Mobile Broadband - best options?

dodgystuff

I'm looking in to getting mobile broadband on a pay as you go basis for a holiday home.

I've looked into Vodafone and 3 so far but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experiences with these devices and which perform better? Vodafone is offering €20 for 20GB and 3 offers €30 for 30GB.

The area the house is in has good 4G coverage so I'm hoping it will be ok for working from home on and off during the summer if I want a change of scenery. I would have a few Zoom calls and would be downloading and uploading files during the week.

Does anyone have any other options outside of Vodafone and 3?

pizzahead77

dodgystuff wrote: »

I'm looking in to getting mobile broadband on a pay as you go basis for a holiday home.

I've looked into Vodafone and 3 so far but I'm just wondering if anyone has any experiences with these devices and which perform better? Vodafone is offering €20 for 20GB and 3 offers €30 for 30GB.

The area the house is in has good 4G coverage so I'm hoping it will be ok for working from home on and off during the summer if I want a change of scenery. I would have a few Zoom calls and would be downloading and uploading files during the week.

Does anyone have any other options outside of Vodafone and 3?

It all depends on what the coverage is like in the area.

If Three has good coverage, pick up one of their prepaid phone sim cards and you'll have unlimited data for 28 days for €20.

There is also Eir.

In terms of MNVOs on each of the main networks

Vodafone - CLear Mobile and An Post Mobile

Three - 48, Lycamobile, Tesco Mobile (and Blueface)

Eir - GoMo


Currently 48 is doing 100GB data on their €10.99 per month mobile plan

dodgystuff

pizzahead77 wrote: »

It all depends on what the coverage is like in the area.

If Three has good coverage, pick up one of their prepaid phone sim cards and you'll have unlimited data for 28 days for €20.

There is also Eir.

In terms of MNVOs on each of the main networks

Vodafone - CLear Mobile and An Post Mobile

Three - 48, Lycamobile, Tesco Mobile (and Blueface)

Eir - GoMo


Currently 48 is doing 100GB data on their €10.99 per month mobile plan

Sorry, I'm new to the whole mobile broadband thing so need a bit more clarification. Do you mean to get a mobile broadband device and then insert one of these pre-paid phone SIMs to get a better offer?

I would be using it for a laptop and a couple of phones.

Dempo1

dodgystuff wrote: »

Sorry, I'm new to the whole mobile broadband thing so need a bit more clarification. Do you mean to get a mobile broadband device and then insert one of these pre-paid phone SIMs to get a better offer?

I would be using it for a laptop and a couple of phones.

If your not sure what network offers best coverage it might be wise to purchase a sim free modem/router, this way you can test various sims, a Router is better than WiFi dingles, the Routers allow a lan connection (direct cable to Laptop, TV boxes etc), The Hauwei B525S is an example, search amazon etc. The routers also give you a better spread of WiFi as opposed to dingles which have limited WiFi spread.

Buying. Modem /Router direct from a network generally means they are locked to that network only and more expensive.

Choosing the correct package becomes the issue. Generally prepay broadband very expensive. You'll get all sorts of opinions on prepay offering unlimited data, this is not entirely correct, these are phone sim packages and not intended for modem use, its called tethering and whilst you might get away with it for small /occasional use, the network can and will cap excessive usage, 3 in particular clamping down on this.

It's entirely your decision but a broadband SIM only, 30 day contract plan might be the best solution costing €29 per month with 750gb allowance. I only recommend this once you've determined what network offers consistent speeds and as it says on the tin, order and cancel as you require. If this is too much hassle, try the prepay but be mindful of my points re phone sim package as opposed to broadband sim pre pay package , two very different things and if you have coverage issues using a phone package in a modem, you'll get Zero technical support.

smuggler.ie

Dempo1 wrote: »

.... 3 in particular clamping down on this. ....

Does it?
Anyone have that experience ? Or is it just a congestion...that equally apply to 30d contract.

Ten Pin

Does anyone have any other options outside of Vodafone and 3?

Vodafone X: 20e / 28 days / unlimited data but capped at 10Mbps

Three PAYG phone SIM: 20e / 28 days / unlimited data

48 PAYG: 10.99 pm / 100GB

Eir PAYG: 20e / 28 days / 120GB (excess throttled at about 5Mbps)

Consensus seems to be that Three's PAYG phone SIMs aren't discriminated against with regards to usage, speed or tethering. The potential issue is peak time congestion depending on location, back haul etc. The contractual speeds that three quote on their website treats broadband and phone SIMs the same, the only difference is for FIXED wireless broadband which is an installation carried out by three themselves.
https://www.three.ie/legal/terms/mobile-and-fwa-network-speeds.html

Three had a "tethering not allowed" condition in their terms but didn't enforce it and that condition was removed last year.


