Mobile Broadband - Which Is The Best Dongle For Me?

[jaslang]

I am thinking of buying a dongle for low usage and infrequent access

The old 1GB dongles that are still available (ebay/amazon) appeal to me because of the long expiry.

However, is there a speed difference, when browsing, between the old 1GB and the newer 3GB (with 30 day expiry)?

And how fast are these things anyway....say compared to my standard home broadband connection... as a percentage.....and please be honest :rolleyes:

Another question....I use the racingpost website regularly and view the live 'text' commentary (no video or pics), would this be classed as downloading ( and thus using credit up quicker), or is it browsing?

All in all I will probably surf for around 1 hour per day whilst out of the house ( no music downloads, no movies etc but perhaps a few emails) and assume that my first thought of the 1GB model is the best idea.

Thanks for the help

[jaslang]

And 1 other question (sorry)....

I like to play a bit of poker online (Ladbrokes etc)....is this heavy on the usage?

[Retired-BenJ]

Hi jaslang

Glad to see you may be purchasing a new Dongle.

There's no difference between the old and the new modems in terms of speed, they both offer 3.6MBS download speeds in 3G+ (HSDPA) area's

In terms of comparison against a fixed line broadband, it’s difficult to say. I've just moved My home provider to another provider, and actually find my Dongle faster than my current home service in my local area (I'm being honest and not biased, my home connection gets traffic shaped massively which has a knock on effect of not being able to stream a youtube clip.)

It all depends again on your area. Have you seen Vodafone's Coverage Checker? This can give you an idea of coverage for your postcode.

Text commentary would count towards your usage as it’s still downloading the page as it updates.

Online poker can eat your usage relatively quickly, it depends on how graphic heavy your client is.
It may be worth comparing your usage after a session to accurately gauge how much credit this will use.

[jaslang]

Thanks for the reply Ben

So whats the 7.2 speed that I see banded about, is that a different dongle/tariff?

Thanks

[Retired-Jon_V]

Thanks for the reply Ben

So whats the 7.2 speed that I see banded about, is that a different dongle/tariff?

Thanks

Hi Jaslang,

The 7.2Mb/s speeds are currently only available on our Contract USB Modem devices.
I trust that helps

Jon

eForum Team