Dongle

[whiskeryron]

I'm getting a laptop soon to use when I go on holidays, in order to receive emails & Answerbank I understand I will need to purchase a dongle. As an absolute novice in this area would someone explain to me about dongles. TIA Ron.

[plautus]

Just like a USB stick enabling you to collect to the internet via a mobile network. I have one and it's OK. Not sure about abroad and I think it would be mega expensive to use there.

[Postdog]

If UK, go to an independent phone shop (one not tied to a phone co) and ask them to check coverage of where you are going so you buy a suitable one. No good buying one if you can't get or have a poor reception

[whiskeryron]

Thank you both for your answers,that's given me a start to get looking around. Ron.

[plautus]

I bought an O2 one, simply because I have an O2 PAYG phone. I get a good reception 95% of the time so have very few problems. They're not really PAYG though, you get a data allowance and this lapses when the data is all used or the time is up, whichever is earlier. I pay £15.32 for 2GB for 30 days. This is more than ample for my needs as I download very little and often have unused data at the end of the month. The dongle itself cost me about £40 two years ago. The other alternative is to have a contract, when they will give you the dongle for free, but this may not be what you want if you are only going to use it sporadically. IF you google mobile usbs you will find details of the various offers.

[RATTER15]

We have one for our laptop, works really well, however it does kick us off on occasions.