Three Mifi Dongle - Amazing!

Richard10002

Richard10002

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 Mar 2006
Messages
18,979
Location
Manchester
Visit site
As we've just bought a narrowboat, one of my desires was mobile broadband but, with an iPhone, an iPad, a netbook, SWMBOs iPhone and laptop, one dongle wasn't going to cut the mustard.

Just signed up for a 2 year contract with 15Gb per month on a Three Hi Speed Mifi dongle. It has it's own sim, and will allow to 5 things to connect, just like a wireless router at home.

Runs off the mains in a charging dock, or is portable, and is said to last for 5 hours or so.

Got it home, plugged it in, and connected a few things which worked immediately.

Can't believe a solution was so simple!

£18.99 per month FYI
 
An alternative....

I have a Samsung Galaxy SII that can work as a "portable hotspot" using 3g mobile internet access. Once the portable hotspot is running you can connect laptops, etc to it just like any other wifi hotspot.

I know the iPhone 4 can also do this and I am sure other phones can too.

For me this is a good solution as I don't use it all the time and don't have to pay for a separate contract.
 
It's an alternative, but the iPhone can't compete on speed compared to a dedicated device like the latest 3 mifi, especially not when you have several devices connected, even when the iPhone is on the same network.
 
BrendanS said:
It's an alternative, but the iPhone can't compete on speed compared to a dedicated device like the latest 3 mifi, especially not when you have several devices connected, even when the iPhone is on the same network.
Click to expand...

Why not? do the networks deliberately cripple the download speed of some devices? The hardware is essentially the same surely?
 
No, the hardware is not the same. The iPhone has a lot crammed into the space, a mifi is designed to do one thing alone, and designed to do that well. and things advance fast, the latest mifi and dongles are much faster than ones from a few months ago, and the iPhone4 is quite old in that respect.
 
I'll back that statement, not that it really needs it. It's noticeably faster for me to set my 'phone up as a Wi-Fi hotspot and open a site on my WiFi only tablet than it is to open the site on the 'phone itself (which is actually a 5" tablet).

Having hooked the tablet up to friend's MiFi it was probably twice as fast again (as the tablet via the 'phone). All was on the exactly the same O2 cellular data connection.
 
Not sure about all iPhones.. but we have found that Cisco VPN client (such as you might use to connect to work) does not work using a standard iPhone in 'tethered' mode - i.e. providing internet via WiFi to your laptop.

Do others find that VPN does work using iPhone in this way?

VPN works quite successfully through the MiFi.
 
Martin_J said:
Not sure about all iPhones.. but we have found that Cisco VPN client (such as you might use to connect to work) does not work using a standard iPhone in 'tethered' mode - i.e. providing internet via WiFi to your laptop.

Do others find that VPN does work using iPhone in this way?

VPN works quite successfully through the MiFi.
Click to expand...

Cisco VPN works through the Android hotspot as well if that's any use. Can't help on the iPhone though I'm afraid.
 
I think I tried the wifi hotspot on the iPhone, (3GS), and, whilst the laptop connected to the network, T-Mobile recognised that it was effectively tethering and wanted their tethering charges - £2 per day, or more for a week or a month, with a max download of 1Gb, (40Mb per day).

Seems that all/most networks want extra for tethering, or dont allow it, so I found the easiest thing that works. The latest Huwaei dongle is up to 21Mb, so, whilst it will probably never see that speed, it will run as fast as the connection will allow. And it just works... a bit like Apples products that I used to hate so much :)

Also, when I was tethering a Nokia N95 in the old days, I found it awkward to use it as a phone aswell. IIRC, I had 2 sims and 2 phones, one to use as a phone, and one as the mobile broadband - which was suspended up near the ceiling in a hatch, so it got a good signal.

Having said that, I'll certainly be looking at reducing our mobile contract costs and, if I can get them down from £20 to £10 per month each, I'll be saving the cost of the mifi contract.

