Internet with '3'

[Bobbybass]

I have been pondering this for several years...and can't decide on an answer...

So...I thought some smart people here....would know...

Several years back..I bought a '3' dongle...a flat one.....MF622...a HSDPA USB job...

It had a chip in it...and the person in the 3 shop said :

Don't pay £10 for 1GB of data....use the MY3 account...and purchase an internet 'add-on'..NOT mobile internet..for £5

 

I did this and it worked fine...

I have recently obtained the latest '3' dongle...and it came with a £10 allowance...1GB on PAYG..which is just running out.

 

I have put my old chip in it and it works fine....is nice and fast...and I went to my old '3'account...and instead of clicking on 'Mobile internet' at £10 for 1GB...I went to the different section..where it says 'purchase add-ons'.

I clicked this...and purchased an internet 'add-on' like I used to....£5 for 2GB..

This works fine...no speed difference etc...that I CAN SEE..??

 

I cant figure why it is different price wise..?

Is there less coverage maybe..?...

Am I maybe deluding myself and its not so fast..?

 

EDITTED:

A guy at the marina may have just thrown some light on it.

I 'may' be using a mobile phone chip..with internet facility..hence the 'purchase add-on'

That being the case...maybe its a useful way of doing it ?

 

bob

Edited August 16, 2011 by Bobbybass

[nbfiresprite]

Same thing with T-Moble, Using a standard sim card just text `web` to 441 and get 5 days for £2.50.

 

Firesprite

 

In the peace of the Fens

[Bobbybass]

Same thing with T-Moble, Using a standard sim card just text `web` to 441 and get 5 days for £2.50.

 

Firesprite

 

In the peace of the Fens

 

The 3 SIM..is 2GB for 30 days for £5

 

bob

[CV32]

I have been pondering this for several years...and can't decide on an answer...

So...I thought some smart people here....would know...

Several years back..I bought a '3' dongle...a flat one.....MF622...a HSDPA USB job...

It had a chip in it...and the person in the 3 shop said :

Don't pay £10 for 1GB of data....use the MY3 account...and purchase an internet 'add-on'..NOT mobile internet..for £5

 

I did this and it worked fine...

I have recently obtained the latest '3' dongle...and it came with a £10 allowance...1GB on PAYG..which is just running out.

 

I have put my old chip in it and it works fine....is nice and fast...and I went to my old '3'account...and instead of clicking on 'Mobile internet' at £10 for 1GB...I went to the different section..where it says 'purchase add-ons'.

I clicked this...and purchased an internet 'add-on' like I used to....£5 for 2GB..

This works fine...no speed difference etc...that I CAN SEE..??

 

I cant figure why it is different price wise..?

Is there less coverage maybe..?...

Am I maybe deluding myself and its not so fast..?

 

EDITTED:

A guy at the marina may have just thrown some light on it.

I 'may' be using a mobile phone chip..with internet facility..hence the 'purchase add-on'

That being the case...maybe its a useful way of doing it ?

 

bob

I have a 3 MIFI but only have the SIM it came with so it costs me £10 per month for 1GB You Sir have a bargain, glad it still works !

[Bobbybass]

I have a 3 MIFI but only have the SIM it came with so it costs me £10 per month for 1GB You Sir have a bargain, glad it still works !

 

Have you tried...registering a credit card online..for top ups...and then going to the 'buy internet add on' section instead of 'buy mobile broadband ' section ?

 

bob

Edited August 16, 2011 by Bobbybass

[Robbo]

I have a 3 MIFI but only have the SIM it came with so it costs me £10 per month for 1GB You Sir have a bargain, glad it still works !

 

Get a prepay sim. 12gb for 12 months is around £52. When it runs out get another - they do 1 and 3 month ones as well.

[Ark Right]

Get a prepay sim. 12gb for 12 months is around £52. When it runs out get another - they do 1 and 3 month ones as well.

 

Get 15Gb every month for £15 on a contract, think it may be slightly more now with the vat increase, got to be great value.

[Robbo]

Get 15Gb every month for £15 on a contract, think it may be slightly more now with the vat increase, got to be great value.

 

I was thinking if someone only uses around 1gb a month, the 3 and 12 month deals are the cheapest. As its 12gb for the year, it doesn't matter if you need more or less than 1gb in a month.

 

I tether using the one plan, £25 a month, 30 day rolling contract. - I used around 50gb last month!

Edited August 16, 2011 by Robbo

[jenlyn]

Get 15Gb every month for £15 on a contract, think it may be slightly more now with the vat increase, got to be great value.

