Internet Ideas Please!

[ayabrea38]

I am going in hospital soon and then(hopefully!) somewhere to get used to my new ankle external fixator part one.Where I am going has not got Wi Fi,or any patient internet access,which is going to drive me mad.Obversely a dongle could help,but I need one that will let me watch TV on my laptop for about 6 hours a week as well as all the other internet stuff-maybe even skype.
Is there such a dongle available on PAYG,or just a 6 month contract?Most don't seem to have the usage I want,but I am open to any ideas please!
Thanks for any ideas
Aya

[Buenchico]

A standard (3G) dongle is extremely unlikely to support reliable video streaming. The bandwidth simply isn't good enough.

You'd need 4G which, at the minute, means that there's only EE as a service provider. Further, since they're still rolling out 4G coverage, you'd need to check whether 4G is available where you'll be:
https://explore.ee.co.uk/coverage-checker

If it is, look for dongles shown as having a 1 month contract period here:
http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/mobilebroadband/4g-mobile-broadband?showAll=1#featured

It might also be worth checking whether there's a BT Wi-fi hotspot in the area. Use the postcode checker here:
http://www.btwifi.com/
If there is, take a look at the payment options shown on that page (and check out 'Subscriptions' as well).

Chris

[ayabrea38]

Chris,thanks to your knowledge I have found a pay monthly EE dongle,but it only has 3Gb a month download allowance,so that wouldn't be enough to watch the likes of iplayer for as long as 24 hrs a month would it?Sorry to sound stupid but I'm not too sure about the difference between streaming and downloading,I would be streaming if that makes any difference?

I will get the exact postcode of where I will be staying nearer the time (not 100% sure yet) then I can check BT.

Thanks for your help,how did you get so clever Chris? :)

Aya

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your reply. Item 8 in the list from my second link gives you 8Gb per month but that's still only a fairly small amount of TV watching:
http://mobilenetworkcomparison.org.uk/how-much-bandwidth-does-iplayer-use/

Everything that arrives at your computer is 'downloaded'. With some files (e.g. 'podcasts') you download the whole file and then open it. With streamed files, you're able to watch the first bit of the file while the next bit is still being sent to your computer.