# PAYG Broadband Holiday Cottage



## Wahaay (5 Jul 2013)

Sorry if this has been asked before but I'm a technical Luddite when it comes to the interweb thingy.

Basically, I need a plug-in PAYG broadband thing for a cottage I'm renting out for the summer.

I only want a PAYG top-up thingy rather than a long contract.

In simple terms what are the options and any recommendations ?

Thanks very much.


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## PaddyBloggit (5 Jul 2013)

I'm using 3 ... I top up once a month (during the summer etc. when I'm at my holiday home.

The 7.5 GB monthly package is enough for me when on hols etc. as I only check emails, read news etc.

I got the MiFi which sits on the window (old house ==> thick wall so a plug in dongle wouldn't work for me)

Link here:
[broken link removed]

Why did I choose 3? 087 & 086 reception was iffy.

I bought the various ones on trial for the weekend, returned them and bought the MiFi from the 3 website as it was cheaper online.

As I type I'm using the 3 connection ....  am enjoying the sunny day overlooking the sea!


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## JohnJay (5 Jul 2013)

+ 1 on the 3 MiFi. 

I use it when I travel back to the home-land. I also use it for Wifi for my iPhone as I dont have 3G coverage with Vodafone when I'm home


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## Wahaay (29 Aug 2013)

A word of warning - don't go with the Vodafone option.
I did as there was a double your top-up offer on at the time but now I regret my choice.
The whole process is hugely complicated. First you have to top up your mobile broadband number then ring someone up ( ! ) to buy data every time you run out.
There's no designated number to buy the data, it's not mentioned in any of the menu that you hear when you ring up, you end up speaking to someone in a call centre in India and every single person conveniently forgets the double top-up offer until you remind them. The people in India haven't a clue what you're talking about.
It's a fearsomely complicated process and I would advise anyone to avoid Vodafone completely.


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## Wahaay (18 Apr 2014)

PaddyBloggit said:


> I'm using 3 ... I top up once a month (during the summer etc. when I'm at my holiday home.
> 
> The 7.5 GB monthly package is enough for me when on hols etc. as I only check emails, read news etc.
> 
> ...




After losing patience with Vodafone ( not least their website which is appalling to use considering it's in the communications business ) I switched to Three - they have a very good tariff of €35 for 20GB which is more suitable for heavy traffic such as a holiday lettings and doesn't require such frequent monitoring and top-ups.
Good reception too.


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## PaddyBloggit (18 Apr 2014)

On 3 over Easter ... got a top up last week. The last top up before that was last summer. It does the basics but if I was living there full time I'd be looking for better than 3.


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## dub_nerd (19 Apr 2014)

I'm using Vodafone PAYG with a MiFi. Yes, their website and their customer service is awful and I had a recent experience that was truly horrible. However, once you get it working it works. You can buy your data bundle via the MiFi itself as long as you have credit. For me, buying credit is a bit of a pain. I think you're suppose to be able to do that via the MiFi also, but Vodafone's spectacularly awful website doesn't let me save a credit card for future payments for reasons unknown.

Recently when I tried to buy a data bundle it didn't work, in spite of having plenty of credit -- it turned out if you don't top up at least once per six months you "run out of service days", whatever the hell that means. The result is that you can't log into your account or buy anything, even if you have credit (although you don't lose the credit). Chasing this up was a total nightmare -- I couldn't log in to use any online help, and there was no number to ring customer service, just automated phone menus. Their email support is a joke -- someone replies every two days to ask meaningless questions or offer to ring you on your mobile broadband(!). I eventually resorted to reporting my "phone" stolen, just to get their attention. After I got my top up done, I then tried to buy a data bundle but kept getting timeouts from the MiFi. This resulted me in eventually getting one bundle but being billed for four. After that I had my only positive Vodafone customer experience -- I managed to sign up on their online community forum and the problem got solved very quickly with a prompt refund. 

So why do I stick with them? Because the broadband's fantastic. Obviously this is just a fluke of where the house is situated, and I tried all the other providers too but only Vodafone worked. I get an amazing 12 megabits per second from the MiFi and really can't fault it. Prices are: one day/500 MB - €3; one week/2048 MB - €10; 1 month/5120 MB - €20. PAYG is great for me -- I often spend only a day or a week there, and was previously spending €60/month on satellite broadband. What a pity Vodafone are such an unbelievably awful company to deal with.


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