Mobile broadband advice/options needed for use with a tablet.

[BigBird]

Got a friend who lives in a house that is a bit off the beaten track and currently has no landline, mains electricity, gas or water. he manages with water and electricity through the use of a river and a generator. For his internet access he has been using a tmobile dongle up a pole but that has suffered from the weather.

He intends to get a tablet for his wife and is looking at options to get her on the internet. As far as I can see he will not be able to connect a mobile broadband dongle to the tablet due to not having suitable drivers. I believe his only options are either to get a tablet that takes a sim card, although he may still have an issue with getting a decent signal. Or my preferred option for him would be a router that takes a sim card and is capable of connecting to an external antenna. That way he should have a decent signal and other wifi devices in the home can also connect to the internet and each other.

I have no actual experience of this so any advice would be appreciated. Also cost is an issue. He was looking at around £200 for the tablet but he could get a cheaper one and put the rest towards a 3g router. Another option may be to use his mobile phone as a modem? (">

[Mobileman]

External 3G marine antenna with cable to the router inside should do job expect to pay around £60-80 for a decent one then job done, also know couple people used yagi wifi antennas and have sometimes better connection

[JonEp]

Check to see if the dongle he is using has an external port. My Huawei E122 does on the side next to the SD slot.

If so you can by a battery powered router here : http://www.solwise.co.uk/3g-routers-3g-etr-9360.htm