I seem to like long complicated stories, so I shall try to keep this simple for once:

Orange were overcharging me as much as possible and calls were dropping all the time (I live near Stirling and work in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and obviously travel between them). So I moved over to Vodafone and have them both until my contract runs out with Orange.

Vodafone is much better for calls – I haven’t had a call drop yet and the signal is much better. BUT the 3G signal is dire so I can’t use my Vodafone phone as a personal hotspot for my laptop, whereas my Orange one is fine.

My iPhone 4 is locked to Orange and obviously it’s proven to be pretty good between Stirling and Edinburgh so is it worth getting a Pay-as-you-go Orange SIM for this phone to use data only or is there another solution?

Bugger, that was a long story again.

3G or 4g Router and a Sim from Giff Gaff or EE?

For just the travelling bit? If it is important to you then yes, if you can cope otherwise then no.

Only you can make this choice.

Aye, just for travelling. Are there any other good networks, are dongles better etc.?

I’ve got a Huawei 3G hotspot and buy these 3 data sims(3GB/3month) as and when – sometimes they’re a wee bit cheaper on eBay. Works well for me, and we were able to listen to the Wimbledon finals online when travelling up from Wales to Fife over the summer.

is it just for surfing the net i have a t mob payg sim £20. for 6 months 500 mb per month dl and unlimited surfing shows up as ee

Great, thanks very much.

I had a Huawei WiFi dongle and it was very good….when I could get a signal. I found the signal quality to vary wildly around the country, but if you can get a good 3G signal it works great.