Looking to buy an internet USB stick for Ireland, England and Germany

[TimothyA]

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy an internet USB stick that I'll be using while in Ireland, England and Germany. I'll be in each of those locations for about a week so roughly a month in total. Ideally I'll be able to get internet while on the trains and it would be pay as you go or a 1 month term (Aug 15 - Sept 15).

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find a suitable product?

Thanks,

Tim

[drey_p]

Hi there

You will find all the PAYG Dongle prices here.  Unless you hold a UK bank account, have a UK address, and have UK Credit history, you won't be able to get anything other than PAYG as even a 30 day plan requires credit check.

Please bear in mind that the Dongles are locked to Vodafone, so if you want to use them abroad, you will need to have them unlocked. It may be cheaper to buy a local dongle in each of the countries you are visiting.

[TimothyA]

Thanks for the response!

Will this product meet my coverage requirements? I clicked on the coverage map and it only displays coverage in the UK but I will be in Ireland and Germany for part of the trip.

Additonally when I go to buy that product I cannot buy additional data packs so it looks like my data would be capped at 1GB. Do you know if I will be able to add data to my account after purchasing the device?

Thanks,

Tim

[grolschuk]

I would actually go for a R206 mobile hotspot rather than USB dongle.

It turns the mobile connection into a wifi link for you to connect your laptop/phone/ipad/whatever, rather than just having a dongle plugged into the laptop.

It comes with 2GB of data to use in the uk, and can be topped up if you use it all.

Your choice once you leave the UK will be either to use the UK sim, and be charged European Data Roaming rates, which are quite expensive, and currently £8 for 100mb per day on the days that you use it... This would be the case for both Republic of Ireland and Germany.

Or get the device unlocked so it can accept non-vodafone uk sim cards (you can ask for this when you buy it)

And when you arrive in RoI and DE, buy a Pay as you go sim for that country, and top up for whatever their local bundles are.

Vodafone IE and Vodafone DE, while sharing the vodafone name, are different companies, which sometimes confuses things.

[TimothyA]

Ah ok, I was getting confused because of the different sites.

Do Vodafone or other phone companies typically have booths in the airports where I can buy the Sim cards or USB sticks?

[grolschuk]

Depends on the airport.

Vodafone have one at Heathrow T5

Am not sure about the other countries.

If there isn't an official store, there will generally be someone wanting to sell an international travellers sim card, although these tend to be more for calling home, rahter than using data, but it won't hurt to ask them if they do a data sim.

You will be better off waiting until you get to civilisation and find either a vodafone shop, or a national chain (such as Phones 4 U and Carphone Warhouse) who are licenced to sell devices and connections on behalf of the networks.

If you are in a town and there isn't at least one of these then you are pretty unlucky.

If you know where you will be in england, there is a store finder here http://www.vodafone.co.uk/find-a-store/index.htm

And there should be the same available on the .ie and .de sites too.