I have been using mine now for well over a year only found 1 site in Norfolk with no coverage at all,so i dont think that's too bad,as Norfolk seems to be a poor reception area anyway,why would you bother is the main question,in my case its a simple answer i do things on line that i enjoy as a hobby so combining camping and surfing is a natural thing,i dont bother with tv when we are away apart from the news occasionally, mainly because free view has nothing on of interest to me.
All mobile phone operators do dongle deals, which one is best is difficult to say,at the moment i use two a virgin existing customer deal, at just over £10 a month for 3gb of use,this lasts a month easily with loads of surfing time and some downloads,it would not be of any use for video streaming too slow and not enough allowance.
The other is a vodafone payg deal which is no longer available on it i get 3gb for £15 but only top it up for holidays as that gives me a second choice on coverage and Nancy can update her laptop.
They all seem to have three levels of connection speed depending on the signal that's available,different names are given to these but the vodafone one calls them 3g+,3g,and gprs the two 3g ones are good for normal surfing and uploading pictures,the gprs one is the old mobile phone network so struggles,after saying that the holiday diary thread on this forum was done on gprs from a field in Norfolk it just takes longer.
I have avoided technical details as i dont understand them and have just reported my experiences with dongle use,hopefully it will make sense to you.

mike

Due to various reasons nothing to do with the effectiveness of the dongle i have now gone down a different route for my camping internet,decided to give tethering a try,the next bit may sound as if i know what ime talking about word of warning dont be fooled
Tethering for those that dont know is using one of the new generation of mobile phones to create a wi-fi hot spot of your own, then your surfing is done on your laptop but using your phone as a connection.Most mobile phone service suppliers dont allow this even though you may have an internet allowance in your contract, of course if you only have a small allowance you could use it very quickly on the laptop.
The way i have done it is through 3 as they have a genuine unlimited internet allowance and allow tethering its a bit of a gamble because i dont know how good there coverage is but not a problem for me as i can use it for my home connection if all else fails (i dont have a fixed connection at home) in fact ime using it now.
Could be seen as expensive but not for me as i dont have a land line either so the mobile does several jobs the deal i got was a HTC Wildfire s 2000 any network min 3000 texts far too many 3 to 3 min and totaly unlimited internet @£25 a month,which is less than the home phone and fixed internet cost.
The other advantage for me is when we are away Nancy can connect at the same time as me,if i have no signal i can still connect with the phone off site without the laptop.
Its obviously slower than a fixed connection but appears upto now better than the dongle.

Oh dear.......... just getting my head round the dongle thing and then something else comes along

I think I may have to just get a dongle for now.

Mike, that is very interesting. I did look into tethering instead of our dongle at home, we don't have a landline either. But we are currently with Vodafone also and we can only get 3G on the bathroom windowsill or by poking the dongle through the letter box, I don't fancy poking my phone through the letter box, it won't be there for very long.

I'm going to try 3, I think I will try a pay as you go sim to check out the coverage at home first. These maps the company's produce aren't always accurate. Thanks for the pointer.

cazz wrote:Mike, that is very interesting. I did look into tethering instead of our dongle at home, we don't have a landline either. But we are currently with Vodafone also and we can only get 3G on the bathroom windowsill or by poking the dongle through the letter box, I don't fancy poking my phone through the letter box, it won't be there for very long.

I'm going to try 3, I think I will try a pay as you go sim to check out the coverage at home first. These maps the company's produce aren't always accurate. Thanks for the pointer.

Think the deal we got where you can use the allowance on the laptop is £15 pay as you go

mike

mike wrote:Think the deal we got where you can use the allowance on the laptop is £15 pay as you go

mike

Thanks Mike, I'll look into that, our current contract runs out at the beginning of December, so there's no rush, - yet.

I've ordered a free 3 sim to check coverage in our house, that should give us a definitive answer about coverage.

ooh that's a clever idea Cazz i'd not thought of doing that as the reception here is a bit hit and miss too

Cazz a bit more info on the 3 tariff been looking at the three forum and the all you can eat data is exactly that with a system in place in case of abuse as its only intended for normal internet use.

Quote from the three forum

Your usage may be monitored if you exceed 40 GB. No action will be taken unless you are breaching their terms (All you can eat can be tether providing it is not for peer to peer file sharing, or for commercial purposes).

I can live with that i use up to 6 gb at the moment

mike

Thanks Mike, that's helpful, we use about 1.5 to 2gb per month, and about 500mb on my phone. As my phone contract ends in July next year, i'm looking into the PAYG dongle with 12gb included option, (our current dongle contract ends in December)

Sorry if that is confusing, we are currently Dandying with the classic, there will be a full write up on our return.

cazz wrote:Thanks Mike, that's helpful, we use about 1.5 to 2gb per month, and about 500mb on my phone. As my phone contract ends in July next year, i'm looking into the PAYG dongle with 12gb included option, (our current dongle contract ends in December)

Sorry if that is confusing, we are currently Dandying with the classic, there will be a full write up on our return.

mike wrote:

Lol, was it really that confusing? Oh dear, I don't even drink. I think i'll put the kettle on.

My sim has come, and it works in my phone, but it doesn't tell me what signal i'm picking up, like it does with my usual sim. I wonder if I need to put some credit on to see.

I've also put it in my vodafone dongle, that tells me it's receiving 3g, which is the same as 3's coverage map.

Do you think I need to buy some credit just to make doubly sure, or does it sound like i'm sorted?

Interestingly, I checked vodafones coverage map, that said I would only get a weak signal outside for 3g, which we do, one bar through that infamous letterbox.

Vodafone did said, when we were trying to get the dongle to work after we bought it, that we shouldn't have been sold it due to the poor coverage, that big electrical chain, where we bought a netbook and dongle deal, never asked or checked where we live, they just said you can get coverage everywhere. Sales, sales, sales!!! The moral of the story is, double check for yourself whatever a non specialist shop tells you.

I will be glad when it ends, I need more speed for not much money.

Mike, you said you find the tethering speed works quite fast, have you any experience of 3 through a dongle?

3 say the speed when tethering is slower than using a dongle.

If it's still quick, then the savings are worth having.

cazz wrote:Mike, you said you find the tethering speed works quite fast, have you any experience of 3 through a dongle?

3 say the speed when tethering is slower than using a dongle.

If it's still quick, then the savings are worth having.

Cant answer that its faster than the virgin dongle and Vodafone but i get a better 3 signal so it should be,it was a good choice for me as its cheaper at £25 than landline £13,dongle £11 mobile £15 getting all three in one saves me money,it be be worth risking a small top up just to be safe.

mike

Thank you Mike, the smallest top up is £10, but I guess that's worth it for reassurance. I'll report back in due course with the results.