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mobile broadband: Three One Plan vs Three Mi-Fi


Paul C

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I've just bought a new smartphone (unlocked) and taken out a SIM-only Three "The One Plan" which is one of the only (the only, I think?) contract which allows unlimited tethering. I also have a Hauwei Mi-Fi unit (the one you get with a basic contract, E5220 I think). I took out a contract over a year ago, which has now run out, so it was cancelled and instead I bought £80 of pay-as-you-go data which lasts 12 months and is 12 GB. If we go back to it after the PAYG is used up, we'd probably need 10GB/month contract at £15, since they only do 250MB/month, 1GB/month and 10GB/month choices now.

 

We're moving onto the boat in the near future, but in the meantime have a house with Sky broadband (through the normal phone line) whose contract runs until early September, but that will be cancelled if we get the mobile broadband stuff all sorted out.

 

So in theory:

 

£20 The One Plan replaces:

 

£20 Sky broadband, phone line and anytime call package

£7 old mobile phone contract

£15 possible Mi-Fi data SIM-only contract

(£42/month TOTAL)

 

 

Yesterday I had the chance to try out the tethering on the canal for the first time, and my suspicions were confirmed, that the Mi-Fi dongle is consistently faster than the tethering via the phone. And also after 3pm, I believe the phone/tethering takes another speed hit, since Three's traffic shaping 'throttles' it down whereas the data only SIM is unaffected:

 

bunbury
2pm approx
Download Upload
mifi 2.28 1.67
phone 1.48 1.53

barbridge
3:35pm
mifi 2.81 1.14
phone 0.88 0.55

home

10:30pm approx

phone 1.29 didn't register(?)

broadband 16.54 1.10

 

Are others seeing comparable speeds or speed differences? Yes for normal web browsing 1mb/sec is alright, but if its going to be our only internet access, then things like picture uploads, software downloads etc could really do with 2-3mb/sec.

Edited by Paul C
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Buy a Huawei E5776s-32 mobile wi-Fi from Expansys (unlocked about £100) and the put a 3 data sim card in and experience the joys of 4G supa fast internet I get 10-20 Mbps download and 6 to 12 upload. I dont think 3 offers a 4G mi-Fi at the moment but the above works fine on the 3 network

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Not so sure about the speed differences, but when I have no signal on the phone, I almost always get a usable signal from the dongle. I have an ebay payg sim in a dongle as a backup for when I have no phone signal on my one plan phone.

 

At home with the phone tethered I get 12Mbs, right now at Bidford-upon-Avon I am getting 7.14Mbs, so your speeds all round seem very low to me.

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Yes, mine varies when at the house from 8 to 9 meg down to less than 1. Time of day does not seem to matter. When out on the boat, don't know if the speed varies, but have been less than successful in getting a useable signal. (Putting the phone outside in direct view of the ipad).

 

When I first got this I was impressed with the home speed and came close to cancelling our home phone and broadband (with the Co-Op, 40 gig per month, all in always less than £30). This was also one of the salesmans selling points. I complained about the large variance in speed, and have been getting regular credits as '3' agree there is something wrong with the signal at home, so rarely pay more than a fiver per month. So, not too unhappy as I'm paying £5 for a phone sim - which I was previously paying Virgin - but have failed at getting consistent TV and Iplayer etc on the boat. (Had to buy a smartphone so out of pocket there!!)

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Buy a Huawei E5776s-32 mobile wi-Fi from Expansys (unlocked about £100) and the put a 3 data sim card in and experience the joys of 4G supa fast internet I get 10-20 Mbps download and 6 to 12 upload. I dont think 3 offers a 4G mi-Fi at the moment but the above works fine on the 3 network

 

Are you in Birmingham? I am sure my location(s) are not in the 4G spots, much as I'd like it, its a little way off yet for us I feel.

 

Not so sure about the speed differences, but when I have no signal on the phone, I almost always get a usable signal from the dongle. I have an ebay payg sim in a dongle as a backup for when I have no phone signal on my one plan phone.

