Pre-paid dongles for use abroad

[Hazel at the Hill]

I'm orf on my hols fairly soon - hurrah! - and will be taking my wi-fi enabled notepad with me.

If I an not in a wifi zone (i.e. the apartment), and I want to keep in touch, I'll need a dongle for internet access. My accountant went to Tescos, I think, and bought a pre-paid one which worked well for him.

His let him access work emails, and the kids to access facebook etc.

Is this the best solution (i.e. has he done his research well) and can I just do the same?

[Greenleaves]

Have a look here Hazel

Cheapest ways to use mobile broadband abroad

[Martin H]

If you have a mobile phone, you may be able to use it as an internet hotspot. A lot will depend on where you are going, the kind of smartphone and the details of your contract (many charge you a fortune just for turning on your phone's data functions abroad, plus they may charge more on top for "tethering").

Worth checking out, though.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Have a look here Hazel

Cheapest ways to use mobile broadband abroad

Thanks, GL, but that article seems to be for phones (I switch off data roaming on my phone while I'm away), and this is for my notepad which only has wifi access, which is why I'll need a dongle if I am to connect in a non-wifi area.

I think, anyway. Bit of a doofus on all this stuff.

[Hazel at the Hill]

If you have a mobile phone, you may be able to use it as an internet hotspot. A lot will depend on where you are going, the kind of smartphone and the details of your contract (many charge you a fortune just for turning on your phone's data functions abroad, plus they may charge more on top for "tethering").

Worth checking out, though.

Thank you, Martin. I'll have to talk to 02 about that - we have a shop in the town, so I'll explore that option with them, thank you.

It gives me another avenue to go down, anyway.

[cardiffsteve]

Three have a range of dongles you can use abroad.

http://store.three.co.uk/view/search...ype=MBB_DONGLE

Have a look but PAYG is quite expensive just for a week or two but i suppose you could also use it at home

[Hazel at the Hill]

Three have a range of dongles you can use abroad.

http://store.three.co.uk/view/search...ype=MBB_DONGLE

Have a look but PAYG is quite expensive just for a week or two but i suppose you could also use it at home

I'll have a look at that, Steve, thank you.

My best bet for using my notepad to connect to the web in a non-wifi zone seems to be to 'tether' my mobile to my notepad, then use that as the data download device.

That would be massively expensive, BUT I think that I can buy a bolt-on through my o2 contract for £1.99 per day unlimited downloads. I will have to check this last detail out - the tethering thing I appear to have cracked.

[Glutton4...]

Don't know if it's any use, but Hubby has a Dongle for his iPad, so he can use it for work during the day, and he says it's great. I don't know if this would work abroad but I guess there will be that option.

[Ananke]

I bought an o2 dongle to use in Ireland earlier this year. Sadly, the areas we stayed at didn't have coverage, which I should have checked before I bought it , larger towns and cities were ok though. Lesson learned.

[Alison]

I think they're all quite expensive to use abroad at the moment so you may struggle. Can't you ask the accountant what he bought / how much it cost to use? Personally I welcome the opportunity to go offline and not have the stress of constant contact while I'm away so like the fact it seems to cost so much to be practicable

[Hazel at the Hill]

Don't know if it's any use, but Hubby has a Dongle for his iPad, so he can use it for work during the day, and he says it's great. I don't know if this would work abroad but I guess there will be that option.

Yes, a dongle would work on the notepad, it's just the data costs of roaming whilst abroad.

I bought an o2 dongle to use in Ireland earlier this year. Sadly, the areas we stayed at didn't have coverage, which I should have checked before I bought it , larger towns and cities were ok though. Lesson learned.

One option would be to buy a dongle locally, but there seems to be a lot of scope for that not working out, and it's a bit late once you're there!

I think they're all quite expensive to use abroad at the moment so you may struggle. Can't you ask the accountant what he bought / how much it cost to use? Personally I welcome the opportunity to go offline and not have the stress of constant contact while I'm away so like the fact it seems to cost so much to be practicable

He came back to me last night with some details of the dongle/preload that he bought, so that is an option. I wanted to know if this was the best plan - looks like I might be able to tether my phone to my notepad and use a £1.99 per day bolt on from o2 for unlimited data, which with use ever other work day (say) is only going to cost my company about a tenner + VAT which seems like a very reasonable cost to me. (If I have got this right!).

I'd be quite happy to be incommunicado (and the world will certainly not blow up if I am not running my empire for two weeks - haha!), but the consequence of this would be to miss out on a couple of sales. We have one customer who places short notice orders on a regular basis which I would miss out on without occasional contact, and the value of these is worth both the investment in technology and a modicum of inconvenience whilst on holiday.

The alternative is forwarding my emails to my hotmail account and picking them up in an internet cafe & dealing with stuff there - but replying from a hotmail account doesn't look overly professional, and if I'm going to be stuck somewhere doing 'work stuff', I'd prefer it to be in the comfort of the apartment, not in a sweaty internet cafe!

[Patchninja]

Where are ou going? When we're on holiday, I have found that here, all campsites and hotels have free wifi so I've never needed a dongle - don't know what one is....... sounds vaguely rude LOL

[Hazel at the Hill]

Where are ou going? When we're on holiday, I have found that here, all campsites and hotels have free wifi so I've never needed a dongle - don't know what one is....... sounds vaguely rude LOL

There are a lot of wifi spots around the resort, but I'd prefer to be doing 'work' stuff in the apartment rather than dragging papers, pen and a memory stick round with me. And then when I've 'checked in' and done anything which needs doing, I can shut the notepad and get on with developing the tan.

Dongle does sound rooooooooood, doesn't it! just looks like a memory stick that you plug into your USB port and it acts like a connection to the internet. It's the same as using a mobile phone for data, and if you're abroad that 'roaming' can be costly.