Horses for courses but, to me, this is the dogs danglies :), (of which our dog has none!).

Richard
 
Richard10002 said:
......Just signed up for a 2 year contract with 15Gb per month on a Three Hi Speed Mifi dongle. It has it's own sim, and will allow to 5 things to connect, just like a wireless router at home.

£18.99 per month FYI
Click to expand...

Did you sign up via one of the two top cash-back sites?? EG:

http://www.quidco.com/three-mobile-broadband/

In this instance over £80 cash would be returned to you. The timescale for this one is in the order of 7-8months. Why?
First 3 months is confirming you are making reliable payments and the remainder is in the affiliate pay-back process (and continued reliable payments).
 
Didn't even think about it until a few hours after I got home :(

It was one of those "I want it, and I want it now" purchases, so I nipped to the 3 shop at The Trafford Centre after work.

Can't believe I forgot about Quidco!!
 
Richard10002 said:
Didn't even think about it until a few hours after I got home :(

It was one of those "I want it, and I want it now" purchases, so I nipped to the 3 shop at The Trafford Centre after work.

Can't believe I forgot about Quidco!!
Click to expand...

Take it back to the shop and cancel; tell 'em it's OK but .....whatever (check out their happiness guarantee/timescale for just saying "I don't want it".

Then order another online via Q'co :D
 
Problem I find is not knowing if it will work where you are. I need to be on-line at short notice for IT support and I need reasonable bandwidth for terminal services. I have been known to drive around the countryside in the early hours looking for a decent signal. Not looking forward to being stopped by the police!

I find I get a great signal in Haslar but none at all in the IOW. That's on the Vodaphone network. Wicor at the top end of Portsmouth is ok sometimes.
 
Phones and dongles do different jobs. One important issue with phones is that the phone operators often disable some types of internet service; the obvious one is Skype. A dongle will support Skype; a phone (in general) will not. However, a mobile phone operator may well disable all but browsing and email services on the phone.

For those of us with relatives the other side of the world, this is an important point.

Incidentally, I'm slightly wary of "it just works" statements. You should be setting up security on ANY wireless connection - so it shouldn't "just work" without a few minutes setting up. And choose WPA rather than WEP; WEP is roughly equivalent to the lock on your garage, which can probably be opened with a bent pin. WPA is much stronger.
 
Interesting post, I have quite a bit of experience with this - living aboard and relying on an internet connection to make a living.

I initially used a good old dongle (on Three) but that packed up and it was frustrating having to keep connecting it.

So I bought the Three MiFi dongle, £15.99 rolling (30-day notice) contract with 5GB data (device was £40 up front).

I ended up going over my allowance so phoned up and threatened to leave and they inceased my data to 15GB/month, still at £15.99 on a rolling contract (awesome value!).

Then I bought an iPhone 4 on Three with unlimited data and personal hotspot functionality. It's not quite as fast but still totally fast enough - not a noticeable difference with web browsing, but verrry occasionally it's an arse to get iPlayer to connect.

So I have been using my iPhone 4 for all internet connections lately, so I phoned up Three again and threatened to leave my MiFi contract as I don't actually need it any more. They dropped it to £11.99/month rolling contract for 5GB data. I'm considering cancelling it completely but think I should hang on to it because my iPhone has a wobbler sometimes and I absolutely must have an internet connection... but yes, totally 100% recommend a MiFi.
 
Oh dear.

MIFI, dongle, WPA, VPN etc. :eek:

I like new gadgets as much as anyone and I do try and keep up to date but I wish there was some way I could learn about these things as they are introduced.

If I google any terms I don't understand, I just get an explanation that is full of references to other terms I don't understand!

Is there a website that would tell me, in simple terms: "This is coming on the market soon; it's called a XXX; it does so-and-so; and you ought to buy it because....".
 
Ruffles..
You asked about the amount of data used.. I watched the Grand Prix via the MiFi a few weeks back.. perfect picture but it does get through about 2Gb of data in an afternoon!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top