Tablet with sim card or ?????

[robinh73]

Evening all, a quick bit of background for you. The family home is a little isolated to the point of having a dedicated phone supply line. In a recent thunderstorm the phone line has been taken out resulting in no landline or internet. BT have attempted to fix it today but got lost, so the earliest they can look at it is Friday. The main concern is that my elderly (but very with it and independent) father lives there and I am there part time (the rest of the time I am with my partner at her house). Dad can live without the landline but his mobile is very basic and not a smartphone by any means. He struggles with a smartphone so getting the internet for him that way is out. To that end, would a tablet with a sim card work or would a dongle type thing plugged in to a laptop be the best bet? I went to my local PC World but their phone department was shut. Any help on this would be appreciated, cheers!

[robbieduncan]

You can get cellular routers with Wifi built in. Simply uses a SIM to connect to a cell network and routes that to a self broadcast wifi network. So then whatever devices you have can get online. Used to be called MiFi. Name has probably changed

[ChickenvanGuy]

A 4g hotspot would likely do the trick, just pick a SIM card from the network with the best coverage where your dad is.

Alternatively, a SIM card in an older smartphone handset might do in a pinch if you have one in a drawer somewhere? Plenty of good cheap Sims available.

[somouk]

4G hotspot is often better out in the sticks. I can put mine on the window with an aerial out the window to get the best signal then sit anywhere in the room and use the wifi.

A tablet with the sim in itself means it's only 1 device that can use it generally and it will rely on indoor signal strength of a device that has design limitations in its aerials.

[robinh73]

Many thanks for the replies, I will discount the tablet and sim idea. The hotspot sounds much better. Thanks again.

[BigTZ4M]

Definitely get a 4G router. Then he doesn't need to change his devices he uses to use the internet. I use one of these but I'm sure some independent reviews will lead you to the current best on the market:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09J94GLN3/ref...

The more important thing to consider is, as you might with a phone, signal strength and data allowance. This can be a bit of a minefield in my experience. 3 for example have cheap unlimited data plans but terrible signal where I am so no good. Giffgaff has some decent data packages and I get good signal but as an NVMO of O2 the consistency isn't there as traffic isn't given as high priority as the parent network. Dp any research you can do to see which provider has the best performance where he is. If you buy a 4G router outside of the mobile phone operators shops they'll work with all SIMs.