

**Chris** · 08-06-2011, 09:30

I came across a page explaining how to do sim cutting the other day, funnily enough. I'm not averse to having a go, especially as it seems to be a lot easier to get a free regular sim than it is to get a free micro sim.

The problem is, I'm so new to all this I don't even know whether to assume that any regular sim from any network will automatically use 3g if put into a 3g device. Until 2 weeks ago I'd never owned a 3g device. I feel so out of touch ...

dilligaf1701 · 08-06-2011, 09:34

The only sim I couldn't get working was an O2 one, but then suspect that's as my coverage here is so very poor.

**Chris** · 08-06-2011, 09:41

Do you still have any cut-down (or cuttable) Three sims? I've been hammering away at the coverage map pages from all the networks and while none of them is perfect, Three looks to be the best prospect, even if it means waving the iPad around near a window to check for email.