Re: [Hampshire] Home 3g Broadband

On 15/08/10 17:04, Rob Malpass wrote:
> Hi all
>
> [Slightly OT – but whenever I try and google this I just get sent to Mobile
> ISPs’ websites]
>
> We’re going to be moving shortly and are highly dependent on the internet.
> So much so in fact that we have both ADSL and cable – one acting as a backup
> for the other. Costly I know but for reasons I won’t bore you with – we
> need certainty in our connection – or rather having a connection.
>
> The place we move to might well not have cable. As such, ADSL seems our
> “only” option. This got me thinking about mobile broadband... Suppose I
> took up a mobile contract that included 3g web access and stuck that sim
> card into a 3g router. That would then (admittedly at reduced bandwidth)
> do the trick wouldn’t it? I’ve seen this for £80 on Amazon.
>
>

At work we have the Draytek Vigor 2820 router. It supports 2 WAN
connections. WAN1 is always ADSL. WAN2 can be either Ethernet-delivered
broadband or 3G broadband (via a USB dongle plugged into the router.) It
is capable of load balancing or failover switching. There are several
versions of the 2820: The 2820 (just a router), 2820n (same but with a
wireless-n access point), 2820vn (2820n plus integrated VOIP ATA),
2820vSn (2820vn with ISDN backup option). None of them are cheap (in
fact they're pretty pricey) but the ADSL modem is specifically designed
for the UK market and is exceptionally good (It gave me over 5Mbps on
the same line my old modem gave 3.5)


> Are there any other considerations (beyond the presumably extortionate
> tariff I’d need to be on – I currently have 2Gb which is not much for
> desktop but would be considered huge for “mobile”.
>
> Is there another option? I know I could have 2 BT lines into the new house
> but if there was a BT fault both lines would go down (wouldn’t they?)
>
>

That would depend. If it was an individual cable or joint breaking then
no. If both of your lines were on the same card at the exchange or you
chose the same ISP for both then an ISP or card fault could take both
out, as could someone digging through the cables from the exchange to
your street with a JCB.

I have mobile broadband from Three on Pay-as-you-go. It's a pretty good
deal. A top up lasts 1 month and you can choose 1GB (£10), 3GB (£15) or
7GB (£15). The only minimum commitment is that you have to put at least
a £10 top up on the card at least every 180 days or Three reserve the
option to cancel the SIM.

If you would be prepared to accept a small outage you don't need to keep
credit on the card. When the ADSL failed the router would failover to
the 3G. The next time you try to load a web page you will get a page
with the Three logo saying you have run out of credit. You can still
access the Threestore website in this state and top up with your credit
card. You also have the option to buy a top up voucher at any shop that
sells them.

Cheers,
Paul.