Why does my 3G broadband dongle connection keep cutting out?

Q  My home internet needs are quite limited and, rather than sign up for a landline telephone and broadband contract, I decided instead to buy a 3G broadband dongle on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) contract for use with my laptop.

This works reliably most of the time but sometimes the internet connection disappears. I reckon this happens a few times a day, and for a few minutes each time. It’s not a major problem but it is rather annoying – is there anything I can do about it?

Also, my wife recently bought her own laptop. We’re probably going to buy another PAYG 3G dongle but I wonder if there’s any way for her to share my connection, perhaps with something like a USB cable splitter (if such things exist)?

We also have friends over to stay sometimes and I imagine they’d find it useful, too. I hope you can help.

Jack Potts

A  In answer to your first question, this is almost certainly a case of intermittent reception, possibly caused by external interference.

As you’re probably aware, 3G broadband dongles use radio waves and, like any other kind of radio signal, reception can be affected by outside influences such as someone using a microwave oven or cordless phone nearby.

As such, unless there’s any particular frequency to it then there’s probably little hope of finding the cause. That said, if you’re sufficiently keen to resolve this annoyance, then we would suggest keeping a diary of the events for a week or two: if the connection dropouts occur at particular times of the day, then this may help isolate the culprit.

As for your thoughts about sharing your 3G broadband dongle’s connection with your wife, this isn’t an outlandish proposition – but doing so won’t involve the use of a USB cable splitter.

Instead, consider buying a Wifi router that’s designed to accommodate a 3G broadband dongle: in this way, you’ll be able to slot the dongle into a USB socket on the router and share the connection with as many people and devices as you want. Solwise, for instance, offers a range of 3G Wifi routers starting from about £37 (for the NET-3G-ESR-6650).

But if going down this path then be aware of the increased data use, as 3G broadband can be expensive – particularly on PAYG tariffs.

Friends and family could easily forget they’re connected via 3G broadband and possibly rack up a lot of data use, which could leave you with a hefty bill.