Mobile Broadband

[dor]

This might be of interest, as I think it would suit a number of boaters well.

 

Vodaphone have dropped their £1/day - £7/week - £15/month pay as you go deal in favour of a £15 per Gb deal.

 

The problem with the former offer, and the same goes for most other operators, is that at the end of the period you lose the rest of your credit. So if you took up the £15/month offer, but only used a few Mb of download you had to pay agian for the next month. The new one seems to be true payg so you buy 1Gbs-worth of download and are not time-limited, just buy another block when it runs out.

 

If, like me, you are a weekend and occasional week or so boater, this seems like a useful contract.

 

Costs £39 for the dongle and setup, but you do get 1Gb with that. It is also a 4Gb memory stick so useful for backing up your laptop.

 

I'm not connected with Vodafone. I've been toying with mobile internet for a while but up to now I've not seen a contract that would suit me.

[twocvbloke]

£15 for 1GB?!?!? You get 3GB for that with "3"!!!

 

Plus with "3" the modems are now £24.99, cheaper than any other network's that I have seen...

 

And they have 3 top-up selections:

 

£10 - 1GB

£15 - 3GB

£25 - 7GB

 

I would say "I know which I'll go for", but my mum has gotten herself one and I can borrow that when I like, as long as she's not using it...

[dor]

Whilst I accept that £15 for 1GB is not the cheapest, if you are not into downloading films etc you probably wouldn't use that much in a month. The point I am making is that for light use, the advantage is that you don't have to buy a new chunk every month.

[Bobbybass]

£15 for 1GB?!?!? You get 3GB for that with "3"!!!

 

Plus with "3" the modems are now £24.99, cheaper than any other network's that I have seen...

 

And they have 3 top-up selections:

 

£10 - 1GB

£15 - 3GB

£25 - 7GB

 

I would say "I know which I'll go for", but my mum has gotten herself one and I can borrow that when I like, as long as she's not using it...

 

Hi... I have used 3...pay as you go... for the past 18 months and pay £5/month fair usage (about 3 gig)

Its a bit of a secret...but I'll tell my fellow boaters.

You get a 3 data pay as you go sim and top up £10 at a shop.

You then sign onto 3 website and register a credit card for top ups..takes about a week.

You then put some money on your account...I keep about £20 there

As the end of your month nears...you log onto the website...and go to purchase add-ons... internet top up.

You will see it says various daily / weekly options and a monthly option of £5

Purchase that...and away you go.

Very important...do not let it run out..they start charging per meg if you do !!. .BUT you can purchase another top up several weeks before and it will 'queue' ready for when the first runs out.

I hope you enjoy this well kept 3 secret.

Bob

[denboy]

slightly,,,,, i have just got a tmobile dongle payg how do i check how much credit i have left,,,,,, taking into account this is mostly dark magic to me

[twocvbloke]

slightly,,,,, i have just got a tmobile dongle payg how do i check how much credit i have left,,,,,, taking into account this is mostly dark magic to me

 

You should be able to log on to your account online through the T-Mob website, you'll need to speak to them on how to do this as I haven't been with T-Mob since I left them in 2002...

[Teakbank12]

This might be of interest, as I think it would suit a number of boaters well.

 

Vodaphone have dropped their £1/day - £7/week - £15/month pay as you go deal in favour of a £15 per Gb deal.

 

The problem with the former offer, and the same goes for most other operators, is that at the end of the period you lose the rest of your credit. So if you took up the £15/month offer, but only used a few Mb of download you had to pay agian for the next month. The new one seems to be true payg so you buy 1Gbs-worth of download and are not time-limited, just buy another block when it runs out.

 

If, like me, you are a weekend and occasional week or so boater, this seems like a useful contract.

 

Costs £39 for the dongle and setup, but you do get 1Gb with that. It is also a 4Gb memory stick so useful for backing up your laptop.

 

I'm not connected with Vodafone. I've been toying with mobile internet for a while but up to now I've not seen a contract that would suit me.

 

Take a look at Martinsmoneyforum they quoted a new "3" offer in yesterdays mailing update......

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/ch...-broadband#payg

 

Ive already got "3" & happy with the coverage.

[Peter R]

That's certainly food for thought - I paid £10 for 1Gb on my 3 payg account recently when I took the boat out for a couple of weeks. I've just checked the account and during the time I was out I only used about a tenth of that Gb, which will expire in 5 days time and i'll lose the rest.

 

£15 per Gb is obviously more, but with no time limit so you don't lose what you've paid for it's probably a better deal for infrequent users. I wonder if I could just get the 3 modem 'unlocked' and put a voda sim card in it?

 

Peter

[Johnymac]

Very interesting to hear of this new development that sounds very affordable without tying you into a long term contract . As my boat is in France I ask the question is there a similar product available over there? Thanks.

[Michele]

Has anyone used their connection to play on Xbox live at all?

[twocvbloke]

Has anyone used their connection to play on Xbox live at all?

 

I think that needs a very fast and stable connection, though not something I'm into, I think that's why a lot of landline based xbox live providers had to set up a line to handle it...

 

Though there's no harm in trying, just make sure you have a HSDPA connection...

[Peter R]

Has anyone used their connection to play on Xbox live at all?

 

No, but I suspect you will struggle with it. Admittedly i don't use the mobile connection that much, but the fastest connection i've ever had is 1Mbps, the norm is more like 4-500kbps, which I suspect would be to slow for internet gaming. If the signal is weak the connection can get dropped with frustrating regularity.

 

Also, no guarantee you will have 3g signal at all - if you look at any of the operators coverage maps you will realise that the 3g network is still really in it's infancy, and tends to be concentrated around the major trunk roads. Last time I was out I couldn't get a 3g connection for about half the time.

 

Peter

[Bilgar]

slightly,,,,, i have just got a tmobile dongle payg how do i check how much credit i have left,,,,,, taking into account this is mostly dark magic to me

 

Using the SMS facility (text messaging) SEND to 150 the msg BA or AL. You'll get a msg back showing either your allowances or your balance. No cost.

 

Bill.

[denboy]

Using the SMS facility (text messaging) SEND to 150 the msg BA or AL. You'll get a msg back showing either your allowances or your balance. No cost.

 

Bill.

Simple when you know how thanks

[johnjo]

Take a look at Martinsmoneyforum they quoted a new "3" offer in yesterdays mailing update......

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com

 

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/ch...-broadband#payg

 

Ive already got "3" & happy with the coverage.

 

Sent for one of these last week only £4.95 just for the P&P, dongle free. Just set it today, no credits, no topup card, nothing, and that's what I'm using now, nothing else! all my other B/B connections are totally disconnected, have I' missed something, I really don't remember seeing any usage for free in the blurb! However I'm not likely to be complaining about it. Connection is pretty good considering I'm down in the depths of Devon where I can't even get an Orange connection.

At the moment only got one tiny bar on the connect window, even so, it works very well.

Many thanks to Dave & Chris for pointing this offer out.

 

Edited to add:- I'm told that apparently, when buying a mobile phone or dongle, they always give you a quids worth or so credit, something to do with being able to connect and register.

Edited June 1, 2009 by johnjo