David McManus on getting hooked up in the West Country

In some ways I wish I could come on holiday and know that I am going to be completely off the grid with no wi-fi and only the occasional blip of 3G.

But this is the real world and not some hipster’s ideology and so, knowing that my connectivity would be challenged during this week’s break in Dorset, I decided to do something to minimise my invisibility.

A few years ago I took out a SIM-only contract, principally for the flexibility of buying a new phone whenever I wanted rather than being tied in to lengthy contracts but also to cut down on the monthly bill which was getting ever higher. It was a good deal at the time; a tenner gave me more call time than I would ever use, unlimited texts and 1GB of data a month.

Over the years I have only hit that data cap a few times because I tend to spend most of my time around wi-fi hotspots but I decided it was time to upgrade to a more generous allowance so I looked on my provider’s website to see what was on offer.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Three offers a variety of packages dubbed All You Can Eat which gives you as much of something as you are likely to want.

Like many of us these days, I tend to use my phone the least for actually talking to people so I went for a plan that gave me only moderate talk time but unlimited data for just a few pounds a month more than my current bill.

The other big advantage to the updated contract is that it allows me to tether my phone’s signal to any other device, turning it into a mobile hotspot. This would be particularly useful with my wi-fi-only iPad, meaning I wouldn’t be confined to the relatively limited screen of my phone.

When I had previously attempted to pair up my devices in this way, I always received an alert from Three to tell me I would need to update my plan in order to enable it. This always struck me as a bit of a rip-off because all I wanted to do was use my data allowance on something other than my phone. Clearly our beloved telecom companies see extra profit to be made from that convenience so put up artificial barriers to prevent it.

Indeed it was soon made clear that, yes, my new unlimited data plan would finally allow me to turn my phone into a hotspot but only to a maximum of 4GB each month. Why? It’s still the same data whether it is being used by my phone or handed off to something else.

Still, the tethering worked well so I set off on holiday comfortable with the fact that I didn’t have to leave the Internet behind.

Everything was working brilliantly as I flicked through the morning’s news on my iPad over coffee on the first leisurely morning of my rural break. 4GB would be plenty for a week of this so my initial annoyance faded.

With half a pot of coffee still to go I hit a wall. Suddenly “you have reached your monthly allowance” was the only thing to read.

I hadn’t, of course. Nowhere near. Something is amiss but I’m on holiday and can’t be bothered with call centres so this column comes to you via the joys of finger pecking which quickly exceeds optimal comfort after 140 characters.