Socks: Mouseworks Dynamic Cardboard Redesign and Basic Tunneling

[Maz]

Yes I remember dial up! If you don't mind me asking, how much do you pay for broadband at the moment? I know prices vary quite a lot and maybe £37 is expensive for mifi. I imagine in London, that many providers have issues as they have a bigger network, so the mifi might cut through that What you could do, as a back up, is have a spare pay as you go sim from another network, so if the mobile broadband ever went down, you could just swap the sim card temporarily to another network The mifi unit isn't locked to a particular network.

There are also some broadband packages that have mifi as a backup, built in - ie a sim card in the standard wifi router. I know BT has one - not sure about others. BT aren't always the cheapest though.

 

[Maz]

Or - if the mifi was on a different network to your phone, you could always put your phone sim in it as an emergency back up and use the data from that! The phone should still work but on wifi only.

 

[Socks' Mum]

Wonderful ideas Maz, thank you. You know your data stuff inside out! My iPad batteries were fading so much I scrapped it. Now I'm looking for a tablet. The BT backup sounds really good, I will look into that. My broadband bill is £29 a month until October. Then the contract expires and I think it will go up, but I'm not sure how much. It sounds like it will be the same as the Mifi. My Virgin bill was £40 something, so not cheap. It's a business keeping the prices down. Competition doesn't seem to have done much for data bills

 

[Socks' Mum]

Mom: Half an hour before bedtime I started to thinking I wish Socks would come out for a run now. We've missed each other over the past couple of nights.
Socks: I got up for a spin on my wheel and there was Mom, staring into the cage
Mom: This happens quite often. I wonder if I release a sociable pheromone that Socks picks up. He jumped off his cage wheel and hurried to the cage door to catch his hamster taxi.
Socks: I find it easier to use my playpen wheel when I have company

 

[Maz]

Wonderful ideas Maz, thank you. You know your data stuff inside out! My iPad batteries were fading so much I scrapped it. Now I'm looking for a tablet. The BT backup sounds really good, I will look into that. My broadband bill is £29 a month until October. Then the contract expires and I think it will go up, but I'm not sure how much. It sounds like it will be the same as the Mifi. My Virgin bill was £40 something, so not cheap. It's a business keeping the prices down. Competition doesn't seem to have done much for data bills

Apparently Vodafone do a broadband plan that includes a mobile backup option as well - not sure of the cost as you need to put an address in to check. But - any new broadband plan, you're tied in for two years, so then if it starts having problems you're stuck with hassle. So on that basis the mifi might be worth doing - just month by month

 

[Maz]

Mom: Half an hour before bedtime I started to thinking I wish Socks would come out for a run now. We've missed each other over the past couple of nights.
Socks: I got up for a spin on my wheel and there was Mom, staring into the cage
Mom: This happens quite often. I wonder if I release a sociable pheromone that Socks picks up. He jumped off his cage wheel and hurried to the cage door to catch his hamster taxi.
Socks: I find it easier to use my playpen wheel when I have company

Socks is very lucky and spoiled to be allowed to get out during the night!

 

[Socks' Mum]

That's interesting, thanks Maz. I looked at BT, the plan sounds really good, it starts up quickly and apparently you don't really have any downtime as it immediately logs you on to the backup SIM. Vodafone might be more affordable. Yes, the contracts do go on for a long time. I remember when I had Three long ago I had to phone the company to end the contract and the person I spoke to during a very long and expensive call was very resistant to closing my account. It was horrible. Since then I have had a few contracts with Virgin and BT and the service has improved considerably, so a two year contract shouldn't be a prison sentence, but the freedom of Mifi, especially with a decent 5G connection would be great. Perhaps the new technology isn't popular with the companies as long contracts are more profitable. I need to change from Sky soon anyway as my contract is going to end soon and there is no advantage to staying as the price just creeps up. It's a sort of merry go round going from one company to another.

 

[Maz]

Definitely shop around! If the BT one or Vodafone ones aren't too expensive, and you don't mind signing up for two years, then it would be the best of both worlds - having the mobile backup via the router.