Internet mobile dongles

[maccasa]

Anyone got experience using this new pay-as-you-go system for Internet dongles ?
I see Vodafone are advertising a 3Gb system for £34.99 in UK (including £15 usage), but I cant seem to get a clear answer as to how it works/costs if I use it in portugal.

[fmm]

There are several posts on this. I purchased a vodafone dongle at Guia which I use just in Portugal and put money on it whenever I need to. My UK one would not work in Portugal and even it if had, would have been very expensive to use. So I have a UK one (pay as you go) and a portuguese one (pay as you go).

[aussie]

I bought the dongle with 10 euro loaded credit from vodafone shop at airport and it cost 49.90 euro. Its just as you come out of departures.
If you have your uk dongle already I think you can just buy the sim and credit so you would save that way. They speak perfect English so I'm sure they will answer all your queries.
There is also a vodafone shop in Lagoa and availability to top up at Intermarche.

[fmm]

Make sure if you just purchase the sim that it actually works with your dongle. My UK dongle refused point blank to work with the portuguese sim so I ended up buying a portuguese dongle. I have a feeling there may be something wrong with the UK one, but it works fine in the UK, so I know just have two of them!

[Colana]

I've just bought an apartment in Cvo and was in the process of getting a Vodafone dongle so I can use my laptop when I'm over.
I'm not very technical but am I right in thinking from this thread that if I buy a dongle when I'm over next time, I'll be able to use it much more cheaply than buying a UK one & bringing it out with me, and that it will be compatible with my laptop?

[fmm]

Yes. Go to the Vodafone shop at Guia shopping and take your laptop with you. They will then install the dongle for you and make sure it is up and running. They don't charge to do that and I promise you it makes life much easier as the dongle info is in Portuguese! I am sure there are plenty of other shops that will offer this service, but this is the one I use so am happy to recommend it!

[Colana]

thanks fmm , will do ...

[KenC]

Could someone please give an indication of usage costs if you go down this route?

[fmm]

2 weeks usage up to a maximum of 400Mb costs around 10 euros (or that was what I was paying when I was over in August.)

[maccasa]

Hi all - I contacted vodafone and finally spoke to someone who seemed to know what they were doing - it seems as though the "thread" is correct and you can use the UK dongle in PT as long as you buy the sim card over there. I bought a dongle from Argos for £29.99 with £15 already in.

If the cost is ~ €10/2 weeks that's even cheaper than the €1-2 I spend per day at the internet cafe by Mungo's.

[Hoser]

Check out this subject discussed previously. It answers your questions.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=16663&start=0

[fmm]

Hi all - I contacted vodafone and finally spoke to someone who seemed to know what they were doing - it seems as though the "thread" is correct and you can use the UK dongle in PT as long as you buy the sim card over there. I bought a dongle from Argos for £29.99 with £15 already in.

If the cost is ~ €10/2 weeks that's even cheaper than the €1-2 I spend per day at the internet cafe by Mungo's.

but bear in mind that my Uk dongle would NOT work no matter what we did to it - and I had to purchase a portuguese dongle as well.

[cereza]

I bought an Optimus "Kanguru" dongle. Cost 50 euros which included 10 euros of credit.
I used the shop in Algarve shopping centre which is opposite the Vodafone one.they were very helpful and I took my laptop with me so that they could set everything up.
Cost is 25 euros for up to 30 days usage or 1 GB .
I have found it very good with good service everywhere - no problems at all. Recommended.

[Farol]

I bought a Vodafone dongle from the Vodafone stand at Fatacil. €49 listed price was discounted to €29 and it came with 15 hours credit not the 10 hours advertised plus a free 2Gb USB drive - what a great deal.

Works a treat.

The credit lasts for 180 days and you top up in much the same way as a mobile. You buy 5 hours for €5 when you top up.

You are charged for 5 minute blocks taken off your credit. You are not charged for bandwidth just connection time. When you disconnect you get an SMS message telling you how much credit remains (both time & days remaining).

The dongle seeks the best signal (3G or GPRS) are switches transparently between them.

The dongles are locked to each Vodafone national network and roaming is not supported.

[fmm]

That was the one I had first of all - and I managed to use the entire lot in two days. I used mine for email, so was on line most of the time although not downloading much in terms of file sizes. It depends on whether you want to use the computer for 5 minutes a couple of times a day, or all day, but not downloading too much. I used the same dongle and bought a different sim for it (which is pretty much free when you take into account the download you get with it).

Both options are fine, just depends on your requirements.