Wifi whnen travelling

[Birty]

I might need good/ maybe guaranteed wifi in the near future when on the move? Uk and abroad... I see adverts for companies like ROAM maxview , EE sell something aswell etc etc... but could I ask if anyone knows what this is... is it not just the same as 4g on ya phone? Why spend money on these products? If no 4g then no wifi I assume? Advice please and sorry but cant see which sub forum this might live?

 

[Loz]

I’m just going to use my iPhone now that we have e-sims on the phones, will be easier to purchase a local esim for data only.

 

[Birty]

yes but who/why are people buying wifi gizmos? Must have reasons and benefits surely?

 

[5i1ver8ack]

I think the key benefit is a more effective aerial - capable of picking up a weaker signal.

 

[Amarillo]

We have a mobile Wi-Fi thingy in the van. All mobile devices and discover media attach to it and chew through the data. We use it instead of our phones when living in the van because we can use BBC iPlayer abroad as for some reason it is tricked into believing we are in the UK!

I haven’t done the figures but it is not very expensive, and for us it is more convenient to have most of our data while overseas coming from one device.

We have it Velcroed high up on the passenger B pillar and powered from a dual USB port plugged into the lighter socket below. It is always on and gives instant up to date traffic flow information on trunk roads for the Discover Media.

The signal it gives out is more reliable and much less hassle than tethering iPads to iPhones.

 

[Birty]

We have a mobile Wi-Fi thingy in the van. All mobile devices and discover media attach to it and chew through the data. We use it instead of our phones when living in the van because we can use BBC iPlayer abroad as for some reason it is tricked into believing we are in the UK!

I haven’t done the figures but it is not very expensive, and for us it is more convenient to have most of our data while overseas coming from one device.

We have it Velcroed high up on the passenger B pillar and powered from a dual USB port plugged into the lighter socket below. It is always on and gives instant up to date traffic flow information on trunk roads for the Discover Media.

The signal it gives out is more reliable and much less hassle than tethering iPads to iPhones.

Thanks for that .. good info.. mmm more decisions to make now!!!

 

[Birty]

EE Car Wi-Fi

www.caravanclub.co.uk

Looks ok for the job maybe ..EE though and not externally mounted..

 

[sapto]

Check out @WelshGas posts about his travel to the Nordkapp (?): He‘s got a decent setup. Also look into the club shop they sell something similar as far as I remember.

We had a mobile Wifi thing from Netgear (Aircard something), but sell it and use our „German“ phones with Alditalk and a Datapack. Works for us (2xipad, 2xphones, 1xlaptop).

 

[Birty]

will do thanks.

 

[ChocolateEclair]

I live in rural Suffolk and only get decent internet via Vodafone 4G (4mb on BT, 40mb on Vodafone!). I then also take the SIM with me in a Huawei mini router similar to the one mentioned above when we go away.

There is a good package on mobiles.co.uk at the moment for an Unlimited 4G/5G data/mins/texts with unrestricted speed for £14.50 a month.

To get this deal Vodafone actually charge you £30 a month and then you claim cash back from mobiles every 3 months which brings the price to £14.50. You just have to remember to claim! It’s a 12 month contract so you also have to cancel and start again at the end of the 12 months - we have been doing this for years no problem and saved a small fortune.

You can use it for EU roaming and for us the connection has always been excellent - you don’t have to connect to the Vodafone network outside the UK.

Also, like Amarillo mentioned, when using the Huawei router outside the UK you can use iPlayer etc. like being at home.

 

[Lightning]

Beware of the fair use policies. They all have them. On the latest Vodafone contracts, if it’s unlimited data in the UK it’s only 25GB on the continent, they also have duration abroad time limits. Vodafone with has great coverage and a MiFi is really convenient in the van. If you use a different network on your phone sim, you will rarely have no coverage. You can use 25GB in a week if you are streaming films and TV, it’s not much.

 

[Louis II]

I just use my phone. No need for separate device & contract in my opinion.

 

[Birty]

I just use my phone. No need for separate device & contract in my opinion.

yes but with gizmos that can be improved upon according to the ‘blurb’ ‍

 

[Amarillo]

I just use my phone. No need for separate device & contract in my opinion.

MiFi is £10.76 per month for 5GB per month... For an additional £30 I can buy 50GB to be used within the next 12 months.

 

[Lightning]

MiFi is £10.76 per month for 5GB per month... For an additional £30 I can buy 50GB to be used within the next 12 months.

You can put a normal phone contract sim in the MiFi too. Vodafone had a 100GB for £20/month deal last year, and you can use all 100GB abroad. It goes up to £40/month at the end of the contract, which is still pretty good value. I also have a Three sim in my phone with 8GB fo £8/month. I have only not had a signal a handful of times in very remote locations.

 

[Lightning]

You can put a normal phone contract sim in the MiFi too. Vodafone had a 100GB for £20/month deal last year, and you can use all 100GB abroad. It goes up to £40/month at the end of the contract, which is still pretty good value. I also have a Three sim in my phone with 8GB fo £8/month. I have only not had a signal a handful of times in very remote locations.

