Cheap 3G phone with thering (parents light browsing).

Rangler · 15 Jul 2012 at 18:56

Hi All,

Im looking for a cheap 3G capable phone that my mum can use as a phone and can be used to tether her laptop to via cable or BT/Wifi.

Can anyone reccomend one please.?
TIA.

Rangler · 15 Jul 2012 at 19:17

forgot to mention has to be easy to use, can anyone comment on the nokia 6288.?

Shakeel · 16 Jul 2012 at 00:31

what about the orange sanfran or the galaxy mini

muon · 16 Jul 2012 at 01:40

Rangler said:
forgot to mention has to be easy to use, can anyone comment on the nokia 6288.?

This says

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6288-1711.php

that 3G is only supported on the 2100mhz frequency. Only Three use that frequency in the UK.

Dangerous · 16 Jul 2012 at 09:13

anyon said:
This says

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6288-1711.php

that 3G is only supported on the 2100mhz frequency. Only Three use that frequency in the UK.

3G is only on Three UK? :confused:

Think you might of got something wrong there

http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/spectrum/mobile-wireless-broadband/cellular/coverage_maps.pdf

Samsung Galaxy Ace 2? Any Android phone with 2.2+ OS supports tethering or you can download "Tethering" from the Play Store.

SimonCHere · 16 Jul 2012 at 10:33

No, he's saying Three are the only company to use the 2100 band for 3G. Other suppliers use the lower bands (850mhz and 900Mhz I seem to remember?)

As the phone only uses the 2100 spectrum, it can only work on Three.

Of course you can enable tethering on your android phone, but your contract has to allow it, or they might just cut you off.

Simon

SimonCHere · 16 Jul 2012 at 10:44

Sorry I might be talking balls there.
The lower frequencies are for 2g signal from the other operators.

I think it still means the phone will be stuck with 3G only signals so there may be problems with signal strenths.

Simon

Skilid · 16 Jul 2012 at 10:57

Lumia 610. Unless you're after cheaper.

alexthecheese · 16 Jul 2012 at 11:05

My £100 Huawei G300 does that and can be picked up from Tesco, though unless you go with Vodafone you then have to get an unlock key.

Not sure if that's cheap enough, mind.

Dangerous · 16 Jul 2012 at 11:24

SimonCHere said:
No, he's saying Three are the only company to use the 2100 band for 3G. Other suppliers use the lower bands (850mhz and 900Mhz I seem to remember?)

As the phone only uses the 2100 spectrum, it can only work on Three.

Of course you can enable tethering on your android phone, but your contract has to allow it, or they might just cut you off.

Simon

IIRC if you use the "tethering app" from the Play Store they shouldnt be able to detect it.

Just seen this on Hotdelals as well http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/hua...-very-100-down-72-95-using-code-23epw-1266183

Myshra · 16 Jul 2012 at 11:48

anyon said:
This says

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6288-1711.php

that 3G is only supported on the 2100mhz frequency. Only Three use that frequency in the UK.

No. All networks use 2100Mhz for 3G, some networks additionally use 900/1800Mhz if they want to offload capacity to other freqency spectrums but it's by no means common or a requirement and was only recently allowed. If they were the only company using 2100Mhz my years of testing at Orange must have been in the twilight zone.

Drake5 · 16 Jul 2012 at 13:05

alexthecheese said:
My £100 Huawei G300 does that and can be picked up from Tesco, though unless you go with Vodafone you then have to get an unlock key.

Not sure if that's cheap enough, mind.

This. G300 bargain for £100. Fast phone for daily use, upgradeable to ICS. Nice big display. Can't really go wrong.

Amp34 · 16 Jul 2012 at 13:28

Lumia 610 or 710. Fast, very simple and will do everything needed very cheap (far better than a similarly priced Android phone tbh).

RSR · 16 Jul 2012 at 13:49

Amp34 said:
Lumia 610 or 710. Fast, very simple and will do everything needed very cheap (far better than a similarly priced Android phone tbh).

I agree.

grudas · 16 Jul 2012 at 14:32

Amp34 said:
Lumia 610 or 710. Fast, very simple and will do everything needed very cheap (far better than a similarly priced Android phone tbh).

160-200? thats cheap? g300 is much better for 75

muon · 16 Jul 2012 at 15:36

Myshra said:
No. All networks use 2100Mhz for 3G, some networks additionally use 900/1800Mhz if they want to offload capacity to other freqency spectrums but it's by no means common or a requirement and was only recently allowed. If they were the only company using 2100Mhz my years of testing at Orange must have been in the twilight zone.

Oh ok. I just googled the frequencies in order to check. My source was wrong then. I thought it was something worth checking. My bad.