You can either use a phone as a hotspot or buy a dedicated router.
Huawei B311 is a basic CAT 4 router.

If you want to future proof then look for a CAT6 or CAT7 router that can achieve 200Mbps+ if signal is strong and carrier aggregation is enabled on the mast.

Midband forum has more information on similar set ups.
https://m.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1147



In summary...
- Get a PAYG phone SIM (whichever network has best signal)
- Buy your own unlocked router with antenna ports
- Optional - install external antenna if indoor signal isn't sufficient

Dempo1

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Does it?
Anyone have that experience ? Or is it just a congestion...that equally apply to 30d contract.

Newer sims since late 2019, yes, legacy sims no ( don't ask I know, I won't tell you )

smuggler.ie

Dempo1 wrote: »

Newer sims since late 2019, yes, legacy sims no ( don't ask I know, I won't tell you )

Not sure if Three would go for this "2019 SIM exclusive" action.
Sound more like Three store rep line.

Dempo1

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Not sure if Three would go for this "2019 SIM exclusive" action.
Sound more like Three store rep line.

I predicted absurd reactions to factual advice, but of course OP doesn't have to listen, nothing to do with 3 stores it's to do with systems integrations with 02, but that might be a little beyond your grasp.

But, of course, everyone can look this up on either the website or indeed take some time to look at the T&C"s on sim back.

You may also not be aware 02 never allowed tethering, which in essence is what a customer is doing using a dongle, with a phone sim package to get WiFi.

Ten Pin

https://notifications.three.ie/EECC/prepay/1
https://notifications.three.ie/EECC/billpay/1

There is no change from the way that customers can use data with their plans. Any old term that did not allow tethering was not enforced.

smuggler.ie

Dempo1 wrote: »

I predicted absurd reactions to factual advice, but of course OP doesn't have to listen, nothing to do with 3 stores it's to do with systems integrations with 02, but that might be a little beyond your grasp.

But, of course, everyone can look this up on either the website or indeed take some time to look at the T&C"s on sim back.

You may also not be aware 02 never allowed tethering, which in essence is what a customer is doing using a dongle, with a phone sim package to get WiFi.

Dont get offended, no intention.
Not denying its mentioned in T&C's or Three ability to do such, have not seen implemented/applied. Have heard the line.

Oz91

You can check the 5g options from Eir, they just announced on the website.

Craig_David

Would there be a big difference in speed between the regular EIR 'no limits data' vs the 'no limits 5G data' plans?

Thanks

pizzahead77

Craig_David wrote: »

Would there be a big difference in speed between the regular EIR 'no limits data' vs the 'no limits 5G data' plans?

Thanks

Yes in theory there should be I have seen speeds of 400Mbps+ download on 5G on my mobile with Three

Alibaba

I'm looking at broadband options also. Has to be mobile as no fixed broadband in my area but mobile reception good.
So could I from what I understand get a 48 sim and put in a router (I'm looking at ones in Harvey norman) and get unlimited broadband for €10.99 a month
Would 48 have an issue with that though 🤫🤫

Mikiek14

Alibaba wrote: »

I'm looking at broadband options also. Has to be mobile as no fixed broadband in my area but mobile reception good.
So could I from what I understand get a 48 sim and put in a router (I'm looking at ones in Harvey norman) and get unlimited broadband for €10.99 a month
Would 48 have an issue with that though 🀫🀫

100gb limit may be issue

Alibaba

Mikiek14 wrote: »

100gb limit may be issue

100 gb would be ok for me.

Oz91

Alibaba wrote: »

100 gb would be ok for me.

I would say try clear mobile, they say that they have a speed limit of 5 Mbps but they usually don't put this limit unless there is a high traffic or congestion.

They do have no fair usage so you won't have any limit on usage too and it's 13 euro

jdon72

Alibaba wrote: »

I'm looking at broadband options also. Has to be mobile as no fixed broadband in my area but mobile reception good.
So could I from what I understand get a 48 sim and put in a router (I'm looking at ones in Harvey norman) and get unlimited broadband for €10.99 a month
Would 48 have an issue with that though 🤫🤫

*not unlimited, only 100Gb. Should work though

Craig_David

I picked up an unlocked sim router and popped in a 3 sim card to test it out..
Was getting between 5 & 10 mbps. Not great..

