Discussion
So I'm off on hols this summer. In the UK unusually. Whilst I'm out and about I'd like to be able to have Internet access for my laptop PC so I can access my usual favourite sites in the evening! 
Now - my requirement to do this is going to be once or twice a year (at most) so what I want (I think) is a cheapo eBay Vodaphone 3G/GPRS datacard and a Vodaphone PAYG sim. I am absolutely NOT signing up for anything pay monthly as this thing will get used for a fortnight once a year at most!
Now. I've scoured the Vodaphone site. It has NOTHING (that I can find) about PAYG data charges.
So. I know I need an "unlocked" card (fine)...cost around £30. Has anyone made this work? What sim did you get. Who from?
Any advice from someone who has trailblazed the solution gratefully recieved.
Now - my requirement to do this is going to be once or twice a year (at most) so what I want (I think) is a cheapo eBay Vodaphone 3G/GPRS datacard and a Vodaphone PAYG sim. I am absolutely NOT signing up for anything pay monthly as this thing will get used for a fortnight once a year at most!
Now. I've scoured the Vodaphone site. It has NOTHING (that I can find) about PAYG data charges.
So. I know I need an "unlocked" card (fine)...cost around £30. Has anyone made this work? What sim did you get. Who from?
Any advice from someone who has trailblazed the solution gratefully recieved.
Just about every sim should have data enable - and if it's not I'm sure the operators will turn it on for you.
Getting the access points setup correctly can be a chore, but most operators have varous web tools that can configure the UE via SMS.
PAYG data isn't hugely cheap however. Also, 3G will be vastly vastly faster than GPRS with the right UE (and suitable coverage)
Getting the access points setup correctly can be a chore, but most operators have varous web tools that can configure the UE via SMS.
PAYG data isn't hugely cheap however. Also, 3G will be vastly vastly faster than GPRS with the right UE (and suitable coverage)
GregE240 said:
Don, if you've already got a Smartphone you could use that as a 3G modem?
I have a Sony P900 - so it does GPRS but not 3G. This is probably OK as wherever I am going to use it its unlikely that there will be 3G coverage.
So maybe I need to Bluetooth up my lappy toppy and try that out.
I'm PAYG with Orange and their GPRS data tariff is £4 per MB. Youch! Except I reckon I'll get through just a MBs during the entire hols. Its not PH surfing I actually need it for - its downloading weather reports, MMO files and the odd 300K PDF.
I recently got a Vodafone 3G datacard with PAYG tariff as a special promotion on a new Sony VAIO notebook I bought. I signed up to Voda and after 3 weeks, finally got the card. Once I had it, it installed OK but kept stating there was a problem with the PAYG SIM. After several days, I was sent a replacement SIM and had the same problem. Voda tech support THEN told me: 1. They had had compatibility problems with Sony machines 2. The promotion was for an out of date 3G card that did not support HSDPA (also known as 'mobile broadband) and 3. when I get my free MS Vista upgrade, the datacard would not work. I told them to stuff it, cancelled my contract and they duly sent a courier to collect the card (much faster than they sent it). Altogether, a complete waste of time.
I am with T Mobile for my mobiles and they do a £1 a day capped deal for data usage both on contract phone SIMs and PAYG SIMs (i.e. they will not charge more than £1 for all the data you receive). However, they say their PAYG SIMs are NOT enabled for 3G services e.g. video calling. (just found that out - doh!).
I bought a T Mobile Web 'n' Walk card from Ebay - only to find out the supplied software is not compatible with the XP Media Center Edition that my notebook runs. After a right faff and a hardware conflict with the notebook's onboard modem (which I had to disable), and then downloading another (!)piece of software supported by T Mobile plus calls to their tech support, I finally got the card to connect on the network - hur-bloody-rah!. Well, nearly. What I have found is that even using my 3G enabled pay monthly contract SIM doodah, I could connect to GPRS and 3G OK, but could only actually send and receive data over the GPRS link. T Mobile are still scratching their heads as to why I cannot browse or send email over 3G even though it connects OK. 1 week on, they are blaming server problems - but how can that be when the 3G does not work in 2 different locations 50+ miles apart?
