Vodafone 3G Data Card to expensive. What alternative?

When I go down to BlueAnchorBay in Somerset from Oxfordshire I take my Laptop and a 3 G Data Card so that I can pick up my E-Mails.
The signal is atrocious and I can try to log on a dozen times before I get a connection and even then I can lose it.
I have just got my bill for the time I spent down there in May and it