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Old 03-10-2016, 00:53
April.
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Wonder if there is anyone here knowledgeable enough to help

Recently got a new phone from my employer but it is on 3, recently went to Wales for a few days and found 3 did not work. I bought a 02 sim and some data and used the phone as a hotspot in order to use my tablet, but although I did not use it much the data got gobbled up quickly.

f I buy a portable wifi router will it use less data?
I
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Old 03-10-2016, 01:35
gomezz
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It will if you can't find a suitable wi-fi hotspot for it to connect to! And if you can find a suitable wi-fi hotspot then the tablet should be able to connect direct without the need of any add-on device.
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Old 03-10-2016, 09:38
chrisjr
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Wonder if there is anyone here knowledgeable enough to help

Recently got a new phone from my employer but it is on 3, recently went to Wales for a few days and found 3 did not work. I bought a 02 sim and some data and used the phone as a hotspot in order to use my tablet, but although I did not use it much the data got gobbled up quickly.

f I buy a portable wifi router will it use less data?
I
Do you mean a MiFi device? ie one that uses the mobile phone network to connect to the internet and then your devices (phones, tablet, laptop) connect to the MiFi device over WiFi. A WiFi router by itself will not connect you to the internet unless you either have a broadband service on a nearby phone line or a public WiFi hotspot nearby. And as said above if you have a public WiFi hotspot to connect the router to you likely can connect your phone/tablet/laptop etc direct to the WiFi hotspot anyway.

But as for the last question. How you connect to the internet is completely irrelevant. The amount of data consumed is entirely dependent on what you are doing on t'interweb. If you read the exact same webpages over super fast fibre optic, bog standard ADSL broadband, your phone as a WiFi hotspot or a length of damp string the amount of data consumed will be exactly the same.
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Old 03-10-2016, 11:09
gomezz
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Although if you are streaming video then some sites adapt the streaming rate according to the speed of the connection and so will use more data on an a higher speed connection.
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Old 03-10-2016, 14:01
April.
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Thanks for your replies

yes i meant mifi although it is the first time i am hearing this term

So getting a mifi adapter won't save me any data
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Old 03-10-2016, 14:14
chrisjr
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Thanks for your replies

yes i meant mifi although it is the first time i am hearing this term

So getting a mifi adapter won't save me any data
As I said the means by which you connect to t'interweb has only an indirect bearing on how much data you use. it is what use you make of it that determines that. Though as gomezz says if you are watching video streams the streaming service could detect the connection speed and ramp up the quality to suit resulting in even more data being used.

So what websites you visit, whether you stream audio or video, download files etc determine data usage not the connection method.

The only difference you might find between a MiFi device and using your phone is the size of the data allowance which means you might be able to consume more data without running into any charges for going over allowance.

MiFi devices usually involve a separate contract so could end up costing more as well. You might get away with using your phone SIM in the device, which would of course prevent you making and receiving phone calls, but it would use the same amount of data as using your phone as a hotspot.
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Old 04-10-2016, 08:03
neo_wales
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As said if your streaming video and even music you eat through your data allowance. Browsing web sites uses far less data. In Wales look at http://wirelesswales.com/list-of-wifi-access-points don't forget that all McDonald's stores offer free wi fi.
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Old 04-10-2016, 19:02
victorslot
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As said if your streaming video and even music you eat through your data allowance. Browsing web sites uses far less data. In Wales look at http://wirelesswales.com/list-of-wifi-access-points don't forget that all McDonald's stores offer free wi fi.
But the car parks have a time limit and go over and you get fined.
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Old 05-10-2016, 09:59
neo_wales
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I had no idea you wanted to be online for hours at a time. What are you watching thats using up your data allowance?

I have a 3GB dongle and use if for browsing from my campervan and I've never ever used more than 1GB over a weekend, I take music and movies on my laptop so don't stream.
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Old 05-10-2016, 16:12
Stig
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Wonder if there is anyone here knowledgeable enough to help

Recently got a new phone from my employer but it is on 3, recently went to Wales for a few days and found 3 did not work. I bought a 02 sim and some data and used the phone as a hotspot in order to use my tablet, but although I did not use it much the data got gobbled up quickly.

f I buy a portable wifi router will it use less data?
I
If you have BT as your ISP you could use BT WiFi OpenZones.
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