After trying the data card on 2 notebooks, in 3 different areas, with 3 different SIMs, with the latest software, firmware and settings, and checking that my SIM is fully enabled, I STILL am no nearer to mobile date nirvana. I have now also discovered that the very fastest flavour of 3G, the HSDPA, is only available for an extra £12.50 per month to be added to my SIM.
So, to be really honest, I would sack the idea of a data card. They are so fiddly, unreliable and downright frustrating, for the use you want, do as has been said above - get a good phone and use that as your modem. That should take 10 minutes to set up and will work OK!
I am with T Mobile for my mobiles and they do a £1 a day capped deal for data usage both on contract phone SIMs and PAYG SIMs (i.e. they will not charge more than £1 for all the data you receive). However, they say their PAYG SIMs are NOT enabled for 3G services e.g. video calling. (just found that out - doh!).
I bought a T Mobile Web 'n' Walk card from Ebay - only to find out the supplied software is not compatible with the XP Media Center Edition that my notebook runs. After a right faff and a hardware conflict with the notebook's onboard modem (which I had to disable), and then downloading another (!)piece of software supported by T Mobile plus calls to their tech support, I finally got the card to connect on the network - hur-bloody-rah!. Well, nearly. What I have found is that even using my 3G enabled pay monthly contract SIM doodah, I could connect to GPRS and 3G OK, but could only actually send and receive data over the GPRS link. T Mobile are still scratching their heads as to why I cannot browse or send email over 3G even though it connects OK. 1 week on, they are blaming server problems - but how can that be when the 3G does not work in 2 different locations 50+ miles apart?
After trying the data card on 2 notebooks, in 3 different areas, with 3 different SIMs, with the latest software, firmware and settings, and checking that my SIM is fully enabled, I STILL am no nearer to mobile date nirvana. I have now also discovered that the very fastest flavour of 3G, the HSDPA, is only available for an extra £12.50 per month to be added to my SIM.
So, to be really honest, I would sack the idea of a data card. They are so fiddly, unreliable and downright frustrating, for the use you want, do as has been said above - get a good phone and use that as your modem. That should take 10 minutes to set up and will work OK!
Edited by TUS 373 on Tuesday 27th February 00:00
Don, do you want a very cheap Orange 3G data card & PAYG SIM card?
I bought these last year, used them for a two months & now have no use for them as I got offered a deal via my T-Mobile contract for a T-Mobile one so they are currently in a drawer.
Feel free to PM for a chat. (Please excuse the blantant sales plug mods - delete if inappropriate!)
Chris
ETA - I had none of the problems that TUS has reported above!
I bought these last year, used them for a two months & now have no use for them as I got offered a deal via my T-Mobile contract for a T-Mobile one so they are currently in a drawer.
Feel free to PM for a chat. (Please excuse the blantant sales plug mods - delete if inappropriate!)
Chris
ETA - I had none of the problems that TUS has reported above!
Edited by chris.mapey on Tuesday 27th February 00:12
chris.mapey said:
Don, do you want a very cheap Orange 3G data card & PAYG SIM card?
I bought these last year, used them for a two months & now have no use for them as I got offered a deal via my T-Mobile contract for a T-Mobile one so they are currently in a drawer.
Feel free to PM for a chat. (Please excuse the blantant sales plug mods - delete if inappropriate!)
Chris
ETA - I had none of the problems that TUS has reported above!
I bought these last year, used them for a two months & now have no use for them as I got offered a deal via my T-Mobile contract for a T-Mobile one so they are currently in a drawer.
Feel free to PM for a chat. (Please excuse the blantant sales plug mods - delete if inappropriate!)
