Internet dongles & Online poker

[Guest]

Hey so as the title says I need some advice on these dongles! I am on the way down to Waterford to pick a new apartment for college! Last year my internet was terrible and no good for poker, it would just come and go and I regularly was timed out for short periods of time.
I'm hoping the WiFi in the new place is good but if not the dongle is my only option!

My questions are

1. How reliable are these dongles or do they regularly go down?

2. How much internet a month would I need to run maybe 2 to 3 poker sites with up to 12 tables( if that even matters) along with Holdem Manager and Skype? I'll also be using it for general surfing including YouTube but won't be downloading films or anything!

3. Which is the best provider with the best deals?

Many thanks in advance

[Donkathon]

If I live any closed to the middle of nowhere we'd be slopping out the outhouse and I used a Three dongle and never hand any problems

Can't remember what usage I was using but the €25 option on three was perfect for me and lasted me almost a month (about 3-3.5 weeks), I was playing about 100 180man's on starts fine a week and enough data left for the porn of course lol

I always kept a spare €3 left on my three account after buyin one of the data bundles as a just incase I didn't notice the data expire that I think gives you 500mb for 24hrs so enough to finish what ever games your in and more so you won't get caught short and blinded away late one night

Never tried any other network never had to so have to recommend the 3G dongle
(but not their phone service ha)

[Micknail]

Hey so as the title says I need some advice on these dongles! I am on the way down to Waterford to pick a new apartment for college! Last year my internet was terrible and no good for poker, it would just come and go and I regularly was timed out for short periods of time.
I'm hoping the WiFi in the new place is good but if not the dongle is my only option!

My questions are

1. How reliable are these dongles or do they regularly go down?

2. How much internet a month would I need to run maybe 2 to 3 poker sites with up to 12 tables( if that even matters) along with Holdem Manager and Skype? I'll also be using it for general surfing including YouTube but won't be downloading films or anything!

3. Which is the best provider with the best deals?

Many thanks in advance

Not sure if o2 still have their student offers but I used to get 10gb/month for €10.

It was fairly reliable (98% time )

The poker clients require very little in terms of DL cap, unless some huge updates are issued (not likely), Can't inform you about skype.

Try o2/vodaphone/3 and flash your student card everywhere for deals.

One thing about the sticks, they make your pc/laptop run fairly hot as they draw quite a bit of power, expect the fan to be worn out in a year!

[eamonhonda]

Not sure if o2 still have their student offers but I used to get 10gb/month for €10.

It was fairly reliable (98% time )

The poker clients require very little in terms of DL cap, unless some huge updates are issued (not likely), Can't inform you about skype.

Try o2/vodaphone/3 and flash your student card everywhere for deals.

One thing about the sticks, they make your pc/laptop run fairly hot as they draw quite a bit of power, expect the fan to be worn out in a year!

skype video will eat your data and a very quick rate or leave you with a massive bill. if its just type chat youll be ok

[Micknail]

Actually, Flushdraw or MrsFD might tell you about phone tethering,

I think 3 do an all you can eat plan for like 20 a month, and all you need is a smartphone that creates a wi-fi hotspot.

You would prob eat the phones battery and need to keep it on charge is all.

[Flushdraw]

Actually, Flushdraw or MrsFD might tell you about phone tethering,

I think 3 do an all you can eat plan for like 20 a month, and all you need is a smartphone that creates a wi-fi hotspot.

You would prob eat the phones battery and need to keep it on charge is all.

Yeah we're both on 3 bill pay and have all you can eat data. I'm not 100% sure if 3 still offer this but at the moment, if using it for tethering, i connect it with the lead and tether it so that it doesn't eat the battery. It's also pretty handy to set it up as a wifi hot spot and work from that.

We also have a vodafone ready to go dongle. Topping it up with €3 gives you 24 hours of data or 500mb whichever comes first. I've had 6/7 poker sessions running 3/4 sites for hours and never got near using it up. If browsing IPB, turn off autoload images, and just stay away from youtube and other video sites and its fine.

[ChasingAces]

Data is likely to not be greater than the allowance that they usually give you so I wouldn't worry unless you are constantly streaming music or videos while you play or something.

Also I think Vodafone let you take the Dongle for 7 days or so and try it out and you can just cancel the contract within the 7 days if it's crap.

When I got one (I think it was from Vodafone) it worked fine but then when I brought it to Dublin with me it didn't work in the area I was in.

[TheJiggaman]

If you are staying in Student Accomodation, i.e Manor Village or Riverwalk then get the 02 Dongle.

If you are staying in Templars Hall/Railway Square/Lismore Park get UPC.

The Internet in Manor in First Year broke my heart, but my roommate let me use her 02 Dongle and it was great.

We had 25MB UPC in the house in Templars Hall in a deal with TV. It's top class. (The Internet. The TV is septic compared to SKY)

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies really appreciate it. Viewed the apartment was fine 75e pw if no one else moves in and 70e pw if someone else does, either way that's for a double room so not bad! I lived in Manor Village last year was chronic lived there a few years ago but didn't learn my lesson! Picked another apartment complex, the girl was really honest and said the internet might not be great so guess I'll wait and see hut there is a 10e student rate so hopefully it'll work out

Thanks again

[Valor]

In my experience of using the Vodafone USB stick in Dublin, Letterkenny and Limerick it worked fine and was totally rock solid. Pretty good option for poker, only downside is if you want to download movies and what not on it.

[TM2204]

Actually, Flushdraw or MrsFD might tell you about phone tethering,

I think 3 do an all you can eat plan for like 20 a month, and all you need is a smartphone that creates a wi-fi hotspot.

You would prob eat the phones battery and need to keep it on charge is all.

^^^^ This

just check you have 3G coverage in your apartment whoever you go with; most providers will let you borrow a stick to test coverage.

If Three coverage is good then the all you can eat option is great value. You can literally use as much data as you like

[Samba]

Has anyone tried out 3G+, can you get anywhere near the 3mb it claims to support?