O2 Vs Vodafone Dongle offers

kennyb3

Hope this is the right section. moved out of home recently, want to be able to use my laptop in the apt in malahide. broadband seems expensive (phone line rental etc - not really needed).

Friend told me about the wireless dongles. went into O2 and vodafone shops in the pavillions. the O2 7.5gb option for €25pm for 12 months seemed better to me than the 18 month (they said you can get out free after 9 months - not sure i believe this) €20pm for 5GB with vodafone.

anyone more knowledgeable any opinion on which would be best esp re coverage in the malahide area. im very uninformed re this sort of thing.

if there are previous such questions/threads i apologise and would be grateful of a link.

thanks in advance

Dublin_Gunner

Well I live about 200m from an O2 mast - and got a dongle thingy until I get my real BB sorted out.

Trust me, its crap. Thats all I have to say. You will be disappointed.

Go with NTL or your phone provider, the dongles are only a very poor stop gap - and forget it if you want to play online games.

Ping times are generally well over the 200ms mark, and speeds constantly fluctuate, as well as the signal switching from HSDPA, WCDMA & EDGE(!!!!!).

I have a huge therad at the O2 forums about it, and I'm going to get my money back I think.

dub45

I use the Vodafone service in the city center on an almosst daily basis and it is fine for email and surfing. For 20 euros a month it is fine for my purposes.

But at the moment the quoted top speeds for these services are nominal - the download allowances are a joke if your interests lie in that area.

From the practical point of view you could keep an eye out for people using dongle bb in the area say in coffee shops or bars and ask what type of service they get.

But in summary you are buying a much weaker and less reliable product than 'real' bb.

kennyb3

if i just want it for e mail checking and internet surfing would it still be slow and not good enough?

watty

Whatever the "coverage" is today, it could be bad tomorrow. 10 Simultaneous users in your area will "max out" the mast sector down to dialup speed. Or even disconnect you.

It could be fine for the odd spot of browsing and email. Or regularly not connect.

It's a MOBILE product. It uses the Mobile phone network and phone calls have priority.

Dublin_Gunner

kennyb3 wrote: »

if i just want it for e mail checking and internet surfing would it still be slow and not good enough?

In general, it would be fine for that. But at €20+ per month, way too expensive. You can get real BB a lot cheaper.

watty wrote: »

Whatever the "coverage" is today, it could be bad tomorrow. 10 Simultaneous users in your area will "max out" the mast sector down to dialup speed. Or even disconnect you.[/quote

You've obviously had the pleasure of 'Mobile Broadband' too Wibbs :P