Chris
ETA - I had none of the problems that TUS has reported above!
YHM, Chris.
Mr E said:
TUS 373 said:
1 week on, they are blaming server problems - but how can that be when the 3G does not work in 2 different locations 50+ miles apart?
Because it'll be the same SGSN/GGSN regardless of your location.
Intrigued. What does that mean in English please? Its the same server that covers Manchester Airport, Bradford and Halifax?
Initial guess - SIM/HLR provisioning.
What is the card requesting (APN + Data rates)?
What is the SIM card provisioned for in the HLR?
If you're asking for HSDPA (over 384K), and the SIM isn't provisioned to support that then the RAB will be rejected by the SGSN. It'll attach OK, and everything will look fine until you attempt to actually activate the PDP context.
What data card are you using?
What is the card requesting (APN + Data rates)?
What is the SIM card provisioned for in the HLR?
If you're asking for HSDPA (over 384K), and the SIM isn't provisioned to support that then the RAB will be rejected by the SGSN. It'll attach OK, and everything will look fine until you attempt to actually activate the PDP context.
What data card are you using?
Phew! Thanks for that.
The card is an Option GT Fusion + i.e. one of the Globetrotter series. It is locked to T-Mobile, and has been flashed with their latest firmware release.
The software is Globetrotter Mobility Manager 4.5.0.625, from T-Mobile too. The APN settings are those given for T-Mobile UK (GPRS/3G) as given in the software.
The SIM card is on contract rather than PAYG and is enabled for 3G (apparently) but not HSDPA as that is an extra. Does that help?
Sorry, I don't understand the other abbreviations you use.
The card is an Option GT Fusion + i.e. one of the Globetrotter series. It is locked to T-Mobile, and has been flashed with their latest firmware release.
The software is Globetrotter Mobility Manager 4.5.0.625, from T-Mobile too. The APN settings are those given for T-Mobile UK (GPRS/3G) as given in the software.
The SIM card is on contract rather than PAYG and is enabled for 3G (apparently) but not HSDPA as that is an extra. Does that help?
Sorry, I don't understand the other abbreviations you use.
Edited by TUS 373 on Tuesday 27th February 14:04
OK, latest version of the Option cards are Release 5 (HSDPA). So the card should be cool.
APN settings are important, and I've no idea what the current APN settings are.
However, let me have a guess at the following. The T-Mobile SW detects that the option card supports HSDPA, and so configures the dialer to request a HSDPA session.
However, the SIM card you're using doesn't have data rates over 384k permitted. So the request comes in, the SGSN queries the HLR, and finds that you're not allowed the connection you've requested. So it rejects the RAB request.
You need to ask them to enable HSDPA on your sim. And if they try to tell you it costs more, point out that you're paying for data by the byte, and its in their interest to give you the faster connection possible as then you'll probably spend more. You could also point out that HSDPA is vastly more spectrally efficient for an average data session than R99 is....
APN settings are important, and I've no idea what the current APN settings are.
However, let me have a guess at the following. The T-Mobile SW detects that the option card supports HSDPA, and so configures the dialer to request a HSDPA session.
However, the SIM card you're using doesn't have data rates over 384k permitted. So the request comes in, the SGSN queries the HLR, and finds that you're not allowed the connection you've requested. So it rejects the RAB request.
You need to ask them to enable HSDPA on your sim. And if they try to tell you it costs more, point out that you're paying for data by the byte, and its in their interest to give you the faster connection possible as then you'll probably spend more. You could also point out that HSDPA is vastly more spectrally efficient for an average data session than R99 is....
Thanks for that. Not sure how receptive T Mobile will be as I bought the data card from Fleabay. They have also told me in the past that to get the HSDPA service activated, I must cough up an extra £12.50 per month for their Web 'n' Walk Plus service.
I can but try though so will have a got at addressing this from another angle,
With thanks.
I can but try though so will have a got at addressing this from another angle,
With thanks.
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