Vodafone MIFI

[Robin]

I finally tired of our hit and miss WIFI and signed up with Vodafone for 'unlimited maximum data' and a R219 mobile broadband do hickey. Getting it delivered was challenging but eventually resolved and said do hickey was up and running in minutes. Lightning fast via 4g (no 5G here on IOW yet) and so far 4 devices running through it. My HP wireless printer took ages to set up though that was down to a user unfriendly on-printer screen touchpad that, once managed, worked- then I found it could have been done with ease on my laptop's HP Smart App. Apparently my contract (£33/month) allows roaming in up to 80 countries too if needed, but speeds may be limited to 'best available' rather than maximum. Previously my printer was not on my normal marina network and I had to go via my phone which was too slow to download printer updates and ink info for the 'Instant Ink ' service, resulting in multiple emails from HP to 'connect printer to the internet'

All in all very satisfactory so far.

 

[Graham376]

A couple of years ago, I took a Vodafone UK data contract (IIRC £25/m then) as it was cheaper than the one we had but then found only 2 consecutive months allowed when roaming so cancelled before using the sim.

 

[Robin]

A couple of years ago, I took a Vodafone UK data contract (IIRC £25/m then) as it was cheaper than the one we had but then found only 2 consecutive months allowed when roaming so cancelled before using the sim.

That and Brexit may affect roaming Isuppose too but in our case now not an issue. Contract is 24 months after which inflation increases apply it seems.

 

[Mistroma]

I bought a Vodafone R216 dongle (Huawei) a few years ago for £9.99. I was a Curry's sale and they let me pick one from the shelf. I took the only one marked 2.4/5GHz on the box. It was a great buy and I can pick up the signal when driving back home and still a few hundred metres from the house. We used it in UK and Greece by swapping UK/Greek Vodafone SIMs. Vodafone unlocked it free of charge in UK in case it didn't work with their Greek network.

I expect to replace it at some point but can also just put the SIM into a spare phone, so no big problem if it dies. No nearby 5G anyway.

I discovered VOXI a couple of years ago and switched to them as it is still the same Vodafone network. I could have unlimited data for £30/month but don't need it. We pay £20 for 45GB and that includes unlimited on Social Media and unlimited Video data on Netflix, YouTube, etc. It also gives unlimited calls and texts.

I don't make full use but it's still a reasonable deal

Social Media: My wife follows a couple of people on Twitter​

Video: I watch a few Youtube videos (Not Netflix, Amaxon Prime etc.)​

Phone calls: None as SIM is in a dongle​

SMS: A few via the dongle​

I had a few worries with VOXI because people reported problems initially. Problems seemed to be mainly charging or loss of service after calling to fix their monitoring system. I avoided making any changes at all and still use the same credit card for payment, just in case.

VOXI's online system isn't great and monitoring either always says I have 45GB left or drops to a random figure (e.g. 38.19GB) and just sticks at that. I used 51.4GB last month and don't think >6GB would be from YouTube and Twitter. I suspect that VOXI often lose track of usage and don't really have a limit for many customers. It's easy enough to reset the dongle data each month and use that to monitor usage (3 laptops, 2 tablets, 4 phones and 1 TV).

I think that VOXI did say roaming was limited to 2 months in EU but reset it every few months after a return to UK. It looks a bit more confusing now as my plan just says endless roaming and the £30/month unlimited plan mentions a 25GB cap on general data, not video etc.

I'll need to check their terms later next year. It is probably worth considering as it only needs 30 days notice to cancel and can also be frozen for long periods (e.g. for 4 months after I've been in Greece for 2 months).