Pay as you go broadband

Citrus red are advertising a pay as you go plug in dongle, giving a IMB speed and charging 5 cents per MB of use, which I was told should equate to 25 cents an hour for normal internet use.

Has anyone had experience of using broadband by dongle in Spain. If so, I would appreciate any comments on satisfaction of speed and if 25 cents an hour sounds realistic.

 We have a PAYG dongle with Vodafone.  In our area (Manilva) it doesn't work very well as the 3G singal appears to be a little weak.

When it's working well the speed is good but the usage depends very much on what you do.

If you use the internet a lot then it does add up.  Before we had our phone line it was costing us around 60 Euros per month, and we are obviously heavy users.

If you use it to just check emails and occasionaly surf then it would be much cheaper.

You just have to disable certain things on your PC such as automatic windows updates, which will use up quite a bit of MB and therefore cost you money.

You also have to remember to keep disconnecting the modem so that it isn't doing anything whilst you're not actually using it.

Hope that helps.

Justin

We're currently looking at buying a pay-as-you-go internet USB dongle to use with our laptop when we're in Spain. As this is only 7-8 weeks per year, this seems the most cost efficient way of obtaining a reasonably fast connection without signing up to a contract.

Orange and Yuigo seem to offer the best service and deals for pay as you go. I wanted to ask if anyone out there currently has a USB dongle in the Murcia region, specifically near Roldan, and what is the quality of the connection?

High speed 3G coverage in our area looks patchy at best and varies by provider - Orange looks poor, Yoigo looks OK - so I was hoping for your views on this before we commit.

Thanks.

Hi

Find the best mobile phone signal in the area you want to use the dongle, then use that provider.

Hi Jogary

I use a pay as you go dongle, on Vodaphone network. Connection speed not bad but if I have a lot of work to do I go to Casa Pepes, which as free wi-fi located in Balsicas.

Hi Roddy, do you know whether there is still free wifi at Casa Pepe in Basilcas, is it a bar or restruant?

Henry

There are several cafes on the beach front of Santiago de la Ribera with free broadband, we used one of them yesterday ;-)

There's also free broadband in partes of Dos Mares. 

We use a mobile broadband dongle when we are in Spain (2 x 2 months /year) and find it exellent value for money.  The 1st GB + dongle is just under 50 euros from Phone House using their own service.  The 1 GB lasts for a month and a recharge costs 20 euros.  We used to go to a Wifi cafe, but preferred to be more independent.  At first we had problems because the 3G takes some time to connect in our area (Formentera), but now we log on in the morning and just leave it on all day.  It uses surprisingly little data when used in this way.  Our main requirement is for e-mail, but we do a little surfing when we need to and we also Skype, but only voice as the data speed is too low for reliable pictures.  Last month we used about 750MB and so far this month we have used about 650MB and we go back to the UK on Tuesday! So for 20 euros /month while we are in Spain we get an excellent service.  One drawback is that you can only top-up at the Phone House stores, althogh it's incredibly easy!

Mike

Not a user so not sure how abroadband compares with The Phone House but it looks interesting, see link:

http://www.abroadband.com/en/GB/whatisabroadband

At about 1,000 MB / GB, the Phone House offering is much cheaper as the cost for a MB on abroadband appears to be 59 euros  against 20 euros for the Phone House, The Phone House offering can only be used in Spain though and abroadband can seemingly be used worldwide at the same price.

Mike

Xetog

Which network are you with through the Phone House please?

I've looked at their webpage(link below)  but I'm unsure which, of the many dongles, you are referring to.

http://www.phonehouse.es/app/f/p-1895-178/adsl-internet/internet-movil-usb/alcatel-modem-usb-x060s.html

Thanks

Costachris

I have looked at the web site and things seem to have changed somewhat, although my Spanish isn't up to making the comparison.  However, I still have my original paperwork and list below the details when I purchased:

Network: iData (actually Phone House's own)

Velociadad descarga: 3.6 Mb (tarifa Plana Mensual)

Cuota/Recarga: 16.95euros (Bono 1Gb)

Includo: 1 Gb

Exceso: 0.06euros/Mb (I don't understand this as this is paygo)

Condicienes permanencias: validez 1 mes

Promocion: Bono inicial 1b de navigation

Equipo: Modem USB 49 euros

We just went in to the shop and browsed through their brochure and I have to say that it has worked brilliantly for us. 

I hope this helps

Mike

Thanks Mike, 

I'll have a stroll into the Phone House at Torremolinos next week