I also have a Gomo sim card but could not get it working in the router, so using my mobile I ran a speed test. Only getting like 2 /3 mbps.
Presumably if I did manage to get it working in the sim router, I wouldnt see a drastic improvement on that.

Any other networks worth trying? based in Dublin city..
48 isnt really an option as my typical usage is >100gb.

Alibaba

Oz91 wrote: »

I would say try clear mobile, they say that they have a speed limit of 5 Mbps but they usually don't put this limit unless there is a high traffic or congestion.

They do have no fair usage so you won't have any limit on usage too and it's 13 euro

Thanks everybody for your input.
I was thinking about Clear mobile alright but I don't see great reviews about them.
Also I presume I could use their sim card in my vodafone modem and phone as they are both locked to vodafone and Clear is owned by vodafone.

Oz91

Alibaba wrote: »

Thanks everybody for your input.
I was thinking about Clear mobile alright but I don't see great reviews about them.
Also I presume I could use their sim card in my vodafone modem and phone as they are both locked to vodafone and Clear is owned by vodafone.

I think it’s worth it to try as there is no contract, just 30 days plan.

Craig_David

Could you post some speed test results using Clear?
Interested to see what speeds you are getting.

Alibaba

Oz91 wrote: »

I think it’s worth it to try as there is no contract, just 30 days plan.

Yeah , I was thinking of giving them a go.
Nothing to lose.

Will the Clear sim card work in the Vodafone broadband modem ?

xebec

Alibaba wrote: »

Yeah , I was thinking of giving them a go.
Nothing to lose.

Will the Clear sim card work in the Vodafone broadband modem ?

Should work fine, you might need to update the APN settings see last faq on this page: https://clearmobile.ie/help/getting-started.html

Not sure I’d be expecting anything more than the 5Mbps they’re advertising though which won’t be great if you’re attaching multiple devices.

basill

Looks like 750gb per billing cycle fair usage on eir for 5g mobile broadband.

https://www.eir.ie/opencms/export/sites/default/.content/pdf/terms/eir_mobile_broadband_terms.pdf

Oz91

Craig_David wrote: »

Could you post some speed test results using Clear?
Interested to see what speeds you are getting.

I don’t have the sim with me as I gave it to my nephew but as soon as I see him, I will send the SS.

Oz91

Alibaba wrote: »

Yeah , I was thinking of giving them a go.
Nothing to lose.

Will the Clear sim card work in the Vodafone broadband modem ?

As far as I know, Vodafone doesn’t lock their devices anymore. So you should be fine, I also have a Vodafone portable modem and previously I used virgin mobile in it.

Muahahaha

Alibaba wrote: »

I'm looking at broadband options also. Has to be mobile as no fixed broadband in my area but mobile reception good.
So could I from what I understand get a 48 sim and put in a router (I'm looking at ones in Harvey norman) and get unlimited broadband for €10.99 a month
Would 48 have an issue with that though 🤫🤫

Ive been using a 48 sim in my own router for about 6 months now with no problems. Like yourself Ive no fixed broadband available in my area but the mobile reception is okay. I get speeds of about 25mbs during daytime slowing to about 10mbs in the evenings.

Its not fantastic speeds or anything but its the best option from a bad lot. I was paying Vodafone 45 a month for their mobile broadband and that wasnt any better. At least now Im paying 7.99 a month to 48 for a similar service. In the 6 months so far Ive spent a total of 48 euro on internet rather than the 270 euro I would have spent had I continued with Vodafone. The router cost me 115 euro so that has paid for itself already.

Theres great advice over on the mid band forum about routers, the one I got is a TP Link Archer MR600 and works very well.

chiral_fluid

5gbroadband.ie

30-days rolling contract. 300-1000 mbit/s.

Alibaba

Muahahaha wrote: »

Ive been using a 48 sim in my own router for about 6 months now with no problems. Like yourself Ive no fixed broadband available in my area but the mobile reception is okay. I get speeds of about 25mbs during daytime slowing to about 10mbs in the evenings.

Its not fantastic speeds or anything but its the best option from a bad lot. I was paying Vodafone 45 a month for their mobile broadband and that wasnt any better. At least now Im paying 7.99 a month to 48 for a similar service. In the 6 months so far Ive spent a total of 48 euro on internet rather than the 270 euro I would have spent had I continued with Vodafone. The router cost me 115 euro so that has paid for itself already.

Theres great advice over on the mid band forum about routers, the one I got is a TP Link Archer MR600 and works very well.

