Mobile Broadband UK

[meread]

Hello,

Whilst this is not entirely a problem specifically relating to the UK as the internet providers will be solely in the UK it is in many ways.

I need to access the internet whilst away from base, no local WiFi hot spot but could use USB dongle to access via the mobile phone network with my Dell laptop

All the main mobile networks in the UK sell these devices under various terms of use and all of them say they are compatible with Mac OS X.. I have tried contacting the support people to see what reaction I get to the question are they Linux compatible but they do not reply. As the Mac OS is built on a Unix foundation my guess is that it should work with Linux.

Has any UK person had any experience with these dongles? Do you know if a Linux driver is available for any (all) of them?

Thanks

Roy

[ugm6hr]

Most of the UK operator dongles are Huwaei devices, which are all auto-recognised on Ubuntu 9.04 (but not previous versions).

You may have to edit the login details, depending on which package you get.

I got the O2 pay-as-you-go one on special at the moment at both O2 and carphone warehouse.

This might be useful to confirm user experiences (and find login details etc):
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NetworkManager/Hardware/3G

Perhaps if you post a link to the device / tariff you would prefer to get, someone can confirm their experience.

If you don't use 9.04, I would strongly recommend upgrading for this feature.

PS: Since getting my device, I have learnt that the best UK 3G coverage (at present) is with Three and Orange, followed by T-Mobile, and trailed by O2 and Vodafone. There was a newspaper article about it a little while ago. You might want to consider this when you invest in a device.

[meread]

Hi,

Thanks for the useful info. I felt that O2 purely as a package was attractive but the Three Mobile coverage checker came out best.

However before moving to purchase I need to upgrade as currently running Hardy

Thanks for saving me a lot of wasted effort by trial and errorS.

Cheers

Roy