My opinion of the European roaming gadget from Motorhome wifi (1 Viewer)

Jun 10, 2011
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I bought a gadget from Motorhomewifi at the Harrogate Motorhome show to let me get access to wifi whilst travelling around Europe.

You can choose from a 3g device or a more expensive 4g device. I decided to go for the 4g one as 4g, when it is available, is lightening fast in comparison to 3g.

The gadget is made by Netgear and is about the size of a pack of cards. It took a little bit of effort to set it up, although the instructions are very well written, so I reckon any fault was on my part and not the instructions.

Once set up it works very well. I've been using it for the ten days and have found it to be pretty much as fast as my home broadband, although that isn't saying that much as my home broadband isn't the fastest. But for connecting whilst you are travelling it is superb.

The device comes with a Europasim card, which costs 3 euros per day to use. That gives you a generous 500 meg of data for the day. It would be nice to have had more, as I have maxed out on a couple of days, but on the whole 500 meg is way better than you get from most data sim cards.

And I should mention that there have been many devices using it at the same time including three mobiles and two laptops. That is very cool, as they've all been pretty snappy even though they are on at the same time.

The only downside is that there is no easy way to see how much of the 500 meg you have used each day, without remembering to reset the data figures at exactly midnight each night. Oh, and the build quality isn't bad at all, but I did find the screen scratches very easily. I threw it in my rucksack for the day and was quite surprised to see some scratches on the display. Not the end of the world, but for the money I reckon some guerrilla glass, or similar, would have been nice, or maybe a little pouch to put it in.

So, in short, I can highly recommend this little gadget and I have to say Motorhomewifi were excellent in helping me get up and running. I would definitely use them again in the future.
 
Apr 10, 2014
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I have a uk one from EE 3g. about same size. It is great as well and can stream laptop and tablets at same time. Not costed EU operation yet.

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Addie

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Oct 15, 2011
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Hi yorkieman, thanks for taking the time to give us a write up :thumb:

In terms of managing your daily data allowance, as per your instructions you can access our web portal (address in your instructions) at anytime to see how much of your 500Mb fair usage you have used in real time. Simply access via your EuropaSIM connection and this will be displayed below the orange bar (it won't work via the 'internet').

Are you using the EuropaSIM in the UK? If so you might get better value from a UK provider - although you will be fixed to a single network.

T-Mobile do a SIM card where you get a 250Mb daily fair usage policy for downloads, but web browsing continues at full speed for £2/day, £7/week, £15/month. See here: Broken Link Removed. You'll just need to create a new profile for the APN to general.t-mobile.uk, User: user, Pass: pass.

Alternatively you can get 15Gb/month on contract from Three for £15 but the snag is a 24 month contract :Eeek:

If you need any more info, please let me know we'd be happy to help.

I have a uk one from EE 3g. about same size. It is great as well and can stream laptop and tablets at same time. Not costed EU operation yet.

The cost of using your EE SIM in Europe is as follows:

20Mb valid 24hrs - £1
100Mb Valid 24hrs - £3
200Mb valid 30 days - £35

EuropaSIM by comparison is 500Mb for £2.50 (€3) valid midnight-midnight central european time.
 
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Minxy

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Correction to Addie's t-mobile link:

Broken Link Removed
 

OddSocks

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Apr 10, 2014
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Wow!!! Thanks guys for this great thread. We are heading to France and Spain this summer for several weeks/months and need an internet connection while we are there. Our UK mobiles can support wifi hotspots but the price for this is very much prohibitive seeing that we are on UK pay as you go phones.

This motorhome wifi device seems like a reasonable idea. It is still questionable as to how will bet make and receive phone calls but my guess is that we can use skype over the wifi link? This is probably our best bet?

My question is this - can't I just put the Europasim directly in to my 4g mobile phone, and then run the wifi hotspot from that? Why the need for an additional device?

