Does any one have any experience with a mobile dongle and France?

ikillbears · 2 Aug 2012 at 12:12

So, tomorrow im shooting off to france for two weeks. Like the prat that i am i completely forgot to look into having a dongle for my laptop as im going to need access to the internet quite a bit while im out there. popping into wifi hotspots isnt really an option.

question is. does any one know the best way ill be able to have one. it will mainly be for emails but might be the odd large ish file, sub 50mb.

i thought maybe calling up my network provider and tethering it but then i realised this would cost the price of a car

marshallman05 · 2 Aug 2012 at 12:14

Depending on your phone providor and tarriff you can add a months worth of teathering for something around £10 .... I know T-Mobile do it

memyselfandi · 2 Aug 2012 at 12:14

Which provider as i think that Orange have just rejigged their international roaming charges again?

Rids · 2 Aug 2012 at 12:15

Your best bet would probably be to try and pick a PAYG one up in France.

Data roaming is still incredibly expensive.

jsmoke · 2 Aug 2012 at 12:15

Is there no wifi at your accom or a cafe?

[TW]Fox · 2 Aug 2012 at 12:28

marshallman05 said:
Depending on your phone providor and tarriff you can add a months worth of teathering for something around £10 .... I know T-Mobile do it

A months worth of international tethering for £10?!

D D Danneh · 2 Aug 2012 at 13:31

I have to say I found the French very accommodating of my dongle.

rhysduck · 2 Aug 2012 at 13:54

My dongle works, France however... eat frogs.

ikillbears · 2 Aug 2012 at 14:31

im on 3 at the moment and tethering doesn't cost me a thing. however the roaming charges will screw me french style, and not in the good way.

Wifi isn't really an option. there is an area that i can use it, but its a far way away and incredibly slow.

The only PAYG option i have seen is for sim cards how ever, unless im missing something :~

Jez · 2 Aug 2012 at 14:32

You may find that this is quite cheap now, O2 for example (my provider) have re-jigged their costings whereby it is now perfectly feasible to simply use them all over Europe for data.

Rids · 2 Aug 2012 at 15:02

zhx said:
im on 3 at the moment and tethering doesn't cost me a thing. however the roaming charges will screw me french style, and not in the good way.

Wifi isn't really an option. there is an area that i can use it, but its a far way away and incredibly slow.

The only PAYG option i have seen is for sim cards how ever, unless im missing something :~

Well over here all the networks sell dongles on PAYG plans - I would assume that the same would work in France!

Edit: A quick bout of googlefoo leads me to believe that you can purchase PAYG dongles on the SFR network.

ikillbears · 2 Aug 2012 at 15:03

not on 3 it seems, 69.6p / MB

Jez · 2 Aug 2012 at 15:05

O2 for example is £1.99 per day, flat rate, up to 25MB/day. For light usage (email and basic quick browsing) that is ample.

That Three price is still a lot lower than rates have historically been. Can you perhaps buy a bolt on for your package?