I can't seem to find much information on there terms of usage...

It seems to be a case of paying £15 and getting 3Gb of download.

Is it a case of paying £15 a month and if you haven't used the 3Gb
within that month - tough? Or Are you paying £15 and can use up the 3Gb
when it suits you.

Really, I need something I can use like the latter. I have wired
broadband access most of the time, but something to provide access for
the odd few days/weeks away per year would be useful, without paying
for what would go unused.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I can't seem to find much information on there terms of usage...

It seems to be a case of paying £15 and getting 3Gb of download.

Is it a case of paying £15 a month and if you haven't used the 3Gb
within that month - tough? Or Are you paying £15 and can use up the 3Gb
when it suits you.

Really, I need something I can use like the latter. I have wired
broadband access most of the time, but something to provide access for
the odd few days/weeks away per year would be useful, without paying for
what would go unused.


I just bought a Vodaphone PAYG USB dongle. Seems to work fine, but i'd
mention:

You pay £15 for every 1GB of data. The £35 dongle comes with 1GB, which
is nice, but you have to connect at least once every 180 days. I think
if you forget you lose whatever credit you have.

80% coverage is nothing like - I suspect it's a reference to population,
so much of the countryside appears to be out.

The nice Mac application doesn't work with Snow Leopard.

HTH, Rob

Rob wrote:
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I can't seem to find much information on there terms of usage...

It seems to be a case of paying £15 and getting 3Gb of download.

Is it a case of paying £15 a month and if you haven't used the 3Gb
within that month - tough? Or Are you paying £15 and can use up the
3Gb when it suits you.

Really, I need something I can use like the latter. I have wired
broadband access most of the time, but something to provide access
for the odd few days/weeks away per year would be useful, without
paying for what would go unused.


I just bought a Vodaphone PAYG USB dongle. Seems to work fine, but i'd
mention:

You pay £15 for every 1GB of data. The £35 dongle comes with 1GB,
which is nice, but you have to connect at least once every 180 days.
I think if you forget you lose whatever credit you have.

Actually, I there's been some debate about this. Whatever, apparently a
quick call to Vodafone will get your credit restored.

Argos have got it on offer at present for £29.99.
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/st...tId=1500514137

You also need to remember that you can *only* top this one up in £15
increments.

Tim

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:32:41 +0100 someone who may be "Tim Downie"
wrote this:-

You also need to remember that you can *only* top this one up in £15
increments.

When I looked, earlier this year, the situation was:

Vodafone, more expensive per MB but the top-up doesn't expire
(except in the most unusual circumstances of not being used for 6
months account superseded, not being used for a year account
exterminated).

Three, cheaper per MB, but the top-up vanishes after a month no
matter how much is left.

Conclusion, light data users should use the Vodafone one, heavy data
users should use the Three one. Where is the dividing line between
them? People should get off their backsides and not expect spoon-
feeding. People can work this out themselves for their anticipated
use.

T-Mobile also did one, though the pricing for this was too
complicated for my pretty little head. Pay per day, week or month
IIRC. Payment involved sending text messages IIRC, how old fashioned
and primitive.





--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:16:36 GMT, Rob wrote:

I just bought a Vodaphone PAYG USB dongle. Seems to work fine, but i'd
mention:

Beat me to it, I was going to suggest that Harry looks at Vodafone
(note spolling...)

I'm also looking for a real PAYG mobile data solution that doesn't
require you to pay £x every month for gigabytes of data. I expect 1GB
would do me for a year...

You pay ú15 for every 1GB of data. The ú35 dongle comes with 1GB, which
is nice, but you have to connect at least once every 180 days. I think
if you forget you lose whatever credit you have.

I can live with that. I currently live with £2.55/Megabyte on GPRS...
What I can't live with is £10/month for far more data than I'll ever
use in most months.

As a side issue is the nice little WiFi to Broadband USB dongle
adapter(*) that 3 do locked to 3 dongles or can you plug a vodafone
dongle into it?

80% coverage is nothing like - I suspect it's a reference to population,
so much of the countryside appears to be out.

Almost certainly, I want it for mobile use and mostly in
cities/densely populated areas rather than a backup at home (way out
in the sticks).

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice explained on 31/08/2009 :
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:16:36 GMT, Rob wrote:

I just bought a Vodaphone PAYG USB dongle. Seems to work fine, but i'd
mention:

Beat me to it, I was going to suggest that Harry looks at Vodafone
(note spolling...)

TMobile offer one at £29.35, with 3Gb of use for a £2 topup limited to
being used within 24 hours. Fine if you can plan to use it, but I have
never found TMobile to be much use for anything, even their phone
network is poor.

I checked out Argos, for the Voda offer at £29.99 - but none in stock
and it doesn't say whether it included £15 of top up.