 

At home with the phone tethered I get 12Mbs, right now at Bidford-upon-Avon I am getting 7.14Mbs, so your speeds all round seem very low to me.

 

Yes the speeds are low, the location(s) are in weak areas for mobile phone coverage. My old EE (was Orange) 2G phone got something between 0 (no signal) and 1 bar most of the time. My GF's phone (TalkMobile which uses Vodaphone network) never worked there and is decidedly patchy. At least now I've switched to 3, I can get a consistent phone signal without it dropping out often.

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UPDATE

 

Just tried again (at home), (10:17am) and the phone's speed has jumped up to 5-6Mbps. I'll try again at various times during the day, I think it does depend on time of day, either due to some kind of traffic shaping or other traffic on the network.

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UPDATE

 

Just tried again (at home), (10:17am) and the phone's speed has jumped up to 5-6Mbps. I'll try again at various times during the day, I think it does depend on time of day, either due to some kind of traffic shaping or other traffic on the network.

I have The One Plan and noticed some kind of slowing in September last year. Googling about revealed their Traffic Sense policy which throttles The One Plan from 3pm to midnight. A few tests confirmed that this is what was happening.

 

I also have a Mifi, so bought 12Gb 12 months PAYG data, and that supplements things fine if I need faster speed during throttling time.

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OK just before my upgrade, we had:

 

my phone 7/month

Sky broadband+home phone line 20/month

GF's phone 10/month

Mi-Fi at boat 7/month (estimate, its 12GB or 12 months, whichever is used up or occurs first)

TOTAL 43/month

 

The 'plan' WAS

 

my phone on The One Plan 20/month

GF's phone 7/month (cancel non-working TalkMobile contract and get the cheapest Three contract, thus making her phone actually work on the canals)

TOTAL 27/month

 

However it looks like the plan is now:

my phone 7/month

GF's phone 7/month

Mi-Fi 15/month (1 month contract, 10 GB/month)

TOTAL 29/month

 

The last (latest) plan offers a bit more flexibility, in that if I'm not at the boat but the GF is, she doesn't need to configure her phone as a tethering hotspot to use her laptop for internet stuff, and seemingly will run at a (more) acceptable speed too. All I need to do now is to try swap my Three contract, at least I'm within my 14 days.......

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After a 24 minute phone call to Three, I've gotten my contract "downgraded" from £20/month to £6.90/month and I'll take out another data-SIM-only contract for the Mi-Fi when we run out of data/run to the end of the 12 months SIM currently fitted in it.

 

(Beats the 17 minute call to EE to obtain the PAC code for moving to Three).

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Buy a Huawei E5776s-32 mobile wi-Fi from Expansys (unlocked about £100) and the put a 3 data sim card in and experience the joys of 4G supa fast internet I get 10-20 Mbps download and 6 to 12 upload. I dont think 3 offers a 4G mi-Fi at the moment but the above works fine on the 3 network

Three do do a 4G mifi.

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I have been reading this thread with interest as we are moving house from a Virgin cable service (120MBs), to literally the end of a 5 mile 'phone line that gives 1.2 MBs... sad.png

 

However, the 3 site shows good indoor 3G service, so planning on equipping the house with a MiFi (dongle?) on the One Plan at £20 / £23 per month for the SIM plus "a MiFi", and maybe dedicating a PC to distribute the broadband via a wired hub / switch to the PCs in the house.. unless there is a hub/switch with a USB input, so I don't need the PC ?

 

Questions ..

 

i) Is MiFi another name for a (USB) dongle ?

ii) Are any MiFi units better than others ( happy to buy the "best" / fastest, even a 4G ready one, for when that might come ?

iii) Do any come with an external aerial socket, so I can improve the network RF link ?

iv) I see Expansys mentioned above, but are there any other third party suppliers for the "best" appropriate kit - son is a gamer

and am risking him moving out ( and having to pay for his lodgings !!)

v) What speeds am I likely to be able to achieve assuming I don't cut any corners using 3G and 4G, if/when it arrives ?

 

I am sure you can sense my desperation !