I got that for 12 quid, works really well too. Bob, if you had come to my party a few weeks back, I would have shown ya. Your a softy! Lol lol. We having a nov 5th party at same place, you wanna come?

[Bobbybass]

I got that for 12 quid, works really well too. Bob, if you had come to my party a few weeks back, I would have shown ya. Your a softy! Lol lol. We having a nov 5th party at same place, you wanna come?

I don't spend more than £5 a month!

If it doesn't fit into my 2GB for £5..I won't download it !

12 Quid...woah !!

 

Thanks for the party invite..but its cold...and I'll be in Spain long before then...

 

bob

[lewisericeric]

Whats tethering?! How can you get 50gb on a "dongle" by tethering for the minimal amount?!

[Robbo]

Whats tethering?! How can you get 50gb on a "dongle" by tethering for the minimal amount?!

 

I use my phone for data with Three's one plan (the One plan is mainly for phones not dongles and has 2000mins, 5000 texts), which includes "all you can eat" data, I used about 50Gb last month, but I download a lot with video podcasts and iPlayer.. Tether just means the laptop/pc/whatever uses the phone to connect to the Internet.

Edited August 16, 2011 by Robbo

[lewisericeric]

so you put the sim from your phone in the sim slot on the dongle and use that way?! do they not clock on to it and limit your data usage?

[Robbo]

so you put the sim from your phone in the sim slot on the dongle and use that way?! do they not clock on to it and limit your data usage?

 

No point, I just use the tethering option (I use a iPhone and enable "Personal Hotspot") I can't be bothered to keep removing sim's! - It's allowed in the T&C's to tether, not sure about putting in a dongle but the data usage would be the same either way...

Edited August 17, 2011 by Robbo

[cotswoldsman]

I got that for 12 quid, works really well too. Bob, if you had come to my party a few weeks back, I would have shown ya. Your a softy! Lol lol. We having a nov 5th party at same place, you wanna come?

 

I took a contract with 3 a few months ago it is a 30 day rolling contract and I get 10gb for £15 per month.

[Morat]

Surely iPhone/Android phone/Blackberry with an all you can eat data contract is the way to go? If you get a nice enough phone that suits your useage you won't really need the laptop most of the time.

[neil]

I no longer bother using a dongle, i tether an old "3" phone to the laptop, and use up my 3 internet allowance and a £2.50 rolling add-on to my standard £15 contract which gives me 2gig + 150mb, using the pnone has the advantage that i can still recieve calls and texts whilst online

[Ange]

I'm thinking ditching the dongle could be the way forward for us. We've currently got a rolling one month rolling contract with 3 for a dongle that gives us 5gb per month for £15, plus I've got a 24 month contract (due to run out April next year) with T-mobile for my phone that costs £15 per month. I have tethered the phone to both our laptops (individually) using PDAnet on the Windows laptop and Easytether on the Ubuntu one. If I can get all you can eat internet and a phone for £35 per month that's only a fiver more than we're paying at the moment, well worth it for the extra gbs.

 

A quick question for the clever bods - would we be able to run more than one laptop off an android phone? I keep reading about hotspots but not sure how this is done.

 

In the meantime I'll have to look at changing our 3 dongle for the one Cotswoldman's got - last time I looked on the 3 website all the better deals involved signing up for two years.

[Robbo]

"Personal hotspots" as its called on the iPhone is basically making the phone into a wifi router like the MiFi. Android can do it, just make sure the android phone can because the cheaper ones may not.

[Morat]

 

 

A quick question for the clever bods - would we be able to run more than one laptop off an android phone? I keep reading about hotspots but not sure how this is done.

 

 

 

Yes you can, the way it works on Android is pretty simple and built into anything from version 2.2 upwards. The phone acts as a router by running a wifi network with itself as the access point. It does the security setup, DHCP for addresses and routes the internet traffic from the client to the 3G network and back again. Multiple clients can see the wifi network which looks just like any other. You can configure the SSID (network name) security options etc.

 

I think Robbo is right to warn that you'll need a decently powerful phone, especially if you go into full-on paranoia mode with the security options and multiple clients. You'll also need to keep an eye on the temperature of the phone. An HTC Desire is powerful but can get pretty warm if you run all the radios and charge the battery at the same time. A Desire-S (the replacement) runs much cooler at the same speeds due to a more modern chipset.

 

The good news is that you can just stick it to a window and get a decent signal that is repeated into the boat without worrying about the location of your dongle. That bad news is that if you're currently sorted out with a dongle on long cable and a stick you'll be unlikely to want to put £400 worth of phone up the mast

Edited August 18, 2011 by Morat