Everywhere else seems to do the Voda at £34.99 including a £15 top up,
so I collected one from Maplin, plugged it and it is now set up - just
wondering now what the options might be for topping it up?

I notice the sim is removable, does that mean it can be replaced with
that from another provider? Or can the expired 1Gb of sim be
transferred into a phone, to allow it to be topped up?

I don't know if it usual, but the Voda I got includes software and the
facility to send SMS messages.

It also connects to which ever is the fastest of the Voda networks
between 3G, GPRS or the normal broadband phone network.

Cheers....

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
I can't seem to find much information on there terms of usage...

It seems to be a case of paying £15 and getting 3Gb of download.

Is it a case of paying £15 a month and if you haven't used the 3Gb within
that month - tough? Or Are you paying £15 and can use up the 3Gb when it
suits you.


Yes tough.

They do several pre pay packages which may be more to your liking.
I bought a 12G 12 month one for £99 (less some discount you can't get).
You can use what you want for the 12 months as long as you don't exceed 12G.

Really, I need something I can use like the latter. I have wired broadband
access most of the time, but something to provide access for the odd few
days/weeks away per year would be useful, without paying for what would go
unused.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

dennis@home wrote :

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
I can't seem to find much information on there terms of usage...

It seems to be a case of paying £15 and getting 3Gb of download.

Is it a case of paying £15 a month and if you haven't used the 3Gb within
that month - tough? Or Are you paying £15 and can use up the 3Gb when it
suits you.


Yes tough.

They do several pre pay packages which may be more to your liking.
I bought a 12G 12 month one for £99 (less some discount you can't get).
You can use what you want for the 12 months as long as you don't exceed 12G.


Still excessive for my occasional needs, but thanks.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
dennis@home wrote :

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in
message k...
I can't seem to find much information on there terms of usage...

It seems to be a case of paying £15 and getting 3Gb of download.

Is it a case of paying £15 a month and if you haven't used the 3Gb
within that month - tough? Or Are you paying £15 and can use up the
3Gb when it suits you.


Yes tough.

They do several pre pay packages which may be more to your liking.
I bought a 12G 12 month one for £99 (less some discount you can't
get). You can use what you want for the 12 months as long as you don't
exceed 12G.


Still excessive for my occasional needs, but thanks.

Harry, I can't see the original post (so if this has been suggested already,
or I make a silly suggestion, sorry) but why not get one of these:

http://www.3dongle4free.co.uk/

Unlock it with the software and instructions from he

http://www.rickyc.co.uk/?p=74

I'd take a look at 3 themselves (better using the Telstra software after
unlocking the dongle) - get a free SIM from
their website he

http://threestore.three.co.uk:80/PAYG/SimOnly.aspx

and add internet daily for 50p, internet weekly for
£2.50 or internet monthly for £5. These bundles are meant to be used
for internet on your phone but for low usage they (hopefully) won't
complain.

Pete Zahut presented the following explanation :
Harry, I can't see the original post (so if this has been suggested already,
or I make a silly suggestion, sorry) but why not get one of these:

http://www.3dongle4free.co.uk/

I tried to fill in that form a few months ago and something went wrong,
since when each time I retry it has complained that 'email address
already exists'. I have tried other email addresses with the same data,
but still get the same complaint, so I am stumped.



Unlock it with the software and instructions from he

http://www.rickyc.co.uk/?p=74

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:42:05 +0100, Pete Zahut wrote:

I'd take a look at 3 themselves (better using the Telstra software after
unlocking the dongle) - get a free SIM from their website he

http://threestore.three.co.uk:80/PAYG/SimOnly.aspx

and add internet daily for 50p,

And where can you find *real* (not marketing puff) about this
"internet daily" tarrif? No obvious "search" on the three website not
that the site has any real tarrif information on it anyway...

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:42:05 +0100, Pete Zahut wrote:

I'd take a look at 3 themselves (better using the Telstra software
after unlocking the dongle) - get a free SIM from their website he

http://threestore.three.co.uk:80/PAYG/SimOnly.aspx

and add internet daily for 50p,

And where can you find *real* (not marketing puff) about this
"internet daily" tarrif? No obvious "search" on the three website not
that the site has any real tarrif information on it anyway...

Here's a bit of text from a posting in the uk.telecom.mobile ng:

Three 3pay 5quid p.m. internet, has a fair useage of 2gb.

Plus 150mb free for 3 months after topping up a tenner.
So use that up, then add on 50p daily, £2.50 weekly, £5 monthly

and here's a link to the info:

http://www.three.co.uk/Pay_As_You_Go...e_with_Add_ons

Pete

Do you really need a dongle for occasional use?

I'm on Orange and have a 3G phone (SonyEricsson w980). This came with
a usb cable, minimal set up on my laptop (because I run Ubuntu linux!)
- and a little search about on online forums to figure out how to
configure the phone.