I'm thinking along the same lines.
Paying vodafone €30 a month for 40 gb. Very restricted with that much gb.
Think I'll do something similar. As I said in earlier post was thinking about getting router , that gives you a lot of choices.

basill

Worth noting that 48 like most operators/mvnos have a fair usage policy. 100gb per month is their interpretation of "unlimited" data. In mobile phones this isn't normally an issue as you go in and out of WiFi coverage but for a home broadband solution might be an issue for some.

Sue de Nimes

My wife and I are returning to Ireland in a few weeks time. We have sold our home in the UK but with the lockdown haven't bought anything in Ireland. We will be staying in an empty house for a few months until we buy somewhere. We need to get some sort of internet access for that period of time.

Are there any options available that won't tie us into a long contract and will give a decent usage limit (ideally unlimited). We don't mind paying a premium for the short contract we just don't want to be limited to 5GB of useage. It won't need to be the fastest service either, just enough to allow for streaming of video on a single device.

basill

Sue de Nimes wrote: »

My wife and I are returning to Ireland in a few weeks time. We have sold our home in the UK but with the lockdown haven't bought anything in Ireland. We will be staying in an empty house for a few months until we buy somewhere. We need to get some sort of internet access for that period of time.

Are there any options available that won't tie us into a long contract and will give a decent usage limit (ideally unlimited). We don't mind paying a premium for the short contract we just don't want to be limited to 5GB of useage. It won't need to be the fastest service either, just enough to allow for streaming of video on a single device.

AFAIK Ireland doesn't have "unlimited" broadband. What they have is a number of plans that purport to be "unlimited" but when you read the T&Cs there are fair use policy caps. The highest I have seen is the Eir 5G offering which is 750gb per billing cycle. Most are around the 100gb range. Some also throttle download speeds. The regulator has shown little teeth to date in pushing the operators to refrain from using the term "unlimited" and it doesn't appear that anyone has bothered to take a test case.



Having said all of the above it really depends with mobile broadband where you live, type of house construction, line of sight, router used, antennae, number of people using service concurrently etc etc. All of the operators will have coverage maps but the reality is that until you test out various sim cards over a period of time you won't truly know.

48 is an MVNO that uses the 3 Network in Ireland. It is 10.99EUR per month and uses an app whereby you sign up to become a member. There are no lock in periods. They do have a small fee for the sim card. You would need to purchase a 4g router and another poster above gave an example of one that works for them.

Sue de Nimes

Thanks, I've looked at that and it might do the job.

I contacted someone in the live chat on the EIR website. I explained that I was looking for a broadband service with a reasonable amount of data on a short-term contract. He offered me a PAYG sim with "unlimited mins, texts and chats"

Hibernia93

I've got 3 Mobile Broadband using the Huawei 525 I purchased last year for my Parents Caravan in Meath. It worked fine last year regularly got 17 to 20 Megs. This year however its been shockingly low of about 2 to 4 Megs has anyone ever bought a Booster Or Antenna?

Oz91

Not sure if you noticed but Vodafone also lunched a new offer for 45 euro unlimited mobile broadband (5g/4G+).

chiral_fluid

Oz91 wrote: »

Not sure if you noticed but Vodafone also lunched a new offer for 45 euro unlimited mobile broadband (5g/4G+).

Link please?

Oz91

chiral_fluid wrote: »

Link please?

If you will just press in but now for 300GB then it will ask you about device type and if you want to keep or move the number. Just choose something and then it will give you slide option for 300GB, 20GB and unlimited new option.

https://n.vodafone.ie/shop/broadband/mobile-broadband.html

Oz91

Oz91 wrote: »

If you will just press in but now for 300GB then it will ask you about device type and if you want to keep or move the number. Just choose something and then it will give you slide option for 300GB, 20GB and unlimited new option.

https://n.vodafone.ie/shop/broadband/mobile-broadband.html

Here is the SS

smuggler.ie

Oz91 wrote: »

If you will just press in but now for 300GB then it will ask you about device type and if you want to keep or move the number. Just choose something and then it will give you slide option for 300GB, 20GB and unlimited new option.

https://n.vodafone.ie/shop/broadband/mobile-broadband.html

Sounds very promising!
Its just...
1. B818 is 4G+ router, were you get all benefits of CA, "5G ready" is just gimmick.
2. Click on T&C bring you to the page that list hell-of-a-lot, but i was not able to find one that apply to this particular plan, especially in relation to speed.

