Yes I had the same trouble with Tiscali. Like ************ said I signed up to a contract for 18 months for a dongle which just plugs into a USB port. Great idea but some of the pitfalls:
1. Contract must be taken out for 18 months.
2. Download limit for �10/per month option is only 1 Gbyte. You can get 3 Gbyte for �15 per month
3. Any excess of the download limit is charged enormously at I believe 20p per Mbyte (yes Mb)
4. Speed varies enormously from a dial up speed to 1/2 Mb sec so very slow compared with broadband.