small portable wifi usage over several periods

A friend has a wifi only tablet and an old mobile phone. He only needs portable wifi for a 5 days several times a year for emails and surfing; not vast data requirements. Nor wanting to spend too much; say £10 max for each period.

Had a mifi dongle but found that once he started using the data it was all gone in one session; he could not spread the data use over several periods.

What is his cheapest option?

That sounds like when he tried the MiFi they only offered monthly options.

Both Three and EE (on 4G) now offer daily options on their PAYG MiFi devices. So you top up with some credit, and then you buy for something like £2.50 a day's worth of access (there is also a data usage limit) and whichever you hit first it stops. Then you can buy another.

Or you can leave the MiFi in a drawer for 3 months, and then buy another day from the credit.

I don't know what happens if you don't use it for 6 months, the network may need to reallocate a new number to the device (via a call to customer services) but the credit doesn't expire.

Thank you

I have been looking on the 3 site but cannot see any offers for £2.50 per day?

In reply to a post by athegn:

I have been looking on the 3 site but cannot see any offers for £2.50 per day?

Ugh their site is impossible to find these things on.

Its in the price guide, here (PDF download):
http://www.three.co.uk/_standalone/Link_Document?con...

On page 8, you find the mobile broadband pay-as-you-go add on list:

1GB = £10 or 30 days whichever hit first
3GB = £15 or 30 days whichever hit first
7GB = £25 or 30 days whichever hit first

OR pay by the day - 500MB for £2.99 available for 48 hours, unless you use up the 500 megabytes earlier.

EE have similar offers on their 4G mobile broadband plans, either on a tablet SIM or a MiFi or dongle:
http://help.ee.co.uk/system/selfservice.controller?C...

£3 500MB 1 Day
£10 1GB 30 Days
£15 2GB 30 Days
£20 4GB 30 Days
£30 10GB 30 Days

Hope that helps.

Thank you

Will pass the information on to my friend

No problem !