Mobile Broadband WiFi Units

Cromulent · 11 Mar 2018 at 14:25

I might need some mobile broadband. I can use my current phone as a Wifi hotspot and then just use my PAYG plan to pay for data (1p for MB). That works (I've tested it at home) but I was also looking at these particular mobile broadband packages that come with a 4G unit and about 30GB of data on a 1-month contract. It seems like you can connect up to 10 wifi devices to them.

The thing I am slightly confused about is if you go over your monthly allowance? Are you allowed to buy another set of data (say another 30GB) to top you up during the month? I've done some postcode coverage checking, and the postcode I will be in has excellent indoor, and outdoor signal strength on o2 so will probably use that network.

I just want some fastish broadband while I am away from my desktop computer.
If anyone knows of anything better than o2's offering, then I'd appreciate being told. Thank you.

Myshra · 11 Mar 2018 at 20:29

You typically have a SIM-O data only SIM on either a 30day or 12month deal with these types of devices and within this contact will be how much you owe if you go over (or if you go with a network that allows capping, you can just block the ability to go over). Huawei make the best H/W from my network testing, I have been using Vodafone gigacubes for a while (aka a Huawei B528) albeit in a different country to the UK and they do pretty good - we are rolling them out across Europe right now. O2 are (TOTALLY IN MY OPINION) the worst network for coverage in the UK right now - chronic under-investment by the parent, poor 4G spectrum buying and no partnering has lead to them being a shadow of their former selves. If they are great for where you are right now then great but generally EE (and then Voda) will be better for top end speed and coverage if you are needing to use the device in multiple places. Signal maps are 100% useless - if you have a O2 SIM you're using with a terminal then test with that otherwise assume the worst. You can typically do better than O2 for SIMO deals right now too with quidco/tcb.

Cromulent · 11 Mar 2018 at 21:21

Myshra said:
You typically have a SIM-O data only SIM on either a 30day or 12month deal with these types of devices and within this contact will be how much you owe if you go over (or if you go with a network that allows capping, you can just block the ability to go over). Huawei make the best H/W from my network testing, I have been using Vodafone gigacubes for a while (aka a Huawei B528) albeit in a different country to the UK and they do pretty good - we are rolling them out across Europe right now. O2 are (TOTALLY IN MY OPINION) the worst network for coverage in the UK right now - chronic under-investment by the parent, poor 4G spectrum buying and no partnering has lead to them being a shadow of their former selves. If they are great for where you are right now then great but generally EE (and then Voda) will be better for top end speed and coverage if you are needing to use the device in multiple places. Signal maps are 100% useless - if you have a O2 SIM you're using with a terminal then test with that otherwise assume the worst. You can typically do better than O2 for SIMO deals right now too with quidco/tcb.

Thank you for the reply. I just used the Vodafone coverage checker and in the postcodes, I'll be at it has excellent indoor and outdoor 4G signal strength. I think I'll go with them in that case then. Seems I can get 21GB of data for £60 (£35 of that is for the device itself and the 6GB of data it comes with). That should keep me going and they give you a phone number to call to top up if you run out. I think PAYG will be better as I doubt I'll use it all that often. This is just a one-off occurrence where I really need internet access and have no other way to get access to it.

sanaxe1 · 12 Mar 2018 at 08:33

You could buy a three 24gb data SIM for £43 off Amazon . This data is valid for 2 years so its perfect if you don't think you will use it often.

Cromulent · 12 Mar 2018 at 10:02

sanaxe1 said:
You could buy a three 24gb data SIM for £43 off Amazon . This data is valid for 2 years so its perfect if you don't think you will use it often.

Problem with that is that I don't think Three have good reception where I am going. Vodafone seems to have a much more solid network in the location I will be.

But thanks for the tip though. I might bear it in mind for the future.