Your thoughts and advice most welcome here…
I am about to embark on a tramping career and have been been advised to get a mi fi unit to assist with internet connection/google maps etc. Do any of you use one? is it worth the £60 and rental?
…or what do you use?
Thanks in advance
Tazbug
Yes I use a Huawei MiFi almost everyday. Brilliant!
But no idea where you get £60 from… Mine was under £30 off eBay, and I buy 3 x 3GB data SIMs from 3 also from eBay. They last up to 3 months each, or when the data runs out.
I use mine with an iPad and while waiting to tip, there are very, very few places I haven’t found a signal.
Get one. You won’t regret it.
My phone is on an O2 contract so I just looked up a mi fi through O2…just my ignorance, I didn’t realise you could get them elsewhere 
I’ll do a bit more research now…a bit further afield
Tazbug
My phone’s on a Vodafone contract, but the MiFi is just for data, so it doesn’t matter where the contract comes from, plus, I can use the MiFi to connect to the Internet on my phone at the same time as the iPad… I think you can connect up to five devices.
Search eBay for Huawei, and you’ll find loads for sale.
Thanks Bud, will do
Tazbug
Personally, i would reccomend getting your self a smart phone on three that does tethering, and get your self a plan with unlimited data that way you can watch as much as you want on iplayer 4od etc and use the web for whatever you want without worrying how much data you are using… Three are the only network that do totally unlimited data.
The dongles and the mifi all have stipulations on to how much data you get… the normal phone plans dont… seems a no brainer to me.
I was also going to suggest the same as drummerkev, an Android phone that can become a portable wifi hot spot which is also ideal for google maps (NB iPhones need rooting before they can become hot spots).
OR get yourself a tablet with 3G e.g. iPad, Nexus 7 or one of the cheaper alternatives and have an all in one solution.
Depends mainly if you also want a laptop or not and whether your are staying within the UK as I wouldn’t want to be fiddling swapping SIMs in tablets.
th2013:
I was also going to suggest the same as drummerkev, an Android phone that can become a portable wifi hot spot which is also ideal for google maps (NB iPhones need rooting before they can become hot spots).
OR get yourself a tablet with 3G e.g. iPad, Nexus 7 or one of the cheaper alternatives and have an all in one solution.Depends mainly if you also want a laptop or not and whether your are staying within the UK as I wouldn’t want to be fiddling swapping SIMs in tablets.
what do you mean by this? All the phones i have had have already had this enabled by the network and all you have to do is turn it on within the settings so it pushes the hotspot signal out.
three have a great deal on at the moment, £36 a month iphone 5 loads of minutes unlimited texts and unlimited data as well plus something like 2000 3 to 3 mins. You can turn the phone into a hotspot PLUS with three when they upgrade to the 4g network you WONT pay any extra like all the other networks!
drummerkev:
th2013:
I was also going to suggest the same as drummerkev, an Android phone that can become a portable wifi hot spot which is also ideal for google maps (NB iPhones need rooting before they can become hot spots).
OR get yourself a tablet with 3G e.g. iPad, Nexus 7 or one of the cheaper alternatives and have an all in one solution.Depends mainly if you also want a laptop or not and whether your are staying within the UK as I wouldn’t want to be fiddling swapping SIMs in tablets.
what do you mean by this? All the phones i have had have already had this enabled by the network and all you have to do is turn it on within the settings so it pushes the hotspot signal out.
!
Looks like things have changed. It used to be the case that Apple iPhones needed rooting to become a hotspot. It seems that more recent ones now allow it. It hasn’t always been trivial as the article here explains: gadgetreview.com/2011/09/how … tspot.html
Apologies for giving out wrong information. Personally I prefer Android phones but I know many like iPhones - the last iPhone I had didn’t agree with me so I gave it to my wife who is chuffed to bits with it. I do like my iPad a lot though. Horses for courses I guess.
drummerkev:
Personally, i would reccomend getting your self a smart phone on three that does tethering, and get your self a plan with unlimited data that way you can watch as much as you want on iplayer 4od etc and use the web for whatever you want without worrying how much data you are using… Three are the only network that do totally unlimited data.The dongles and the mifi all have stipulations on to how much data you get… the normal phone plans dont… seems a no brainer to me.
