Mobile broadband - low-ish bandwidth required
 

Heya,

So have cancelled my BT Infinity service and BT land-line in response to the line rental increase.

Relative to VM's current and future offerings what Openreach are offering outside of taxpayer subsidised and the odd blessed area / new build is ****.

What do people recommend as a SIM-only solution, PAYG would be fine, for backup connection purposes?

Should only need 5GB.

Re: Mobile broadband - low-ish bandwidth required
 

Depends if you intend to use it regularly on an ongoing basis or purely as a 'sit in the cupboard until needed' basis. It also varies a lot depending on whether or not you get LTE coverage in your area, as well as who your current mobile provider is, as it can be cheaper to tack it on to an existing contract than as a separate one.

Re: Mobile broadband - low-ish bandwidth required
 

It's purely a backup if the primary goes down.

There is LTE coverage.

Current mobile provider is VM however EE would be a possibility.

---------- Post added at 19:10 ---------- Previous post was at 17:14 ----------

Ah this was nice to send on Twitter:

@BTCare I have cancelled your service. Your broadband isn't fast enough, your line rental too high. #TryInvestingInNetworkNotFooty

Re: Mobile broadband - low-ish bandwidth required
 

I would say for very occasional use, if speed isn't a huge factor, T-Mobile's pay-per-day/week/month mobile broadband is the best value, £2 a day, £7 a week, £15 a month, 'unlimited' usage subject to fair use policy (which is basically 1GB or 3GB on the month package IIRC, after which you're throttled to 2Mb and restricted to HTTP/HTTPS/POP3/IMAP ports only). Available as SIM only or with a bundled dongle. Not too easy to get hold of now that EE have tried to 'hide' their legacy T-Mobile/Orange brands. 3G only, but they do have the biggest 3G network.

3 UK is the only company doing PAYG broadband on LTE, but also have the least LTE coverage but due to network share with EE, they have it in a few odd places you wouldn't expect:
http://store.three.co.uk/view/search...ufacturerName=
The PAYG + 1/3/12 deals are your best bet, preloaded with data that lasts up to 12-months, after that just top-up and pay-per-day (not sure what the rates are, but starts at 50p for 150Mb). Includes 4G where it's available.

With both the above options you're charged nothing when you do not use it, and top-up credit lasts 'forever' or at least several years, and otherwise just works like a prepay phone which you top up with vouchers or cards.

For an ongoing fee, EE's mobile broadband plans are the best value - 3GB for £15 or 15GB for £20. Although they're 30-day contracts, you have to order a new friggin contract and SIM every time you cancel and want to reactivate so not really a worth it unless you want an ongoing commitment, but at £20 a month it's half the price of a FTTC line already:
http://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-tariffs/sim-only-data-plans

EE do have PAYG 4G MBB, but only with a dongle, and their run-on rates are quite steep.
[Edit] Not so steep anymore, 1GB for £6 or 10GB for £16. They have by far the widest 4G coverage.

If you're willing to tolerate 3 as a mobile provider (uses EE's 2G for backup anyway, and shares their 3G network), their One plan includes free tethering, i.e. using phone as modem/internet connection for a PC, it used to be unlimited but is now capped at 2GB or 4GB per month depending on plan after which it's £5 per GB IIRC. If you know someone with an older One Plan with unlimited tethering willing to part with it they can transfer it over to you and sometimes goes as low as £15 a month.

Re: Mobile broadband - low-ish bandwidth required
 

Avoid EE they are a word I cannot say here, and I cannot wait to cancel when my contract expires in May.

I have 56% no service at work and home I get drop outs, and its been like that since the merger.