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Addie

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Correction to Addie's t-mobile link:
Broken Link Removed

Thanks Minx :Doh:

This motorhome wifi device seems like a reasonable idea. It is still questionable as to how will bet make and receive phone calls but my guess is that we can use skype over the wifi link? This is probably our best bet?

My question is this - can't I just put the Europasim directly in to my 4g mobile phone, and then run the wifi hotspot from that? Why the need for an additional device?

You can put a EuropaSIM into a phone, but we advise against it. The first reason is that ideally its a data only SIM and you need to set your APN to ensure you do not incur any additional charges. This is easy on a MiFi - but not so easy on a phone. Even if you do manage to set it, some phones request a APN from the network if you decide to tether (use your phone as a hotspot) - hence additional charges.

The second is that in order to recieve a call on the EuropaSIM the person making that call would be calling an Italian number. Therefore you'd be better advised using a Toggle SIM either in your phone, or in a 'cheap' unlocked phone (£10 from Tesco!) to benefit from free incoming calls in Europe where the caller dials a regular UK mobile number. You can benefit from calls back to the UK from 3p in France, Spain and the other 'Toggle' countries. More info here: Link Removed
 
Mar 23, 2012
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Is there a way of getting a call to a uk mobile no forwarded automatically to a toggle sim to save teling everyone the new number

David
 

ukbill

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i also have this sim although bought direct mhwifi didnt have any in stock
at 1st i couldnt get the dam thing to work i didnt get instructions with mine but mhwifi was kind enough to send me the instructions thank you for that alan the problem was simple i had not topup the sim up lol we are off to italy in may and travelling through a few other countries so will try it then and will report back but also beware of the apn i didnt realise i had a diff apn in the device and when i did get online it was at 6e a day arghhhhhhhhhh but never mind its working thats the main thing

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Addie

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Is there a way of getting a call to a uk mobile no forwarded automatically to a toggle sim to save teling everyone the new number

David

Yes, only if you have a UK mobile contract with inclusive minutes can you divert to a Toggle number free of charge. Contract your mobile operator to confirm that the diversion will come out of your inclusive minutes and how to set this up (it is usually a short code typed directly into your handset, deactivated by repeating with a similar code when you get back to the UK).

If you don't have a UK contract then the diversion will cost you per minute on your UK phone. Alternatively, you could port your number over to Toggle (any network but Three UK).
 
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yorkieman
Jun 10, 2011
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Yorkshire (nr. Leeds)
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Since 2011 (so a bit of a newbie)
Wow!!! Thanks guys for this great thread. We are heading to France and Spain this summer for several weeks/months and need an internet connection while we are there. Our UK mobiles can support wifi hotspots but the price for this is very much prohibitive seeing that we are on UK pay as you go phones.

This motorhome wifi device seems like a reasonable idea. It is still questionable as to how will bet make and receive phone calls but my guess is that we can use skype over the wifi link? This is probably our best bet?

My question is this - can't I just put the Europasim directly in to my 4g mobile phone, and then run the wifi hotspot from that? Why the need for an additional device?

I was planning on using my 4g phone as a hotspot too, but couldn't be bothered messing around changing sims and the like, when travelling.

As I mentioned at the start I've been using this on several devices at the same time, with no problem, and I've even used it for VOIP phone calls. I prefer BBM Voice to Skype (the sound quality is unbelievable) and it worked flawlessly on the 3g connection, so with 4g I imagine it would have been even better.

Another nice thing I realized was that if I did happen to find a better data pay-as-you-go sim deal in, for example Spain, I could just get that sim and use it whilst I'm in Spain and then swap it back for the Europasim when I leave Spain. However, I've checked in some of the phone shops in Spain and none of them have a deal anywhere near as good as 3 euros a day for 500 meg.
 

DBK

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Is there a way of getting a call to a uk mobile no forwarded automatically to a toggle sim to save teling everyone the new number

David

I don't know but I just keep my mobile switched on and don't use it for any sort of internet access. Best to disable data roaming on it and automatic App updates as well. Then it can just be a phone for voice calls from the UK and you will only pay for calls received.

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