I got unlimited data on T-Mobile, even done torrents whilst out on the road, no probs.
waynedl:
drummerkev:
Personally, i would reccomend getting your self a smart phone on three that does tethering, and get your self a plan with unlimited data that way you can watch as much as you want on iplayer 4od etc and use the web for whatever you want without worrying how much data you are using… Three are the only network that do totally unlimited data.The dongles and the mifi all have stipulations on to how much data you get… the normal phone plans dont… seems a no brainer to me.
I got unlimited data on T-Mobile, even done torrents whilst out on the road, no probs.
I got the same on our company phones, don’t get the laptop out that often now, watch tv and everything on my Samsung s3, if I do want to watch something with a bigger screen then just tether it to the phone and away you go, took me all of 2 mins to set the security code on the laptop to enable the wifi connection 
Just don’t go with EE for mobile Internet, it’s eye wateringly expensive for 4g, which is rubbish if you ask me.
You pay X for so much data then when you’ve watched too much ■■■■ or streamed too many movies they charge you even more for “data add ons” highway robbery in other words.
Used to avoid three like the plague as the reception was hilarious but will give them a whirl when this EE contract is done.
drummerkev:
Personally, i would reccomend getting your self a smart phone on three that does tethering, and get your self a plan with unlimited data that way you can watch as much as you want on iplayer 4od etc and use the web for whatever you want without worrying how much data you are using… Three are the only network that do totally unlimited data.The dongles and the mifi all have stipulations on to how much data you get… the normal phone plans dont… seems a no brainer to me.
Same here. Have been using 3 for ages now with no probs. Tethering the tablet or lappy to my phone is literally a 5 second job. And as its totally unlimited you can leave it connected all day if you want
drummerkev:
Personally, i would reccomend getting your self a smart phone on three that does tethering, and get your self a plan with unlimited data that way you can watch as much as you want on iplayer 4od etc and use the web for whatever you want without worrying how much data you are using… Three are the only network that do totally unlimited data.The dongles and the mifi all have stipulations on to how much data you get… the normal phone plans dont… seems a no brainer to me.
I have 3 network iphone 5 on one plan unlimited data and free tethering for unlimited data and not found anywhere with no signal plus mine seems to be quicker than broadband
Anybody tried the new Virgin VIP Sim deals - unlimited calls.texts.data for £15 month rolling contract ? but is it truly unlimited data ?
TP Link TL-MR3020 Wireless N Router, Huawei E367 HSPA+ dongle, Three.com 3G preloaded pay as you go sim - £11.50 for 3Gb. All purchased via Amazon.
Hi
I have both the unlimited data (3 network £25 a month sim only) on my iPhone and also the Huawei mifi.
In my opinion the mifi dongle works bests although I can’t fault the tethering from the iPhone but it can be a bit slow sometimes in the evening.
The deal I have on 3 with the mifi is a 1 month contract at £15 a month for 10gb and to be honest I have never gone over this.
Obviously with the phone contract there’s no limited but like I say it can be a bit annoying in the evening when the programme keeps buffering.
Hope this helps
I got iphone 5 on one plan on three can use personal hotspot and internet coverage is spot on tethering is free and all the net you can use
drummerkev:
Personally, i would reccomend getting your self a smart phone on three that does tethering, and get your self a plan with unlimited data that way you can watch as much as you want on iplayer 4od etc and use the web for whatever you want without worrying how much data you are using… Three are the only network that do totally unlimited data.The dongles and the mifi all have stipulations on to how much data you get… the normal phone plans dont… seems a no brainer to me.
Orange also do unlimited data, and its also got the 4g network.