Does anyone here use 3g as their main source for internet at home?

I’m going to be lucky enough to be in this position soon and wanting to double check on the best hardware / tariffs.

We did for a while, 3 one plan using a cheap “smart” phone as a wifi spot. It was tolerable (well we had little choice) but a bit crap for 2 heavy users to share, though this is probably due at least in part to our low reception location. It’s a relief to be on real broadband again!

Did have for about 5 years with Vodafone and Three until getting fibre. Was OK but there are a couple of downsides:
– Usage. Pretty hard to keep track on and if you go over your limit you get charged. 5GB can go pretty quick without really knowing what you have done with it.
– WiFi. Home coverage from dongle was pretty poor. Had to be in the same room.
RM.
p.s. One final point – Three’s ‘hard sell’ tactics when cancelling was beyond belief. To the point where I’d not recommend them to anyone ever again.

Yeah, I’ve had the fun of cancelling two contracts with three (also had a dongle for a while). Quite a performance. I did one in the shop (using their phone, they couldn’t do it themselves), I hope all the other customers enjoyed it 🙂

Whichever network you chose make sure you get a “Mifi” dongle as IME you get better speeds and are able to connect more devices.
EDIT: I agree with the above. It’s very easy to get through the allowance. I had a PAYG dongle with EE and my kids borrowed it one afternoon at the in laws and managed to get through 2GB data in under 3 hours just from watching a few YouTube videos and streaming music through spotify.

My mobile is through three and we often use that as a hotspot when our broadband goes down and it’s pretty good. We get around 20mbps download.
Worth noting that three’s new plans now limit personal hotspot usage to 2GB of your allowance if on unlimited internet allowance.

I had a Vodafone 3G thing running until they put up their tariffs. I switched to an EE 4G ‘double speed’ MiFi thing – probably the quickest broadband I’ve ever used. There’s only me and another user in the area and we have a very good blanket signal here – no gaps or dead spots.

I may be way off base, but I believe the more folk using the network in your area the slower the speed and you might even get reduced to 3G speeds.

Is used to sell these things. IME they’re not great in comparison to fixed line broadband but if you haven’t got a choice…..Obviously the first thing to consider is your network signal strength as without a good one it’ll just be massively frustrating in terms of usability. I’d also question whether you actually need a separate device. Why can’t you just use your phone as a hotspot as mentioned above? I don’t know what your current contract/allowances are but it might be more cost effective to up your current contract to give enough allowance rather than take out an additional line purely for MBB use. When I’m away from home I tether my ipad to my phone and, even on 3G, in a good signal area it’s quick enough to stream sky etc without a hitch.