[SWLUG] Linux mobile broadband advice please

[Matthew Moore]

On Mon, 1 Aug 2011 16:28:34 +0100, Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com>
wrote:
> On 1 August 2011 16:10, Mark Summerfield <mark at qtrac.eu> wrote:
>> Thanks for the comments so far.
>>
>> Plus.net are still saying 48-72 hrs before it'll be looked into. (They
>> said the same last Thu and Fri, and now today:-(

You might want to consider switching ISP if Plus.net are still being crap.
If you can afford it I can strongly recommend Andrews and Arnold -
http://aaisp.net.uk/.  Not cheap, but they're very good at getting faults
fixed quickly.

As a short term option then I'd check one of the mobile companies to make
sure you've got coverage and then pop into your local shop and buy a
dongle.  You should be able to get one preloaded with some credit.

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/personal-coverage/index.htm
http://search.orange.co.uk/ouk/portal/coveragechecker.html?channel=direct/
http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/Coverage_speed

It seems like the Three dongles should just work ok:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1667198  

I'm sure others will have a different opinion, but I've found Three to be
ok (as long as you don't have to phone them up, but that goes for most
telcos).  There are a few reports of people having problems with dongles
from various manufacturers, but it seems that in most cases they largely
'just work' in Ubuntu.  You didn't say which distro you were using (or if
you did I didn't notice it, sorry).  Sadly I don't have a spare dongle for
you to try, otherwise I'd pop over and you could borrow it.

Cheers,

Matt