Now I just plug phone into computer, press one button on the phone,
and I'm connected - charges around £1 to £2 in the months I use a
mobile connection.

And don't forget free wifi hotspots are fairly common now - you can
usually park up close to a mcdonalds and get connected.

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
I can't seem to find much information on there terms of usage...

It seems to be a case of paying £15 and getting 3Gb of download.


My experience...

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was flaky at
best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept gave me a proper
modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB from BT.

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was flaky
at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept gave me a
proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB from BT.

What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired gizmos
- aren't we talking about wireless kit here?

--
John Stumbles

Question Authority

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:29:03 +0000, John Stumbles wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was
flaky at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept gave
me a proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB from
BT.

What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos - aren't we talking about wireless kit here?

"Modem" is shorthand for MOdulator-DEModulator. It really just means
transmitting one type of signal on top of another, e.g. data over phone
lines or data over a wireless signal. The term is used less for wireless
devices because the modem bit is just a small part of what the device as
a whole does.

BW

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
John Stumbles wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was
flaky at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept
gave me a proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB
from BT.

What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos - aren't we talking about wireless kit here?


A dongle *is* a modem. It connects your computer to the internet via the
mobile phone network in a similar way to that in which a 'conventional'
modem works over a wired phone network.
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
John Stumbles wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for �m DD with a USB dongle, it was
flaky at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept
gave me a proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB
from BT.
What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos - aren't we talking about wireless kit here?


A dongle *is* a modem. It connects your computer to the internet via the
mobile phone network in a similar way to that in which a 'conventional'
modem works over a wired phone network.

It even talks modem command set, although to be fair, a grossly modified
set..

On 01/09/09 13:03, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
John Stumbles wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for �m DD with a USB dongle, it was
flaky at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept
gave me a proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB
from BT.
What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos - aren't we talking about wireless kit here?


A dongle *is* a modem. It connects your computer to the internet via
the mobile phone network in a similar way to that in which a
'conventional' modem works over a wired phone network.

It even talks modem command set, although to be fair, a grossly modified
set..

But speaking the Hayes protocol is hardly the defining characteristic of
a modem ...

On Tue, 1 Sep 2009 11:16:08 +0100 someone who may be "Roger Mills"
wrote this:-

A dongle *is* a modem. It connects your computer to the internet via the
mobile phone network in a similar way to that in which a 'conventional'
modem works over a wired phone network.

Historically, a 'conventional' modem takes digital signals and
converts them to analogue sounds which are suitable for transfer
over the 'classic' telephone system. A FAX machine, remember them,
includes a modem inside it the digital signals coming from the
scanner. A 'conventional' telephone takes analogue speech and
transfers it in analogue form over the 'classic' telephone system.
There are still some of both left.

Things are now different. Mobile telephones take analogue sounds and
convert them into digital radio signals which are transferred over
digital radio networks. ISDN telephones take analogue sounds,
convert these to digital signals and transmit them over a digital
line. Other telephones increasingly do this, for example VOIP uses
either a digital line (cable) or a hybrid digital/analogue line (an
ADSL or SDSL line).

The telephone system is no longer 'classic', other than the first
part of a route, but is instead a computer network sending digital
signals around. Even back in the 1930s the telephone system no
longer consisted entirely of 'simple' lines, several conversations
were multiplexed along one line in places even then.

A 3G dongle takes digital signals and transfers them over digital
radio networks. The nearest equivalent 'old fashioned' bit of
equipment is not a modem but rather a line driver (not that many
have heard of line drivers).




--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David Hansen wrote:

A 3G dongle takes digital signals and transfers them over digital
radio networks. The nearest equivalent 'old fashioned' bit of
equipment is not a modem but rather a line driver (not that many
have heard of line drivers).

Not really. Line drivers were used to drive bare copper pairs. The nearest
equivalent to a 3G data dongle is an ISDN adapter.

On 1 Sep, 16:00, David Hansen wrote:

Historically, a 'conventional' modem takes digital signals and
converts them to analogue sounds which are suitable for transfer
over the 'classic' telephone system.

Some more obscure modems used for instrumentation purposes even had
analogue inputs (and usually several inputs). They'd take these inputs
as voltage or current levels, then modulate them onto audio
frequencies that could be transmitted by the phone lines. No computers
involved, no digital signalling at all.

The biggest local users of such things were perhaps the various water
boards, monitoring river flood levels and sluice positions. The CEGB
had a few too, controlling remote power stations such as the Proteus
gas turbine:

http://www.internalfire.com/modules....ticle&sid=1377

Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
John Stumbles wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was
flaky at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept
gave me a proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB
from BT.
What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos - aren't we talking about wireless kit here?


