4G Broadband

[rabbitinheadlights]

Evening All

I know there has been a few thread about this but I wanted to ask a few questions. We are looking to move in the next couple of months and our new property will be in a small hamlet with very slow internet access of around 2 Mbps.

I'm looking at 4g broadband as I don't fancy paying BT for such a poor service. I'm trying to work out options and what would feasibly work. I would need it for Sky Q, internet, Netflix etc. I think I'm going to need about 300/500 per month so around £70+ per month.

Has anyone gone down this road? My Question is is it possible and what amount of data would I realistically need?

Thanks

[Skier]

When I was looking at (and went down) this route, EE offered the highest monthly allowance at 200GB for £60/month. There may be better deals out there now with larger monthly allowances, you'll need to look. My speeds went from 6.5Mbps down and 0.7Mbps up with BT to 65Mbps down and 40Mbps up.

If you do go down this route look at the relevant forums for issues. With EE I had to select within the supplied router to use just IPv4 rather than the default IPv4 & IPv6 in order to access certain websites and to get a couple of iPhone apps to work. The other thing to note with EE is that if you have Philips Hue (as I do) then you will not be able to control the lights when away from home.

[zanderpants]

We moved out to the country last year and had the same issue as you. Ended up going for 4G which worked well and had decent speeds. The only issue was the package we had was really expensive and we also consumed so much data it was eye opening. Family of 5, loads of Netflix etc. The 200MB got eaten quickly and had to pay a lot to top up. Also found it odd that after a certain point they wouldn’t let me buy any more data, once we hit a certain limit that was it until the next month. Luckily it was only a temporary solution and we were lucky enough that BT were rolling out fibre to the area and we now have direct fibre running at a steady 300 Mbps!


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[rabbitinheadlights]

We moved out to the country last year and had the same issue as you. Ended up going for 4G which worked well and had decent speeds. The only issue was the package we had was really expensive and we also consumed so much data it was eye opening. Family of 5, loads of Netflix etc. The 200MB got eaten quickly and had to pay a lot to top up. Also found it odd that after a certain point they wouldn’t let me buy any more data, once we hit a certain limit that was it until the next month. Luckily it was only a temporary solution and we were lucky enough that BT were rolling out fibre to the area and we now have direct fibre running at a steady 300 Mbps!


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Wow 300 that's a result. Do you think 500 MB would be enough as there only 2 of us? Also did you have Sky Q and did it work ok?

Thanks

[zanderpants]

500 would probably be ok for 2 people. We do have Sky Q and thinking about it Sky Q is the biggest consumer of data by far. Every time you download something not on the TV guide it uses data. Download a couple of UHD movies and that will kill your data pretty quickly!


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[blackal]

I’ve just changed to a new 4G 3-Mifi contract of 20gb/month for £8.00/month

It also allows streaming of Netflix without eating up data (applies to some other streaming services too)

EDIT - seeing Alan’s post below: Netflix isnt in HD in the above deal.

[Alansmithee]

Wow 300 that's a result. Do you think 500 MB would be enough as there only 2 of us? Also did you have Sky Q and did it work ok?

Thanks

You have mentioned Netflix - 500mb of data would most certainly not be enough. That would be enough for about 30 minutes of netflix in SD and maybe 15 minutes in HD....

[zanderpants]

Wow 300 that's a result. Do you think 500 MB would be enough as there only 2 of us? Also did you have Sky Q and did it work ok?

Thanks

Are you sure it’s 500 Mb not 500 Gb? 500 Mb is very small, I was talking in Gb.


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[rabbitinheadlights]

Sorry 500 Gb not Mb.

[zanderpants]

Sorry 500 Gb not Mb.

Then you should be ok, about 160 hours of Netflix (some providers give you free Netflix streaming) but Sky Q might be an issue if your downloading a lot.


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[hafle]

Have you thought about using a cheap mobile phone unlimited plan (with very limited tethering) and then setting it up as your modem alongside an app which bypasses your tethering limit? Worked great for me while I was in London for a few years and couldn't feasibly get a land-line connection. Not the simplest solution, but I couldn't complain at £20 a month which I was going to spend on my mobile contract anyway. Other than the price of the app, it meant free Internet.

[rabbitinheadlights]

Have you thought about using a cheap mobile phone unlimited plan (with very limited tethering) and then setting it up as your modem alongside an app which bypasses your tethering limit? Worked great for me while I was in London for a few years and couldn't feasibly get a land-line connection. Not the simplest solution, but I couldn't complain at £20 a month which I was going to spend on my mobile contract anyway. Other than the price of the app, it meant free Internet.

Thanks this his sounds great but also complicated? How easy is it to do this and what app would work?

[blackal]

I’ve just changed to a new 4G 3-Mifi contract of 20gb/month for £8.00/month

It also allows streaming of Netflix without eating up data (applies to some other streaming services too)

EDIT - seeing Alan’s post below: Netflix isnt in HD in the above deal.

Thanks this his sounds great but also complicated? How easy is it to do this and what app would work?

Get a Mifi module, instead.

You can even get ones which take a micro SD card which you can store files accessible from all your users. They typically allow between 5 and 10 users to be connected at any one time.

[joe1978]

Three recently removed the tethering limit on all their data options. If the area gets decent signal from them then that would certainly be the cheapest option 100GB £20 ish and unlimited about £30/month I think.

[blackal]

Three recently removed the tethering limit on all their data options. If the area gets decent signal from them then that would certainly be the cheapest option 100GB £20 ish and unlimited about £30/month I think.

Tethering is fine, but relies upon a phone being present, with tethering enabled.- to allow everyone else to connect. It will also be fairly power-hungry. A MiFi unit (some good 3rd-party ones exist), permenantly connected to a USB charger- obviates that, and can also be located fairly central in the house - to allow the WiFi signal to reach all corners.

That’s a good data allowance for £20 though.

[Bravo73]

If you have a 3 sim in a 4G router, the tethering limit doesn’t apply.

At least, it never has for me. ;)

[blackal]

If you have a 3 sim in a 4G router, the tethering limit doesn’t apply.

At least, it never has for me. ;)

Yes - that’s due to it not being tethering.

[Bravo73]

Exactly. However, there are plenty of things (laptops, ‘phones, iPads, Amazon Fire etc) running off the original source/sim.

You’d think that would count as ‘tethering’. It doesn’t though.

[rabbitinheadlights]

Anyone used Mifi with Sky Q?