Tablets and mobile data

[jav301]

At the end of an extended trip to France I managed to break my Hudl screen for the second time. I want to get another budget tablet to run Navionics.
I have a specific question that I would appreciate answer(s) to. Should I pay the extra to get a tablet with mobile network capability?
Seems simple but this is my experience. I have an old mobile phone and I couldn’t get any weather apps to work when beyond wifi hotspots I.e most of the time. So I’m thinking that a more modern tablet with a SIM card would allow me access to such apps when I have mobile phone coverage (i.e most of the time). Any experiences or opinions would be a great help. Thanks

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Because I'm slightly more likely to break a tablet than my 'phone (on a boat) I have as cheap a tablet as possible with a better 'phone. Currently an Acer Iconia 8" and a Moto G5 'phone. I also doubt that I'd get best value out of two sims - trying to balance data etc between the two. £15.50 for 5Gb/month with Vodafone is more than I can normally use.

 

[jav301]

Thanks. I think that's probably the right approach. My problem is that I have to replace the tablet but I was hoping not to replace my phone (I'm on a very cheap contract).

 

[neilf39]

Get a tablet with WiFi and set your phone as a WiFi hotshot and use that to connect your tablet which then connects you via 4G. Don't need another data sim if you already have a phone with data.

 

[Dazzajohm]

I have a mifi dongle which I picked up from Argos on EE for £50 which included 3gb of data allowance. When that runs out they do a number of packages which you can top up by.

I guess it's horses for courses but I prefered this as lets face it most marina wifi's are rubbish and this means I can essentially have wifi on the boat which I can connect both mine and the other halfs phone and ipad to as well as a firestick for watching TV.

 

[lpdsn]

I use a 4G dongle which I can plug into my laptop or the tablet on the boat. Works OK, €20p.m. and the roaming regs allow me to use up to about 6Gig per month roaming in the UK/EU.

Bear in mind though that the 2G, 3G and 4G radio networks of an operator are pretty independent so just because you can get coverage doesn't mean you'll get decent bandwidth - I didn't this summer in Scotland and I had a roaming SIM that could've used any of the UK networks. 4G is shorter range anyway and the cells are mainly around large built up areas.

 

[pvb]

Thanks. I think that's probably the right approach. My problem is that I have to replace the tablet but I was hoping not to replace my phone (I'm on a very cheap contract).

You can get an excellent Moto G5 for £99 unlocked, and then just use a PAYG SIM and tether your new tablet to it.

 

[jav301]

Right. Tethering seems to be the answer. I'd forgotten all about it. Thanks

 

[pvb]

Right. Tethering seems to be the answer. I'd forgotten all about it. Thanks

It works well, but you need to check that your proposed SIM will allow it; not all of them do.

I use giffgaff, which does.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

Right. Tethering seems to be the answer. I'd forgotten all about it. Thanks

Ah, sorry, I assumed that your description of the 'phone as old meant that it didn't support tethering. That's what I do with the Moto/Acer combination - hence my comment on trying to get good value data on two sims when it's so easy with just the one.

 

[Boo2]

Thanks. I think that's probably the right approach. My problem is that I have to replace the tablet but I was hoping not to replace my phone (I'm on a very cheap contract).

I agree with other posters here who suggest buying a wifi-only tablet and using your phone hotspot with that instead of buying a 3G tablet and juggling data allowances between 2 contracts. I used to use my laptop with its built-in 3G modem and a paygo SIM but it was a PITA to keep buying data topups for the laptop when I already had spare data available on the moby.

For that reason I just recently bought the wifi-only version of the Samsung Tab A 10.1 and it works fine with the tethering facility on my moby. These are £199 on the Samsung website here, thay are full HD and battery life is very good IME.

You may be able to use your existing SIM card in a new smartphone (check SIM size compatibility on the web), or else your provider will almost certainly send you a new SIM for the same contract which you can use in a new SIIM-free phone of your choice, just phone them up to ask about this.

Hth,

Boo2