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robmcg

robmcg

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Another IT question! I have an android phone on the 3 network with unlimited data. Boat lives on a swinging mooring with a full 3g signal. Can I use the phone as a dongle? It does have a facility in the setup to become it's own 3g wifi hotspot. If it is possible, is this an inferior setup to using a dedicated 3 dongle. Not looking for lightning fast speeds, just looking up the weather and YBW of course!!! Anyone done/doing this

Rob
 
Hi
I am using this set up on my boat with 3 network and an HTC Desire phone. It really works well either using the mini usb to usb cable supplied with the phone or by setting up phone as a wifi hotspot.
When you plug in the usb lead the phone sees this and gives you the option of charge etc or usb tethering choose this option and thats it.
I find that the speed is the same as the phone around 4meg and is stable infact it is one of the benifits that I did not even consider when getting the phone but has been invaluble when checking weather etc whilst away.
Using a dongle is just some thing else to lose or break the usb tethering option also does not take power from the phone apposed to using the hot spot idea which tends to us the battery very quickly.
 
No it's not inferior ( for all practical intents and purposes ) and yes just turn on the wifi hotspot in settings and connect to it with your laptop.

Neat huh!

Watch out when abroad - costs a fortune - and make sure you don't exceed your bandwidth allocation for the month when at home unless your pockets are reasonably deep!
 
Well I'll go to Cardifff!!! That'll be handy next year. I get a good signal down in Plymouth!! Better check the small print from 3 though regarding this all you can eat data business.

Happy Days!!!!!!!
 
robmcg said:
Well I'll go to Cardifff!!! That'll be handy next year. I get a good signal down in Plymouth!! Better check the small print from 3 though regarding this all you can eat data business.

Happy Days!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I only have a limited allowance (1 Gb) on my 3 tariff, but it copes with a week or two's surfing on the boat once a month - as long as I don't thrash it elsewhere as well.
 
Many of these so-called unlimited tarrifs do forbid that kind of usage, but it is very difficult for them to prove that you've done it. Depends to a large extent what you are doing on the connected computers - if they see large amounts of traffic on ports/protocols for which there is no app for the phone, they can guess that you are probably tethering a computer... I've done it on a small scale on contracts which forbade tethered use without T-Mobile noticing, but I do now pay the extra for permission to tether.
 
maby said:
Many of these so-called unlimited tarrifs do forbid that kind of usage, but it is very difficult for them to prove that you've done it. Depends to a large extent what you are doing on the connected computers - if they see large amounts of traffic on ports/protocols for which there is no app for the phone, they can guess that you are probably tethering a computer... I've done it on a small scale on contracts which forbade tethered use without T-Mobile noticing, but I do now pay the extra for permission to tether.
Click to expand...

Had a check around and 3 will allow 'tethering' on my plan. Also they state that there is now data limits or any kind of fair use clause on this plan, just unlimited internet. Shame I get only 2g reception at home!!
 
Vara said:
Have I missed something?

I thought that with these wizzy phones you could view websites on them without the need for a lap top.
Click to expand...

True. But you try working with a 3.5" screen and a tiny touchscreen keyboard with man hands for any length of time!!! Always good to know it will allow the laptop to connect too for longer spells of reading YBW - like the Rocna thread!!!!!!!!!! ;-)
 
Just to add to the above. Once the computer is connected to the internet various applications including windows may check for updates. In a lot of cases they are set to automatically download. Hence you could find your data useage a lot higher than you expected.
 
robmcg said:
Had a check around and 3 will allow 'tethering' on my plan. Also they state that there is now data limits or any kind of fair use clause on this plan, just unlimited internet. Shame I get only 2g reception at home!!
Click to expand...

What '3' tariff are you on to get 'unlimited' data? I agree that '3' do not in general distinguish between data use ON the phone and data when phone is used as a dongle.

Vic
 
I didn't think tethering was as quick as using a dedicated MiFi - to prevent the phone purely being used as a 3G gateway.. could be wrong but my MiFi gives 4Mbps quite happily and allows VPN connectivity through it..

That's one thing to try - if you need VPN you might find the phone does not allow it through the tethered connection.

Laptop screen is much easier to use than phone.
 
VicMallows said:
What '3' tariff are you on to get 'unlimited' data? I agree that '3' do not in general distinguish between data use ON the phone and data when phone is used as a dongle.

Vic
Click to expand...

The One plan gives you unlimited data and allows tethering. Some of the other 3 plans have data restrictions and/or don't allow the phone to be used to power the laptop internet without the purchase of an add on.

Rob

Here's what 3 say:-

What is all-you-can-eat data?



All-you-can-eat data is part of The One Plan, our latest Pay As You Go tariff or one of our selected Talk and Text plans. It gives you all the internet use you need when you're in the UK.


With all-you-can-eat data there is no restriction or fair use policy on the amount of data you can use. This means you can use your smartphone as you like - so you can download apps, browse the web, look at maps and check your emails as often as you like without worrying about going over your data allowance.


You can get all-you-can-eat data as part of The One Plan or Pay As You Go tariff when you buy an All in One 15 or All in One 25 Add-on. You can also get all-you-can-eat data on selected Talk and Text plans.