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

Edited by Nickhlx
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You will not be able to put a one plan sim in a mifi as it's for phones only better to get a second hand s4 or other 4g phone and usb Tether that to a router that excepts mobile phones the Asus ones are good

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I have been reading this thread with interest as we are moving house from a Virgin cable service (120MBs), to literally the end of a 5 mile 'phone line that gives 1.2 MBs... sad.png

Depending on what you want to do 1.2 may not really be that bad, you will have much better ping times with ADSL than you will get with mobile. Have you checked on when you expect to get Fibre To The Cabinet in your area, if is it scheduled that will give a big boost, we now get 75Mbs on FTTC whee we got 3Mbs on ADSL (at the limit of line length).

 

However, the 3 site shows good indoor 3G service, so planning on equipping the house with a MiFi (dongle?) on the One Plan at £20 / £23 per month for the SIM plus "a MiFi", and maybe dedicating a PC to distribute the broadband via a wired hub / switch to the PCs in the house.. unless there is a hub/switch with a USB input, so I don't need the PC ?

You can not use the One Plan with a dongle or a MIFI unit, you can only use it in a phone. A phone can act as a router, in the same way as a MIFI.

 

Questions ..

 

i) Is MiFi another name for a (USB) dongle ?

No, a MIFI is a name that is used for a device that has a dongle and WiFi router in a single device, so it connects to the 3G/4G network and allows devices to connect to it over WiFi. A USB dongle connects to either a computer or a separate router that has a USB port specifically for that purpose. Search for "mobile router" to find examples.

 

ii) Are any MiFi units better than others ( happy to buy the "best" / fastest, even a 4G ready one, for when that might come ?

iii) Do any come with an external aerial socket, so I can improve the network RF link ?

There are some that have aerial sockets

 

iv) I see Expansys mentioned above, but are there any other third party suppliers for the "best" appropriate kit - son is a gamer

and am risking him moving out ( and having to pay for his lodgings !!)

If you want to use the internet predominantly for gaming, then I would suggest that mobile is not your best choice, as the ping time will be the killer for gaming. Gaming does not generally need huge amounts of bandwidth, so I would have though your ADSL would be the best bet.

 

v) What speeds am I likely to be able to achieve assuming I don't cut any corners using 3G and 4G, if/when it arrives ?

 

I am sure you can sense my desperation !

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

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I have one of these huawei gadgets 4g and It works very well with my mac air, i seem to get wifi everywhere, speeds variable, however I cannot connect it to my phone which is 3g iPhone thingy, took the lot back to shop and told its phones fault, have another phone with 3 sim card in and that won't work either. Should i try a 4g phone? Do the G's have to be the same to connect? This IT so confusing, shop kinda got fed up with me.

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I have one of these huawei gadgets 4g and It works very well with my mac air, i seem to get wifi everywhere, speeds variable, however I cannot connect it to my phone which is 3g iPhone thingy, took the lot back to shop and told its phones fault, have another phone with 3 sim card in and that won't work either. Should i try a 4g phone? Do the G's have to be the same to connect? This IT so confusing, shop kinda got fed up with me.

 

When you say "Huawei gadgets 4g" what is it (as in model number)? If I suspect its a mi-fi then the mac air and any smartphone should connect to it via Wi-Fi, and being about 5 feet away naturally the wifi signal will be a non-issue. Shouldn't make any difference which mobile network the phone is on, since it won't be using its mobile network for connectivity, but that of the Huawei mi-fi. 3G or 4G phone would make no difference, don't buy a 4G phone (which are expensive) just to connect to the mifi via wifi, the Gs don't have to be the same.

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Thanks for the replies ..

 

Maybe I should get the landline based system initially, as we need a landline phone anyway, and see how it goes....

 

I did a Speedtest yesterday on his computer and it did come back with about 1.6 MBs, although didn't note the ping time.

 

If I need more, then perhaps tethering via a phone would be the next step - my need is "browsing" and e-mail, so if the ping time is not so important then it should be adequate...

 

I will keep on researching..

 

Thanks again,

 

Nick

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Thanks for the replies ..

 

Maybe I should get the landline based system initially, as we need a landline phone anyway, and see how it goes....

