How to use a sim for internet

clint_silver

Local sports club, cant get fibre in, basic dialup only. Awful. There are wireless business solutions for 120-140 a month but this is way outside scope for us.

Small office needs wireless and we just hotspot off a phone when we do this.

There are sim only deals for 15-20 a month that we think will work for us.

Are there any really good sim devices that are available that we can permanently hotspot off and run a router from? All my searches are showing wireless dongles which are not the same thing. I feel sure these were available at some stage.

Dempo1

Personally I'd recommend buying A SIM free Router, this allows you test different sims for speeds etc, then get a broadband sim only deal, most networks offer this. The Huawei B525s, is an excellent router (4g), newer B311 etc.

Don't get bogged down on 5g.

Hauwei have excellent admin apps you can download onto a mobile to manage the device, access, change WiFi key (passwords), restrict access etc. These devices can handle a decent amount of users. And have lan capability (Direct connection) for say an admin computer/ CCTV etc.

I say sim only on tract as its a rolling commitment, not tied to long contract and very cost affective. Three generally the best in rural locations and approx €30 pm for 750gb.

Prepay very very expensive and not so generous allowance.

Routers available on amazon. Don't buy direct from network as generally more expensive and locked to individual networks which won't allow testing other networks. Finally use a prepay sim for testing before commitment.

greasepalm

When i had no internet i bought one of these where a sim card was installed in my meteor dongle and plugged into this.


Selected Wireless 300N 3G Router By Intellinet

clint_silver

great advice lads thanks

KAGY

I've a Huawei B525 or B535. I think it was 130 from amazon. You can often get them 2nd hand on donedeal.ie. they can also be plugged into external aerials if you need a boost.
Using a go mo sim so 12.99 for 80GB officially. Probably use 100gb some months without a problem. Check out the comreg coverage map, Eir/Gomo was the fastest for me.

Ps where are you based. A friend has a business setting up systems like this in the Midlands, I could pm details

xebec

Something like this would work really well: https://n.vodafone.ie/shop/accessories-and-mobile-broadband/b818.html

I’ve used it and can get great speeds, can connect lots of devices and no need for a separate router. Bit more expensive than what you mention but no need for another router and will offer more GBs than pay as you go options. Other networks offer very similar, go with the fastest one in the area.

ED E

Dempo1 wrote: »

I say sim only on tract as its a rolling commitment, not tied to long contract and very cost affective. Three generally the best in rural locations and approx €30 pm for 750gb.

Prepay very very expensive and not so generous allowance.

Prepay is exactly what most people want. Three, €20/28 days. Absolutely unlimited (they dont do anything if you hit 2T. Only reason to go elsewhere is if Threes capacity/coverage is poor in your area.

con747

ED E wrote: »

Prepay is exactly what most people want. Three, €20/28 days. Absolutely unlimited (they dont do anything if you hit 2T. Only reason to go elsewhere is if Threes capacity/coverage is poor in your area.

Have you a link to the 2 TB limit on that plan?

Curious_Case

con747 wrote: »

Have you a link to the 2 TB limit on that plan?

"G" is close to "T" in a qwerty layout

ED E

Its not a typo.



Unit is MB, site doesn't show it. Screener is old as their site is currently down for maint.

homer911

OP, find the location of your nearest 3G/4G towers - go to coveragemap.comreg.ie Determine which operators use those towers and what deals they have available. Get yourself a 4G LTE router and a sim card for the operator. Give the router an unobstructed view of the mast if possible or consider purchasing an external antenna.

I needed occasional internet access for a small charity - a borrowed sim was using a VF mast at the far end of town. Discovered the nearest mast was used by Three/48 and now have the 48 offer of 100GB a month for €11 which is more than we need and getting 30Mbs up and down

AirBiscuit

I used something very similar to this with a prepay SIM from Three for the best part of a year, seemed to work fine. Hooked it up to an ancient TV antenna in the attic that I pointed to the nearest mast and got slightly higher speeds than with just the included antennae. https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8652814/Trail/searchtext%3E4G+ROUTER.htm

POBox19

I use one of these: TP-Link MR600 https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/3g-4g-router/archer-mr600/v1/ with a GOMO sim. It uses a micro sim and is supplied with an adaptor for a Nano sim if you want to take one from a phone. You can connect by wire up to 4 machines and 64 on WiFi.
It works very well for me, but I'm close to an EIR/Meteor mast. Check which mast is nearest and which hotspot mobile is producing the best signal.
If the phone works well enough you may not need to invest is a system to replace it.

Harry Palmr

This thread has me interested, what's Three's typical 4G speed? Seen 21mb mentioned but what's peoples experience here?

ED E

Harry Palmr wrote: »

This thread has me interested, what's Three's typical 4G speed? Seen 21mb mentioned but what's peoples experience here?

Pointless question for anyone other than your neighbours.

I get 100Mb at home, 350Mb down the road but that's no good to somebody 1km away nevermind the far side of the country.

clint_silver

Thanks for help here, ordered a 48 sim to try and picked up a second hand huawei b525 going to try this next week.

The b525 has 2 small antennae on it, for anyone that tried it will a roof top aerial give that much more boost?