Re: FOAK - Dongles

BRC wrote:
Ok, it's long been established I'm a techie numpty, so FOAK I need
your advice. We've just moved into our new house and we want
broadband via a Dongle rather than land line based, partly because we
don't have a land line and don't want to pay out vast sums to be
connected, and partly because we're moving again in a years time. So
basically, I could do with some advice on what type, which provider
and how much usage I'm likely to need.

Likely usage is downloading emails daily (not a huge amount & mostly
in google), daily checking of banks and updating business finances,
because we don't have a tv either we watch the MotoGP via the BBC
iplayer and download that each time. So I don't know what kind of
usage we'd need in terms of monthly download allowance.

Any advice on this?
tia

Do you have good mobile coverage in your house? If you don't even have that, it's a non-starter. If you want to use iPlayer, you need good 3G coverage and a generous monthly allowance. The speed of the connection will never be as good as broadband - the top speed of the HSDPA standard is 7.2 Mbps (that's megabits, not megabytes - divide by 8 for megabytes), but that's under laboratory conditions, and many providers only support 1.8Mbps end-to-end over the network, no matter how good your connection to the mast. And you're still making a dialup connection over the mobile phone network.

If you can get the technology working (assume 1.8 will be the best you get), and you want to sign up for one of these things, deal direct with the network provider, ie O2, Voda, Orange etc. Don't go anywhere near the High St resellers. IME their staff are usually technically incompetent and utter strangers to the concept of truth. They're also set up in a way that makes it difficult for you to get out of any contract even if it has been mis-sold - their head offices impose penalties on shops and staff for terminating contracts.

Finally, research the hardware that comes with the package - not all cards are the same, and it's no good having a great deal with a crap radio.

.

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