 

I did a Speedtest yesterday on his computer and it did come back with about 1.6 MBs, although didn't note the ping time.

 

If I need more, then perhaps tethering via a phone would be the next step - my need is "browsing" and e-mail, so if the ping time is not so important then it should be adequate...

 

I will keep on researching..

 

Thanks again,

 

Nick

 

Another idea if you don't want to fiddle around with MiFi and route it to other PCs through a wireless link to one PC is to get a Netgear DGN2200M router. This has a fall back to a dongle (connected via USB) for wehen the landline fails. It can be set so that the wireless connection can be turned on and off at will. The DGN220M is the only router that I know of that has the facility and can be purchased cheaply from eBay.

I've just had to resort to mine (BT cutting all the local cables in one fell swoop) and it was excellent.

 

The router acts as a hub - to distribute the network via Ethernet cable and it has wireless as well. Not only that but it can be the router that accesses your landline ADSL instead of whatever your BB supplier throws at you.

 

If buying a dongle ONLY go for a Huawei model with an aerial socket - such as E353 or E122; also on eBay....

 

Looking at the 'bay the router can be had for around £20 and the dongle for a tenner - but you have to be patient for those prices.

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Thanks for the info

 

I had a chat with the local "3" shop this morning and the guy said the One Plan was only for a phone and not a MiFi /dongle which are limited to 15GB a month - I know I use more than that and he suggested the One Plan on a phone and tethering, which would be unlimited data, although I suggested to him that phones are throttled at certain (peak) times of day which he said he couldn't understand as they come off the same transmitters and shouldn't be any different..

 

Then I read "If your smartphone plan includes all you can eat data, then this is for data consumption actually on your smartphone. It does not include using your smartphone as a modem to connect other devices such as laptops and tablets – also known as “Tethering”.

 

So I got info that doesn't seem to agree with what he said - I think I need to phone a couple more 3 stores until I get consistent answers confirming the web statement - perhaps he thought I would be using the data on the phone..

 

ETA - Just phoned another store and got a very knowledgable lady who said the 3 plans were changing on Monday 14th July ( 2 days time) after when new contracts would be limiting tethering to 4GB data, although the 12 month contract would be honoured for unlimited... and can be renewed after 1 month or 12 months at £23 / £20 per month, respectively.

Sounds like I need to get the £23 contract

 

 

I take your point though and am making a note of all the possibilities / options

 

Thanks

 

Nick

Edited by Nickhlx
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Thanks for the info

 

I had a chat with the local "3" shop this morning and the guy said the One Plan was only for a phone and not a MiFi /dongle which are limited to 15GB a month - I know I use more than that and he suggested the One Plan on a phone and tethering, which would be unlimited data, although I suggested to him that phones are throttled at certain (peak) times of day which he said he couldn't understand as they come off the same transmitters and shouldn't be any different..

 

Then I read "If your smartphone plan includes all you can eat data, then this is for data consumption actually on your smartphone. It does not include using your smartphone as a modem to connect other devices such as laptops and tablets also known as Tethering.

 

So I got info that doesn't seem to agree with what he said - I think I need to phone a couple more 3 stores until I get consistent answers confirming the web statement - perhaps he thought I would be using the data on the phone..

 

ETA - Just phoned another store and got a very knowledgable lady who said the 3 plans were changing on Monday 14th July ( 2 days time) after when new contracts would be limiting tethering to 4GB data, although the 12 month contract would be honoured for unlimited... and can be renewed after 1 month or 12 months at £23 / £20 per month, respectively.

Sounds like I need to get the £23 contract

 

 

I take your point though and am making a note of all the possibilities / options

 

Thanks

 

Nick

Take anything verbal from 3Three staff with a pinch of salt, they sometimes tell porkies, either deliberately or through lack of knowledge.

 

'One plan' is different to 'All you can eat'

 

When the network is busy data only sims are given priority over data via phone sims. That's why data only sims are limited, think about it, why would they provide unlimited data on phone sims but not on a data sim unless they could put a limit on in another way such as throttling the speed back.

