Vodafone Connect GPRS/3G Card

I've been thinking about buying one of these from overseas rather than
locally. I can get one for around $210 delivered from the UK vs the
full rrp of $399 that most shops want to charge.

Does anyone know if these cards (generally or for specific countries)
are SIM or networked locked? I can live with a network lock if it
means I can only use it with Vodafone Australia. However, a SIM-lock
to Voda-UK would be nasty.

Thanks in advance.

DJ! - OzDJ
[email protected]
http://phlog.net/user/OzDJ

---

› See More: Vodafone Connect GPRS/3G Card

Get a 3 NetConnect Card, $0 card and only 12 month contract and $79 for 1 GB

www.three.com.au

"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've been thinking about buying one of these from overseas rather than
> locally. I can get one for around $210 delivered from the UK vs the
> full rrp of $399 that most shops want to charge.
>
> Does anyone know if these cards (generally or for specific countries)
> are SIM or networked locked? I can live with a network lock if it
> means I can only use it with Vodafone Australia. However, a SIM-lock
> to Voda-UK would be nasty.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> DJ! - OzDJ
> [email protected]
> http://phlog.net/user/OzDJ

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 00:43:14 GMT, "Gunn" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Get a 3 NetConnect Card, $0 card

Nice. Except you're locked to Hutchinson as your provider. My "day
job" is in consumer affairs, trade practices etc. I would struggle to
buy from 3/Hutchinson on principle.


> and only 12 month contract and $79 for 1 GB

Only if you're an existing customer. I'm not, therefore I'd be looking
at $129.00/mth for 1GB + 30c/MB excess. And the included traffic is
only within 3's 3G zones. As soon as you travel outside of the Sydney
BCD (fergzample), you are billed separately at $1.65/MB for GPRS
traffic.

Vodafone is $99.95/mth for unlimited 3G and GPRS. Their site warns
that exceeding 1GB/mth may be more than "fair use", however, a couple
of other users I know are averaging 2-3GB of traffic per month without
shaping or other 'penalties'.

Thanks for the suggestion.

DJ! - OzDJ
[email protected]
http://phlog.net/user/OzDJ

"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> Vodafone is $99.95/mth for unlimited 3G and GPRS. Their site warns
> that exceeding 1GB/mth may be more than "fair use", however, a couple
> of other users I know are averaging 2-3GB of traffic per month without
> shaping or other 'penalties'.

Have you considered the Bigpond one? You won't get 2-3GB, but it roams onto
CDMA so you get access pretty much anywhere at double dial-up speed.

IMO GPRS is useless for mobile internet.

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:55:31 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>
>> Vodafone is $99.95/mth for unlimited 3G and GPRS. Their site warns
>> that exceeding 1GB/mth may be more than "fair use", however, a couple
>> of other users I know are averaging 2-3GB of traffic per month without
>> shaping or other 'penalties'.
>
>Have you considered the Bigpond one? You won't get 2-3GB, but it roams onto
>CDMA so you get access pretty much anywhere at double dial-up speed.
>
>IMO GPRS is useless for mobile internet.
>

That's why it's 3g first... and roams GPRS, much like the CDMA network
version, but more standards compliant. 384k in most capital cities..

"A User" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:55:31 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:[email protected]...
>>
>>> Vodafone is $99.95/mth for unlimited 3G and GPRS. Their site warns
>>> that exceeding 1GB/mth may be more than "fair use", however, a couple
>>> of other users I know are averaging 2-3GB of traffic per month without
>>> shaping or other 'penalties'.
>>
>>Have you considered the Bigpond one? You won't get 2-3GB, but it roams
>>onto
>>CDMA so you get access pretty much anywhere at double dial-up speed.
>>
>>IMO GPRS is useless for mobile internet.
>>
>
> That's why it's 3g first... and roams GPRS, much like the CDMA network
> version, but more standards compliant. 384k in most capital cities..

Yes but roaming onto GPRS is as good as roaming onto nothing.

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:14:19 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Yes but roaming onto GPRS is as good as roaming onto nothing.

That's a pretty stupid statement. Was it born of stupidity, arrogance
or ignorance? I'm going to assume it's the latter and that you've
never been out on the road - away from a WiFi point, internet cafe or
3G connectivity - and needed to get an urgent email or two
sent/received. GPRS handles such tasks relatively slowly but certainly
reliably.

