"Pocket wifi" - anyone tried it?

It would give you the same result as a 4G cellphone, LTE probably refers to a 4G connection.

This is going to be dial up pay as you go, on Smart that is 10 peso for every 30 minutes you are connected, you can also do this with a cellphone that is able to do internet sharing, i.e. a phone that can act as a Wifi hotspot, when I get home I will try to explain more.

LTE is available in the Phils now, has been for a wee while but the network is so saturated that you probably won't get anything like the 4G speeds.

Smart and I think Globe offer unmetered timed billing Smart for 10 peso per 30 minutes but at 31 minutes or less you have spent 20 peso, the problem is timing it and knowing how to switch on and off data on your phone.

No data is not metered, it's time based, if you had your phone running data all day but doing nothing it would cost you 480 peso, 480 peso a day is quite a lot of money.

They offer metered deals like 15 days for 299 peso xxx MB of data can't remember how much you get right now.

I have a cellphone that I dedicate to the Philippines, I keep the SIM loaded while I am in the UK, as long as you load it the load does not seem to expire, when I get there I buy a limited 15 day deal and switch on data, that way all the time I am there I have fully connected email and internet access.

Yes historically it was known as tethering, different platforms have different terminology now but it means letting a device that has internet access act as a shared resource for other devices.

I am not sure but I think that not all iPads had a SIM card option, I know little about Apple kit, if the iPad has a SIM card option then all she needs to do is buy a SMART 3G SIM and switch the data on when she needs it and off when she does not, the problem is remembering to switch it off otherwise it eats your load, very quickly.

The Smart LTE995 data offer here http://www1.smart.com.ph/prepaid/offers/data/2013/09/24/lte-data-offers is unlimited browsing for 30 days, that's new and to be honest pretty damn good, that's what I will get next time as I usually go for 3 weeks and 3 x LTE299 would be more expensive.

The LTE offers should work on 3G devices but I would check just in case a 4G SIM is required to activate it?

I meant the Philippine PAYG option on SMART when in the Phils, I was in part replying to the thread to Andrew with that point, but yes there are some good options in the UK as well, me I am lucky my employer provides me with a new phone every 2 years and currently we are on Vodafone with 6GB of data per user per month, we switched from EE with 2GB of data recently, only problem is Vodafone is so damn slow here that having 6GB is almost pointless as you could hardly ever use it all in 30 odd days.

I used to buy SIM cards for my laptop with generous allowances but now I just tether, pointless to have built in 3G in the laptop now, only downside is that laptop and phone batteries are draining fast as a result of 3G and wifi on the phone and wifi on the laptop.

Yeah I roam in the Phils on SMART and that is my point about the SMART LTE995 deal that I pointed to above, it is unlimited data and cost 995 peso a month, that's about £13.50 a month just now, which although expensive is actually not that bad if you do really use the internet, for me personally over there that is a spectacular deal now!

That's even though I have proper landline broadband in Manila as well.