 

ETA: I was assured by 2 shop assistants at a 3 shop that their 321 PAYG could only be had for £1 for the sim and £10 pm minimum and time expired credit, totally wrong. I walked away and ordered one online instead, free sim and no expiry date for credit. They were uninformed or don't know their own product, unless they were told not to sell 321? who knows.

Edited by nb Innisfree
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15GB is a lot of data - what are you doing with the computer to need this much per month?

 

Its my son and his big game downloads.. Last month apparently we downloaded over 100 GB, but a more "normal month for the household is about 15 to 20 GB, still a hell of a lot, but that's what we do, somehow...

 

Nick

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Take anything verbal from 3Three staff with a pinch of salt, they sometimes tell porkies, either deliberately or through lack of knowledge.

 

'One plan' is different to 'All you can eat'

 

When the network is busy data only sims are given priority over data via phone sims. That's why data only sims are limited, think about it, why would they provide unlimited data on phone sims but not on a data sim unless they could put a limit on in another way such as throttling the speed back.

 

ETA: I was assured by 2 shop assistants at a 3 shop that their 321 PAYG could only be had for £1 for the sim and £10 pm minimum and time expired credit, totally wrong. I walked away and ordered one online instead, free sim and no expiry date for credit. They were uninformed or don't know their own product, unless they were told not to sell 321? who knows.

 

Yeah I did my research before I bought and echo the above. The "One Plan" is different to other mobile phone plans in that not only does it allow tethering, there is no data restriction. Three's other plans allow tethering (as a chargeable add-on) and most competitors plans don't allow tethering at all.

 

BUT the catch is, the One Plan is throttled back to a lowish speed (whether this is only while tethering, or whether it also happens for mobile data too, I don't know - because I didn't try a speed test directly on the phone).

 

Data-only contracts aren't throttled back but may be restricted by the physical capability of the network (we've seen speeds vary quite a lot from place-to-place, of course some places it doesn't work at all) and none (to my knowledge) are available which are unlimited.

 

Whether there's an additional speed reduction in peak hours (as defined by Three's Trafficsense) or simply due to network congestion, I can't be sure yet, but I'll run further speed tests in the month I have left for info.

 

Given the only £1.90/month between (in my circumstances, with my expected data usage) a separate phone and Mi-Fi - which is also a faster connection; and The One Plan (which means I'd have to set the phone up each time for it, GF can't use internet while I'm not there unless she also buys a tethering contract, etc) its worth the extra for the extra speed and convenience.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Everyone.

 

I've been reading this thread and it seems to have the answer to my problem.

 

We are on the verge of completion for our first boat and with any luck we will be sailing it to its winter mooring imminently. We still run a small business so need to have internet connection.

 

I have been advised on the many options including smartphones with tethering etc. However the Huawei E5776s-32 mobile wi-Fi looks like the ideal solution as it means I don't have to buy an extra mobile phone and it should hopefully be a little more "future proof".

 

We plan to sail for about 2-3 weeks to get to the mooring and then the boat won't be moving too much until next spring when we hope to cruise the network for a few months.

 

So finally here is the question! I don't want to commit to a contract on a 3 Sim, (for instance) as I won't be using it over the winter. Is it possible to get a data only "Pay as You Go" Sim which will work in the Huawei and will also support more than one connection at a time? (I'll be doing a crossword while my other half will be doing whatever she does on the Nexus which is surgically attached to her hand!)

 

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

 

 

 

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I am currently using a data only, monthly rolling contract SIM on "3", ( minimum of only one month) in a dongle, which gives me 10 Gb a month for £15 a month - If I moved to a 24 month contract, still at £15 a month they would apparently give me 20 Gb a month.

 

I have this dongle on a 5M USB cable, as the PC is on my desk and a better signal is received with it stuck on the window the other side of the room.

 

Recently I was getting "family complaints" that mine was the only PC in the house that was working, so I plugged in a wireless router and shared / bridged the connection, so now there is wireless ( and more CAT5) available for the others and their PCs and phones, and all are happy now...

 

Nick

Edited by Nickhlx
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