Best UK and smallest pocket hot spot (friend traveling - won't change SIM)?

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
9,505
Hi all,

A friend from Canada will be traveling around the UK for quite some time. She needs to keep her current SIM in for work reasons.

What's a good pocket hotspot either with a one-off payment, top ups or months plan?

The smaller the better as it's something that would be with her when she is out and about!

Thanks
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Apr 2007
Posts
5,255
Don't most modern smartphones allow you to use them as a mobile hotspot?

His friend has a Canadian SIM and to avoid a zillion-dollar bill when she returns from the UK, she will buy a UK SIM and tether to it for data purposes.

As for the original question, I can't offer any specific suggestions for best products.
 
Associate
Joined
4 Oct 2005
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2,062
Location
Herefordshire
TBH we have a lot of visitors from foreign places what they do is just buy a cheap smartphone which allows them to do use it as a mobile hotspot or just use 2 phones, they often buy a second hand one for this very purpose.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Dec 2003
Posts
2,535
As others have said, one option would be hotspot on a phone/device. So your friend could potentially purchase a dirt cheap 2nd hand Android phone from somewhere like CEX and combine that with a data only and PAYG SIM only deal. Or get a MiFi device on a monthly deal.

I can't vouch for either the MiFi device or 3 network, but they have monthly deals on a 4G MiFi listed here (but includes upfront fee):
http://www.three.co.uk/discover/devices/huawei/4g-plus-mifi?memory=0&colour=Black
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Nov 2004
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10,291
Location
North Beds
I thought that most phones these days were dual sim? My s10+ is great for this when travelling, just throw a local sim in whilst still being contactable on my main number
 
Soldato
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7 Jan 2003
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Offline
What's the battery life on a MiFi device? A cheap used smartphone will need charging every other day.

Also, on my phone the hotspot turns itself off if no device is connected for a period. You could easily not notice the hotspot \ WiFi is disconnected and start using the expensive mobile data.
 
Soldato
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^^^ what's a good battery life? Could I leave one in a bag or car on standby for a week? Or do you need to power it on when needed to save battery life?
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Jun 2005
Posts
9,066
Location
Nottinghamshire
To save the aggro.

Buy a £10 feature phone with a 2 week battery life.
Put canadian sim into the feature phone.

Put british payg sim for data into canadian phone

??? profit.

I can't think of anything worse than walking around with a hotspot.
 
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