That is surprising. Additional aerials will be interesting, in some cases they can reduce signal due to the length of the cable. I have seen people use USB extensions to get dongles close to windows. (USB extensions only work for about 1.5m max!)

This is what I had in mind.

Well that is disappointing after getting it to work it randomly locks up and my PC can't see it or ping the dongle anymore so its going back and I have ordered a new one.

'Tis to be expected on 4G and previously on 3G. EE has been top of the pile overall for several years now. Also its progenitor, Orange. I only left it on price grounds, as I was trying very hard to apply Mr Micawber's advice.

Mr Micawber has also given us the famous dictum now known as “The Micawber Principle”: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

I did improve things a lot, but failed to reach the target.

In reply to a post by Banger:

Well that is disappointing after getting it to work it randomly locks up and my PC can't see it or ping the dongle anymore so its going back and I have ordered a new one.

I'm beginning to think there is a reason dongles are not fashionable.

Well it was a return maybe that's why it was returned originally? Anyway no harm done as Amazon refund return postage and costs. See how the new one performs on Saturday.

In reply to a post by Banger:

Well that is disappointing after getting it to work it randomly locks up and my PC can't see it or ping the dongle anymore so its going back and I have ordered a new one.

The dongle itself isn't actually pingable, it is just software running on your PC that is faking it.

Sometimes just removing and reinserting might restart the software. As Bob says, its one of many reasons they are no longer popular.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Banger:

Well that is disappointing after getting it to work it randomly locks up and my PC can't see it or ping the dongle anymore so its going back and I have ordered a new one.

The dongle itself isn't actually pingable, it is just software running on your PC that is faking it.

Sometimes just removing and reinserting might restart the software. As Bob says, its one of many reasons they are no longer popular.

Yes I found that removing and re-inserting would bring it back to life. I had a feeling it wasn't the dongle as it was still flashing blue. I wonder if there are any updated drivers as the dongle when first inserted prompts to download updated drivers (NDIS remote) but examining this in device manager it is from 2006. Oh well I will have to find another graceful way of resetting the drivers to get it to work.

Or buy something that is known to work .

In reply to a post by Banger:

Yes I found that removing and re-inserting would bring it back to life. I had a feeling it wasn't the dongle as it was still flashing blue. I wonder if there are any updated drivers as the dongle when first inserted prompts to download updated drivers (NDIS remote) but examining this in device manager it is from 2006. Oh well I will have to find another graceful way of resetting the drivers to get it to work.

You're probably hitting the Win10 & dongle issue, the problem is now that you can buy laptops with built in 4G, and many people just use the "hotspot" on their mobile phone, the market for USB dongles has disappeared. So the software doesn't seem to be being updated with Windows.

At work, we used to be issued with Vodafone dongles, now we have laptops with USB-C ports, there is nowhere to plug them in, so we are told to hotspot our phones. If most mobile working employers have done the same, you can see why the mobile networks are not selling dongles on their websites. (They might in store, if they are open!).