The Vodafone data is 100GB/month.

 

[Louis II]

MiFi is £10.76 per month for 5GB per month... For an additional £30 I can buy 50GB to be used within the next 12 months.

That would be £120+ per year and min £30 per trip for me. 5gb wouldn't go far with my family. My phone already has unlimited data so anything else an unnecessary expense & hassle but just my experience.

 

[ChocolateEclair]

Beware of the fair use policies. They all have them. On the latest Vodafone contracts, if it’s unlimited data in the UK it’s only 25GB on the continent, they also have duration abroad time limits. Vodafone with has great coverage and a MiFi is really convenient in the van. If you use a different network on your phone sim, you will rarely have no coverage. You can use 25GB in a week if you are streaming films and TV, it’s not much.

Good point.

There is also 60GB for £9.50 a month. Might be better if you’re spending more time on the continent as you could use the whole lot for a month or two.

We need unlimited for home use - can easily get through 200GB a month.

 

[Moakesy]

I might need good/ maybe guaranteed wifi in the near future when on the move? Uk and abroad... I see adverts for companies like ROAM maxview , EE sell something aswell etc etc... but could I ask if anyone knows what this is... is it not just the same as 4g on ya phone? Why spend money on these products? If no 4g then no wifi I assume? Advice please and sorry but cant see which sub forum this might live?

Even with these devices, it’s not guaranteed wifi. You are right to say that if no connection then no wifi. Whilst they may have better aerials in them, a dead spot out of range of any cell tower is still a dead spot.

The main advantage is ease of connection, better sharing and that you aren’t eating just one persons data allowance.

I’m not saying they are not a good idea BTW, that depends on what is important to you (and what data deal you currently get) I‘m just answering the questions you asked.

 

[Lightning]

Good point.

There is also 60GB for £9.50 a month. Might be better if you’re spending more time on the continent as you could use the whole lot for a month or two.

We need unlimited for home use - can easily get through 200GB a month.

That is the best deal I’ve ever seen.

 

[soulstyledevon]

How much data are some of you using...?

I have about 12G a month and the only time I get near my limit is when traveling for 3 weeks in summer.
I have never gone over the limit, especially as there are a lot of free wifi locations around...

 

[Amarillo]

How much data are some of you using...?

I have about 12G a month and the only time I get near my limit is when traveling for 3 weeks in summer.
I have never gone over the limit, especially as there are a lot of free wifi locations around...

3GB/month on each of two phones plus 5GB/month MiFi plus 50GB/year MiFi.

The greatest bulk of our data usage is our 10 day spring holiday and our 21 day late summer holiday.

 

[Loz]

The main problem with a wifi hotspot is all your devices think they are at home on wifi and all start syncronising photos and doing backups etc. and you find your data being gobbled up. It can be done but you have to wade through settings to stop some of this activity.

 

[Sunstoner]

I might need good/ maybe guaranteed wifi in the near future when on the move? Uk and abroad... I see adverts for companies like ROAM maxview , EE sell something aswell etc etc... but could I ask if anyone knows what this is... is it not just the same as 4g on ya phone? Why spend money on these products? If no 4g then no wifi I assume? Advice please and sorry but cant see which sub forum this might live?

I've not heard of the ROAM Maxview product so cant comment there but the EE versions are little boxes (wifi router if you will) designed to utliise 4G and allow your devices to latch onto that signal. yes it needs a 4G signal in the first place to work.

If youve a decent enough spare phone you could just use that in the same way using the hotspot feature. You'll need a data sim of course.

It might be useful to check signal coverage before arriving at a particular destination if a signal is a priority. Most if not all service providers have some kind of coverage maps online.

 

[Bramco]

Beware of the fair use policies. They all have them.

Yes! We got caught with this just returning from a long trip through France (6 weeks away). Bought some more data because we'd run out to do some banking things that needed doing and 'computer says no!'

After half an hour on the phone to EE (think it was them), no go. We'd exceeded their fair use policy and to cap it all the data they had just sold us couldn't be refunded!!!! You won't be warned if you are close to the cap and buy some more data.

So a day later we arrived back in the UK with a MiFi device with a load of data allowance we could use in the UK but not abroad and that would expire before we were due to go abroad again, our phones still had their data allowance from when we left the UK and at home we have unlimited Virgin broadband so no use for what we'd bought. Grrrrrr

The next time, we just used our phones. HOWEVER, if you are skinflints like us and don't have a lot of data in your package, make sure you turn off App updates. You can do this in Google's Store not a clue how you'd do that on an apple. The worst offender though is Microsoft - if you connect a PC to your hotspot it can seriously hit your allowance if an update is deemed to be needed - Windows updates are massive compared with App updates on Android. So turn off auto updates everywhere!! And set yourself a reminder for the day after you get back to turn them all on again!