Dongles for laptops

[Heston]

Can anyone suggest a decent spanish dongle pay as you go or contract that will work with windows 7 and is good for coverage?

Thanks in advance

[gerryh]

I assume you are talking about a USB stick modem?
Vodafone, Orange etc supply them.
All work with Windows 7.
The only problem is whether or not you can receive a good signal where you live.
Do any of you neighbours have one?
Cheers
Gerry

[Julie]

Not sure you can get the pay as go dongle in Spain yet, but the contract one is good, my neigbour has one and never looses connection, I think you can check coverage for your postcode on the web sites.
Gerry in the uk a dongle is called a dongle, you said over a year ago about the usb, and you didn't know what a dongle was,time to join the modern world

[chrissiehope]

Julie - there's loads of PAYG dongles in Spain - all the main providers do them

The only question is as Gerry said - what's your signal like ? If you have a UK phone set for roaming, you can check the signals by selecting the different networks to see what you get. Where our casa is we only get Vodafone & Movistar - our Spanish mobile is PAYG Movistar & our dongle is PAYG Vodafone

The Vodafone PAYG USB modem costs around 69 euros - top ups are 19, 39 & 59 euros, which you can choose to be either for a fixed time unlimited download (tho afte 1Gb download the speed will drop); or for a fixed download for an unlimited time (tho I think its a max of 6 months). I top up the sim online from my Spanish bank account, and then send a coded text (details on Vodafone website) from the sim (via the laptop) when we arrive in Spain, to transfer the credit to internet usage, and away we go

[Julie]

Thanks Chrisse
I will look into it, i only keep the phone for the internet, so it would be ok for PAYG

[gerryh]

Gerry in the uk a dongle is called a dongle, you said over a year ago about the usb, and you didn't know what a dongle was,time to join the modern world

Julie
I have no intention of getting into a slanging match with you.
A dongle is a device to authenticate a piece of software.
I know it has been, wrongly used to mean a USB stick modem.
Just like biro is used for a ball point pen, hoover for a vacuum cleaner etc.
Cheers
Gerry

[Julie]

[Julie]

[Heston]

thanks guys I bought it in the UK at Christmas and bought a pay as u go O2 dongle just for whilst i was there but apparently O2 dosnt work with the new windows 7
I went into Movistar last night ( now owner of O2) and asked and she said that dosnt work with windows7
Iam on Movistar for the mobile phones as it is the best coverage for my house ( in the campo) as orange was awful...might be a silly question but I am assuming the coverage is the same for a phone and laptop?

[chrissiehope]

...might be a silly question but I am assuming the coverage is the same for a phone and laptop?

yes, it is (same coverage, not a silly question )

[gerryh]

...might be a silly question but I am assuming the coverage is the same for a phone and laptop?

Not necessarily.
You can receive a signal that is adequate for a phone but is not good enough to give a reasonable speed on a laptop.
For a reasonable speed you need a good 3G signal. A GPRS signal will be OK for a phone but very slow for a laptop.
Cheers
Gerry

[Heston]

cheers guys so as said in previous post I should check the coverage on the company web pages..I only need it for an hour or so a night during the day we have adsl in our office its just for personal emails etc..

[gerryh]

I should check the coverage on the company web pages...

I doubt if you will find that information on their web pages.
Vodafone doesn't have it, even if they did I wouldn't believe it, I would need to check for myself.
Cheers
Gerry

[chrissiehope]

...For a reasonable speed you need a good 3G signal. A GPRS signal will be OK for a phone but very slow for a laptop...

We rarely get a 3G signal, but whilst no use for watching movies etc, GPRS (or HDSPA which we sometimes get) is perfectly adequate for checking & downloading emails (including attachments, which can be quite large) / checking Facebook / checking the weather..etc

[Heston]

Thanks guys you have all been very helpful
x

[karandjon]

..I only need it for an hour or so a night during the day we have adsl in our office..

I have Movistar and I have 3g no problems during the day (sunny days), though at night, around 8-0pm and all of August, I am mainly on GPRS. I assume this is because of more people using the mast?... Just something to be aware of if you only want it for night time usage, though emails are fine on GPRS...as long as you´re not sending any attachments!

Karen x

[Heston]

thanks for that dont think Movistar will be campitable as I have windows 7 apparently O2 and movistar havnt sorted the issues yetxx

[gerryh]

That's suprising as most, if not all, of the USB stick modems are made by Huawei, who also supply the software, and are just rebadged for Vodafone, Orange etc.

Cheers
Gerry

[Heston]

u should have seen the Q in PC world between christmas and new year people returning their O2 sticks who had new laptops!!!

[Julie]

I have 2 Huawei dongles I no longer use, would a sim from movistar work in theses do you think, or like phones do they have to be unlocked ?