Note:


•All-you-can-eat data can't be used abroad, if you use data abroad you'll be charged for it as it isn't included in your allowance.
•All-you-can-eat data on our Talk or Text plans doesn't support tethering. If you would like to tether, you should choose The One Plan, The One Plan SIM Only, or a Talk or Text plan that doesn't have all-you-can-eat data and buy a tethering Add-on, like Add Internet Max or Add Internet and Email instead.
 
Last edited:
I live on my boat and have a Mifi '3' dongle, and a Samsung Galaxy s11 on the '3' network, and the galaxy is about 20% faster on internet connection than my mifi dedicated data dongle whether tethered or operating as a mobile wifi hotspot

Its got to the point that i'm just about to phone up and cancel my mifi account and use my phone as a mifi hotspot for my internet

Anyone want to buy a mobile wifi data dongle !!! :)
 
Vara said:
Have I missed something?

I thought that with these wizzy phones you could view websites on them without the need for a lap top.
Click to expand...

Apart from the fact that the phone screen is very small, there are plenty of other things that some people do over the internet apart from browsing web sites. My wife and I both log into servers on the ground floor of our house to do a variety of things such as managing databases, storing and retrieving documents and writing programmes - none of which can realistically be done on any smartphone!
 
Talulah said:
Just to add to the above. Once the computer is connected to the internet various applications including windows may check for updates. In a lot of cases they are set to automatically download. Hence you could find your data useage a lot higher than you expected.
Click to expand...

My updates and antivirus on my notebook are turned off from automatic for that very reason. They tell me that there are updates etc but don't download when using the dongle. At home I update via the home hub wifi when ever it is turned on.
 
robmcg said:
Another IT question! I have an android phone on the 3 network with unlimited data. Boat lives on a swinging mooring with a full 3g signal. Can I use the phone as a dongle? It does have a facility in the setup to become it's own 3g wifi hotspot. If it is possible, is this an inferior setup to using a dedicated 3 dongle. Not looking for lightning fast speeds, just looking up the weather and YBW of course!!! Anyone done/doing this

Rob
Click to expand...

When I spoke to 3 before I bought my phone a year ago, their data was not truly unlimited ( it was free to 500mb and then an extra charge which wasnt small) and they were definitely agin you using the phone as a modem though how they would know I cannot guess. They may well have changed policy.

My Samsung galaxy can be used as a wifi hotspot for the lappy to lock onto but data is slow. The Galaxy has a menu bit allowing the phone to be tethered ie use a USB cable direct to the lappy, but Samsung UK tell me that bit doesnt work.:confused:

I use a 3.com dongle on board which was foc anyway and the data charge is £10 per month for 1GB. I use the phone for things like emails.
 
robmcg said:
Here's what 3 say:-

What is all-you-can-eat data?
Click to expand...
I agree it sounds a good package if you need lots of data. Interestingly the system will not allow me to select it as a PAYG add-on for my existing SIM. I recall a similar situation when they introduced the '3-PAY' tariff which at the time was better than my existing dongle tariff. I got new (free) SIMs which worked fine. Expect the same will work now.

These days I find the biggest problem is the fact that an add-on only lasts 30days and I end up wasting a lot of even 1Gb. With a high power WiFi adapter and directional antenna I can find a free hot-spot 80% of the time. (I get free access to BT Openzone with my home broadband).

Vic
 
VicMallows said:
I agree it sounds a good package if you need lots of data. Interestingly the system will not allow me to select it as a PAYG add-on for my existing SIM. I recall a similar situation when they introduced the '3-PAY' tariff which at the time was better than my existing dongle tariff. I got new (free) SIMs which worked fine. Expect the same will work now.

These days I find the biggest problem is the fact that an add-on only lasts 30days and I end up wasting a lot of even 1Gb. With a high power WiFi adapter and directional antenna I can find a free hot-spot 80% of the time. (I get free access to BT Openzone with my home broadband).

Vic
Click to expand...

I agree - however I ended up on the Pay monthly one plan mainly because of the 2000 minutes included in the monthly price to any network. The all you can eat data is a real bonus as on my previous 3 plan it would have cost me £1 more to have less minutes and less internet - bizarre pricing policy. Now all I need to know is what are peoples most useful android apps??

Rob
 
robmcg said:
Note:


•All-you-can-eat data can't be used abroad, if you use data abroad you'll be charged for it as it isn't included in your allowance.
•All-you-can-eat data on our Talk or Text plans doesn't support tethering. If you would like to tether, you should choose The One Plan, The One Plan SIM Only, or a Talk or Text plan that doesn't have all-you-can-eat data and buy a tethering Add-on, like Add Internet Max or Add Internet and Email instead.
Click to expand...

I understand that the All You Can Eat add on for 3's PAYG sims forbids tethering, although I havent found the actual term that states this.... yet :)

My T-mobile sim now recognises if I tether to my netbook, and sends me to a web page where I can select Tethered PAYG time - I think it is then "unlimited", (what a con!!), with a fair usage limit of 40Mb per day WTF
 
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