Mobile Broadband coverage, Keswick, Lake District

[mickywillis]

Can anyone tell me if there is any Mobile Broadband coverage in the above area?
Just been looking at the Vodaphone website, with a view to buying a USB dongle to use whilst on holiday and it looks like the coverage is fairly limited/non existent!!
If the Vodaphone one has limited coverage, what other mobile service provider would you recommend that has good coverage in this area? Would also like to use it on the boat in Langstone harbour, so good UK coverage is more important than costs.
Thanks.

 

[Lakesailor]

Vodafone is generally the best coverage for the Lakes, certainly the South Lakes. 3G coverage is much more patchy.
You're on holiday. Forget the web.

 

[glynnffc]

Broadband coverage

Hi,
I have no idea about mobile broadband coverage around keswick, but the darned mobile doesn't even work in most of the lake district so I wouldn't bank on getting through to ybw.com in those idle moments between showers.

 

[AIDY]

sorry no help up north... but i have a voda dongle and have used it from the solent to falmouth area and had good 3g coverage all the way down few place's and at peak times it's either been patchy or reverted to GPRS. but generally excellent coverage. you may need a usb extension to hang out side or up the mast a bit to help coverage....... i was in langstone last weekend and got 3g also 2 miles out into hayling bay doing 8 knots

 

[WindermereColvic]

Internet accsess in Keswick Library and the net cafe on the high street.

 

[mickywillis]

Argos are selling the Vodaphone dongle for £29.99 at the moment, I may just take a chance?
I'm assuming that the Argos deal includes the £15 inclusive 1Gb allowance as its not clear by the advert for it on the website (but the catalogue number is the same as the one in the new catalogue and that does show the £15 allowance included)
I need it so i can keep and eye on emails and also to see wot 2 do whilst in the lakes. Quite keen to get a sail in somewhere (see my other post) and the 'net is a good place to find contacts.

 

[Hugh Foulis]

Vodafone in Keswick is OK but outside the urban area is patchy. When one duty we carry two mobiles one is Vodafone the other manx telecom The vodafone is the best average cover in Cumbria but the geography means that coverage is never going to be perfect. The manx telecom phone behaves like a foriegn phone and roams so finding the strongest signal, even so its possible to be out of coverage. Even the police airwaves have some loss of signal. I also have vhf/uhf r/t set in the car.
I do agree with Lakey though, that you are on hols up here then enjoy the area and forget tinternet.

Have a good time

HF

 

[Vanilla]

All I can say is good luck with the Vodaphone dongle. I rate it the worst buy of my life and am stuck with a year left of a 2 year contract.

I can barely use it even where I live in London, in Central Brighton where I often am, at the boat in Gosport, nor when travelling around the UK by train, including major cities. It often takes 10 mins to load a single webpage and then disconnects every 45 secs. Even when it says it has good 3G+ signal strength it is virtualy unusable as it is so slow. If you check out some of the mobile internet forums you'll see my experience with Vodaphone is far from uncommon.

About to make a formal complaint as was sold something unfit for purpose and not as described in their blurb.

Rant over....for now!
vanilla

 

[Steve Clayton]

You should buy your dongle on-line so that the purchase is subject to Distance Selling Regulations. Once you activate it you have 7 days in which to formally reject the product (you don't have to specify a reason - it's called a cooling off period). Once rejected you must return the item within a further 7 days and you get your money back (although DSR does not apply to software purchase).

I bought a 3 dongle on contract; it worked fine but was susceptable to delivering a slow; sometimes unusable service when the network was saturated - no problem in cancelling and returning in the timescales indicated with full refund.

Then tried BT; technically the dongle (and wifi service) worked fine with a consistently good and reliable HSPA connection at 7.2Mbits so I'm still with them.