From what i can see, VF are capping their "unlimited" plans except most expensive
It sounds to good to be what it might look like on first glance, unless you kindly could point to where it confirms "unlimited and no speed restriction"

Oz91

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Sounds very promising!
Its just...
1. B818 is 4G+ router, were you get all benefits of CA, "5G ready" is just gimmick.
2. Click on T&C bring you to the page that list hell-of-a-lot, but i was not able to find one that apply to this particular plan, especially in relation to speed.

From what i can see, VF are capping their "unlimited" plans except most expensive
It sounds to good to be what it might look like on first glance, unless you kindly could point to where it confirms "unlimited and no speed restriction"

We are using this currently and we just upgraded yesterday to unlimited option. They told us on the phone that they give for free the 4G+ router and if you are willing to pay 99 euro then they can give you a 5g ready router. Anyway, Vodafone is not the best for 5g coverage, if you are in 5g area then go for it but I am in normal 4G area and my speeds varies from 20mbps to 80mbps(different time of the day) but most of the time around 40mbps and seems like they are truly unlimited like no fair usage at all.

smuggler.ie

Oz91 wrote: »

We are using this currently and we just upgraded yesterday to unlimited option. They told us on the phone that they give for free the 4G+ router and if you are willing to pay 99 euro then they can give you a 5g ready router. Anyway, Vodafone is not the best for 5g coverage, if you are in 5g area then go for it but I am in normal 4G area and my speeds varies from 20mbps to 80mbps(different time of the day) but most of the time around 40mbps and seems like they are truly unlimited like no fair usage at all.

Fair enough.
Experience from years back thought me not to trust what was said over phone - tomorrow another rep might deny most of it and you will have no prove for anything.
Providing coverage and your setup are good, 4G+ with B818 can go beyond 80Mbps, in fact ~3 times that on a good day. And this would be more than enough for most users if not all. Even cap @100 would

Oz91

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Fair enough.
Experience from years back thought me not to trust what was said over phone - tomorrow another rep might deny most of it and you will have no prove for anything.
Providing coverage and your setup are good, 4G+ with B818 can go beyond 80Mbps, in fact ~3 times that on a good day. And this would be more than enough for most users if not all. Even cap @100 would

100% agree with you because first rep said there is no offer for unlimited mobile broadband and we ringed again and then they said yes you can upgrade to it 😄😄 anyway I think their modem b818 263 is not great for Wi-Fi signal, it’s a bit poor so you might need to get an extender.

smuggler.ie

Oz91 wrote: »

100% agree with you because first rep said there is no offer for unlimited mobile broadband and we ringed again and then they said yes you can upgrade to it ���� anyway I think their modem b818 263 is not great for Wi-Fi signal, it’s a bit poor so you might need to get an extender.

My take - wire all that has Ethernet port.
Non of home routers are great for WiFi, perfectly covers the room it is in, but anything behind solid wall and signal degrade.
Balance price vs speed vs allowance is main concern, LAN/WLAN is next concern, other means possible/available.

Oz91

smuggler.ie wrote: »

My take - wire all that has Ethernet port.
Non of home routers are great for WiFi, perfectly covers the room it is in, but anything behind solid wall and signal degrade.
Balance price vs speed vs allowance is main concern, LAN/WLAN is next concern, other means possible/available.

Do you recommend any good extender? I bought last year a tplink but it transmits only 2.4ghz and it’s fairly slow.

smuggler.ie

Oz91 wrote: »

Do you recommend any good extender?

Don't use them - cant recommend, what i can recommend is .... don't use them.
Corse, there are situations where you might have no other options, last resort...

Oz91

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Don't use them - cant recommend, what i can recommend is .... don't use them.
Corse, there are situations where you might have no other options, last resort...

Ahaha I prefer to not use them but then I need to wire all house

chiral_fluid

Oz91 wrote: »

Do you recommend any good extender? I bought last year a tplink but it transmits only 2.4ghz and it’s fairly slow.

Buy unifi or omada. Don't use extenders and avoid meshes if possible. Use star topology with many access points across your house and a good switch in the center.

Oz91

chiral_fluid wrote: »

Buy unifi or omada. Don't use extenders and avoid meshes if possible. Use star topology with many access points across your house and a good switch in the center.

Yeah, I checked unifi, seems to be very good. Thanks for the tip

xebec

The 5G version from Vodafone is up there now and the router appears to be free on the same 12 month contract as the 4 G router…

https://n.vodafone.ie/shop/broadband/mobile-broadband.html