A dongle *is* a modem. It connects your computer to the internet via the
mobile phone network in a similar way to that in which a 'conventional'
modem works over a wired phone network.

Yes but a modem converts digital signals to analogue and back again. A 3G
data dongle doesn't do that as the mobile phone network is digital. It is
definitely not a modem (even if it gets called that).

It's just an adaptor.

chunkyoldcortina wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
John Stumbles wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was
flaky at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept
gave me a proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB
from BT.
What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos - aren't we talking about wireless kit here?


A dongle *is* a modem. It connects your computer to the internet via
the mobile phone network in a similar way to that in which a
'conventional' modem works over a wired phone network.

Yes but a modem converts digital signals to analogue and back again. A
3G data dongle doesn't do that as the mobile phone network is digital.
It is definitely not a modem (even if it gets called that).

It's just an adaptor.

Its a very precsise definition that you are adopting, that at some level
there must be an analog component to make it a modem.

Off hand I cant think of any communication channel that actually isn't
at some level or other, analogue at the bottom..;-)


A DSL modem is definitely a modem, and what comes out of a 3G dongle is
a spread spectrum radio signal. That's analogue to the nth degree. Even
if it happens at the next level up to be transmitting packets that might
contain voice, or digital, data, digitally encoded.

Looked at in that way, a mobile phone is also a modem.

"chunkyoldcortina" wrote in message
...

Yes but a modem converts digital signals to analogue and back again. A 3G
data dongle doesn't do that as the mobile phone network is digital. It is
definitely not a modem (even if it gets called that).

You do understand that the radio bit is analogue.
Its not actually possible to do digital radio, even morse had to be analogue
for the radio.
The encoding may be digital.

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was flaky
at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept gave me a
proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB from BT.

What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos
- aren't we talking about wireless kit here?

It's a standalone modem, the dongle plugs into it, stick it anywhere in the
house then you connect by wifi or network cable.

"R D S" wrote in message
...

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was flaky
at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept gave me a
proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB from
BT.

What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos
- aren't we talking about wireless kit here?

It's a standalone modem, the dongle plugs into it, stick it anywhere in
the house then you connect by wifi or network cable.

Sorry, I meant router.

i'm replying to this using a t-mobile dongle, parked in my motorhome half
way up the cairngorm mountians in scotland.

bought the t-mobile payg usb broadband dongle for 20 quid from currys a few
months ago, you had to put 20 quid's credit on it for that price, otherwise
it was 30 quid, and add your own credit.

you basicaly add credit, then select how to spend it, if you just connect to
the net as and when, it's £2 a day, or you can buy a 7 day pass for 7 quid,
or a 30 day pass for £15.

i'm on my 2nd 30 day pass since we came upto scotland,
if we are anywhere near a big town or city, we get at least a 3G signal,
hsdpa signals are more common than we imagined too,

up in the mountians we drop back to a gprs signal, but the net is still
useable if a bit slow.

theres a 3 gig a month limit, but t-mobile say they will let you go over
occasionaly, if you constiantly take the pee tho they will restrict your
speed.

As i'm in a motorhome, plugging the dongle into the laptop dosent get me the
best signal, i'm sat in a pretty good fariday cage... alli body and the
window blinds have a metalic insulating layer on them,
so i ran a 5 meter usb extension lead from the roof window to where i sit on
the pooter, dongle is up high and out of the metal of the van, even when i
get no signal on the phones, i can get a signal on the dongle, and i havent
even tried the external antenna port on the dongle yet, i have a rooftop
carphone antenna, i just need the fly lead with the right connector to fit
the dongle, but having got good signals without an external antenna, i'm in
no hurry to get one.

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:12:03 +0100, R D S wrote:

"R D S" wrote in message
...

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:00:36 +0100, R D S wrote:

I was getting 3Gb per month for £15pm DD with a USB dongle, it was flaky
at best, when it came to not renewing their retention dept gave me a
proper modem and upped me to 15Gb per month.

The modem rocks, I get better speed than on wired (up to) 8Mb BB from
BT.

What do you mean by 'modem'? I thought modems were (generally) wired
gizmos
- aren't we talking about wireless kit here?

It's a standalone modem, the dongle plugs into it, stick it anywhere in
the house then you connect by wifi or network cable.

Sorry, I meant router.

I'm even more confused now. Are you saying you now have a router into which
your wireless dongle plugs, and that you get better throughput from this
combination than from the wireless dongle alone? Are you using the same
wireless dongle as you were getting poor performance from when it was
plugged directly into your PC's USB port? In which case it sounds as if the
problem was a bottleneck between the PC and the dongle, rather than the
wireless performance of the dongle itself. Whether it would be possible to
get better performance from the PC - dongle connection is another
question, of course.


--
John Stumbles

Bad artists borrow
Great artists steal
Igor Stravinsky