3g questions please

Ok so i've got the aspire in my sig.
My plan was to use this to check out photos I take before I can get home and put them on my home PC and to have something to do while I have some down time at work. Problem is, I cant get a wifi connection at work.

SO I read some of the posts in this section. Problem is, I dont have a 3g phone. I have no idea what a dongle is, tho I assume its the physical part you plug into the USB port that gives you the 3g?

Next is, where can I get one? Is it a monthly charge? I'd like one that has the software in the dongle, as I dont have a cd drive obviously.

Can anyone help???

 

dongle is a device attached externally.

USB 3G dongle is a 3G modem with a usb interface. It takes a sim card from your local 3G provider (AT&T, Sprint, etc) and gives you wireless broadband access. In the US this costs about $50 to $60 per month plus the cost of the dongle.

WiMax is another option if it is available in your area. There are WiMax / WiFi combination cards available that will fit in the AAO WiFi slot.

Your best option may be to add a wireless router at work...

 

In the UK the dongle is normally sold to you as part of a "Mobile Broadband" package. The most popular seems to be 3 (www.three.com),but t-Mobile and O2 do packages as well.

I chose T-Mobile because they do a package where you buy the dongle for £40 and then just pay £2 for each day you use it, but they do other packages ranging from a tenner a month to about 30 quid with a free laptop.

Check out the web sites.

Note that they all say they are only compatible with Windows and Mac, but most work with Linux, in particular the Hauwei dongles are safe. You cannot tell if a dongle is by Hauwei because t-mobile etc. re-badge them (for instance a T-Mobile version is called the "USB Stick 110"), but I know that 3 and T-Mobile definitely use them.

Cheers

Lee

 

I've just bought an o2 dongle on pay as you go.
£30 then £2 for 24 hrs, going up to £15 for 30 days.

Went with o2 because you also get 'The Cloud' wifi access included with your 3g.