Vodaphone dongle - calling Shard, calling Shard . . .

[Nick]

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An acquiantance of mine has no broadband available but an excellent Vodaphone signal. I suggested a dongle but she tells me that she has been advised that as there is no 3G it will not be any faster than dial-up.

Can Shard or anyone else give us a first hand report re. using this gismo in non-3G areas (i.e. everywhere most of us might use it)?

[Telo]

I really wanted something that I could use while working away from home and travelling, and which may also be suitable while sailing on Scotland's west coast. I'd considered Blackberry, but thought it too expensive, and it was apparent that whatever system I chose would be a compromise.

First of all, my choice of dongle brand was mainly down to what was available at the time. O2 told me that their dongles hadn't arrived yet, Vodafone would be in the following week, can't remember what Orange said, so it was basically down to a choice between 3 and T-Mobile.

I was put off by the exorbitant claims made by an independent store for 3, so, in the end, opted for T-Mobile, although I had initial doubts about their coverage in the West of Scotland. I signed up for a two year deal for about £15 a month, now £14.67 owing to the cut in VAT. From memory, I can download 3GB per month, but never used anything remotely like that.

I've since used it satisfactorily in many places. Obviously, 3G coverage is very fast, and I've used it for Skype video calls on occasion (but often need to dump the video component for bandwidth reasons). 3G has good coverage in cities and large metropolitan areas; outside of that it gets patchy.

If full 3G is not available, then very often the dongle will pick up something called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Data Packet Access) which is usually pretty fast. At worst, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) comes in at 53.6Kbps, which is adequate for webmail, text based forecasts, even images, but obviously it's a bit on the slow side.

Signals seem to be strongest in open waters where there may be line of sight (or damn near it) to cell transmitters. There are also some places where there are no signals, Balvicar being one. But then there are also anchorages where we cannot pick up Clyde or Stornoway CGs, and Portpatrick Navtex can be patchy in the West. I've quite happily logged to full internet access while sailing down the Sound of Mull, and can get GPRS access to webmail, forums, weather forecasts from the mooring at Dallens Bay.

Incidentally, we have occasionally used the UKHO/RYA plotter CD-ROM with a handheld Garmin GPS connection to a laptop USB connector, while also using the same laptop for email. From memory, to avoid software conflicts, open the GPS/plotter stuff first, and then the dongle; that seems to avoid problems.

Normally there are just the two of us on board, but we both have occasional family and work issues to attend to. Although it wasn't our original intention, we've ended up with access to three different mobile sources, which is probably the best guarantee of access to the wider world. This however may be a serious error, and serious sailors might be better off with no means of external communications whatsoever. Anyway, it transpires that we now have;

• mobile access via Vodafone (for which we also have a Bluetooth <groan> connector somewhere)
  mobile access via O2
  internet access via T-Mobile

I have been reasonably satisfied with T-Mobile's coverage on the West; but then, I have no benchmark against which to compare it. In terms of UK coverage, sales people will make all sorts of claims, but never seem to be able to show you a map of their own cell coverage, never mind a comparison with their competitors. I'm sure such maps exist - if anyone knows an appropriate URL, please let us all know.

Finally, I've only used the dongle in the UK. There may be some reasonable deal for using the same company abroad, but I've heard horror stories of people ending up with monstrous bills. So I avoid using it abroad.

[Rowana]

I'm sure such maps exist - if anyone knows an appropriate URL, please let us all know.

Try here for the coverage maps for various networks -

http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_gb.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jim

[Telo]

Thanks Jim. The these maps are helpful, and will be indicative in a general way, but having tried the "Balvicar Test", I don't think they are very reliable when it gets down to local areas.

[Rowana]

You're probably right. They possibly just copy from the provider's website and show the optimistic view under ideal conditions.

These hard lumpy bits tend to get in the way of radio signals on the west coast!

[Telo]

There is some discussion in YBW's Scuttlebutt about Broadband dongles. Having previously written fairly warmly about the T-Mobile dongle, my subsequent experience has rather put me off slightly, and I shall be using the BT dongle in future.

I am coming to the end of a two year deal with a T-Mobile dongle (3Gb per month IIRC), which I shall not be renewing.

Initially I was very pleased with it, but, increasingly, connections appear to rapidly downgrade from 3G to much slower GPRS. Also, I can no longer get a signal in places that were previously connectable in my usual sailing area in Argyll (yes, I know that a signal would be unlikely in many anchorages, but I'm talking about areas of open water where it used to be easy to pick up email). It usually works in central London and the City area, but even those areas can be patchy.

My home connection is with BT Broadband, so, for a one-off payment of £40 for a BT Mobile Broadband Dongle , I can now download up to 1Gb per month without incurring additional charges. I can only write about about my own experiences, but on several occasions I have compared the effectiveness of the BT and T-Moibile dongles. To date, BT has been better; better in the sense that they are more likely to provide a signal, and could more readily provide a stronger or faster signal than T-Mobile. Reliable access was more more important that the money, but I'll no longer be spending the £15 a month that I was paying to T-Mobile. So that's also a plus.

BT claim to have 80% UK coverage (whatever that means), and I presume that their service is piggybacked with a mobile operator. The purely mobile service has been very good to date, but I my home account also gives me free WiFi access to BT FON and BT Openzone when I'm travelling.

T-Mobile provided monthly downloads of up to 3Gb, so the the free 1Gb from BT Mobile is significantly less. However, I have never downloaded anything remotely approaching one Gb while on the move. Also, downloading from BT FON or Openzone does not count towards the 1Gb mobile limit.

[cpedw]

We got a Vodaphone dongle 2 years ago. It's the deal that they no longer offer - a one off payment for 15Gig (I think) PAYG that doesn't expire. It can still be refilled I think. Now you are obliged to take a monthly contract. It's still working on its initial allocation but it's down to 3gig now.
It has only ever achieved GPRS but it has done so in a number of places. It didn't manage broadband speed in Edinburgh though the coverage map says it should - but it was in a house where the mobile phone reception is also poor.
Derek

[MrMcP]

BT claim to have 80% UK coverage (whatever that means), and I presume that their service is piggybacked with a mobile operator. The purely mobile service has been very good to date, but I my home account also gives me free WiFi access to BT FON and BT Openzone when I'm travelling.

BT mobile piggyback on the Vodafone service, so if you can find up to date coverage maps for them they should be reasonably accurate. I have a BT dongle which has always provided coverage of sorts, and normally enough for the basics of email and simple web browsing. My experience of their 3G network isn't great, although the iPhone hoardes appear to love them and it certainly gets better reports than O2's equivalent.

The wifi access is a definite plus though.

[Gordonmc]

We got a Vodaphone dongle 2 years ago. It's the deal that they no longer offer - a one off payment for 15Gig (I think) PAYG that doesn't expire. It can still be refilled I think.

You can refill... or at least I could when I got an Ebay one a couple of months ago. I had to set up an account with the SIM number and that was it. No time-limit for use.
I can get 3G in my office in Ayr and on the boat in Ardrossan but it drops to GPRS at home (Ayr).
Its still faster than the old Tiscali landline.