DJ! - OzDJ
[email protected]
http://phlog.net/user/OzDJ

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:55:31 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Have you considered the Bigpond one? You won't get 2-3GB, but it roams onto
>CDMA so you get access pretty much anywhere at double dial-up speed.

Included/packaged traffic is too thin for my needs. Plus, Vodafone's
3G international roaming arrangements leave Telstra EV-DO/CDMA for
dead once you step out of Australia (especially Europe).


>IMO GPRS is useless for mobile internet.

On what do you base that?! Millions of GPRS-dependent Blackberry users
would disagree.

DJ! - OzDJ
[email protected]
http://phlog.net/user/OzDJ

DJ! wrote:

> Included/packaged traffic is too thin for my needs. Plus, Vodafone's
> 3G international roaming arrangements leave Telstra EV-DO/CDMA for
> dead once you step out of Australia (especially Europe).

DJ,

Have you got any more info on the roaming bit ? URL would be handy ? I
am just about to go to Europe for a few weeks and so for I always had a
massive GPRS bill when I got home (Optus), although the reliability of
the Optus roaming has been great (both Europe and SE Asia).

Speed wise I have learned to live with GPRS (you learn to be efficient
with what you need to do) but if it is not too costly I would not mind
exploring the 3G option.

Thx,

Leo

"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:14:19 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Yes but roaming onto GPRS is as good as roaming onto nothing.
>
> That's a pretty stupid statement. Was it born of stupidity, arrogance
> or ignorance? I'm going to assume it's the latter and that you've
> never been out on the road - away from a WiFi point, internet cafe or
> 3G connectivity - and needed to get an urgent email or two
> sent/received. GPRS handles such tasks relatively slowly but certainly
> reliably.

I use wireless to access an exchange server and SAP via a secure VPN. GPRS
simply does not cut the mustard. With CDMAx1 it's BAU (not just sending an
"urgent email or two") and has better coverage across the country. Once I
tried it I'd never go back. I wish there was iBurst coverage across the
country, but EVDO and CDMA is the closest I've gotten to it.

"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 22:55:31 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Have you considered the Bigpond one? You won't get 2-3GB, but it roams
>>onto
>>CDMA so you get access pretty much anywhere at double dial-up speed.
>
> Included/packaged traffic is too thin for my needs. Plus, Vodafone's
> 3G international roaming arrangements leave Telstra EV-DO/CDMA for
> dead once you step out of Australia (especially Europe).

Fair enough. I find 1 gig plenty for me, especially since the data actually
billed of me seems strangely very conservative.

And international data roaming isn't a concern for me at the moment.

>>IMO GPRS is useless for mobile internet.
>
> On what do you base that?! Millions of GPRS-dependent Blackberry users
> would disagree.

That's a tad different to accessing websites and large network files etc.
You can work remotely quite comfortably on CDMA.

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:37:35 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>> On what do you base that?! Millions of GPRS-dependent Blackberry users
>> would disagree.
>
>That's a tad different to accessing websites and large network files etc.
>You can work remotely quite comfortably on CDMA.

An EV-DO/3G is useless for me if I want to move an offline copy of my
SQL OLAP cubes back to the server. But that's no reason to declare
EV-DO/3G is "useless".

DJ! - OzDJ
[email protected]
http://phlog.net/user/OzDJ

"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:37:35 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>> On what do you base that?! Millions of GPRS-dependent Blackberry users
>>> would disagree.
>>
>>That's a tad different to accessing websites and large network files etc.
>>You can work remotely quite comfortably on CDMA.
>
> An EV-DO/3G is useless for me if I want to move an offline copy of my
> SQL OLAP cubes back to the server. But that's no reason to declare
> EV-DO/3G is "useless".

Whatever. I was merely pointing out that you can have significantly faster
access when outside of 3G/EVDO. I have broad experience with wireless access
and I know what works.

You posture about "being out on the road" yet "one or two urgent emails"
will suffice. Why don't you just get a blackberry?

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:38:29 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Whatever. I was merely pointing out that you can have significantly faster
>access when outside of 3G/EVDO. I have broad experience with wireless access
>and I know what works.

"Whatever" indeed.

>You posture about "being out on the road" yet "one or two urgent emails"
>will suffice.

Go back and read it *in context* Tom. ie In response to your idiotic
assertion that you'd be better off with NOTHING than GPRS.

Selective memory, Tom?

DJ! - OzDJ
[email protected]
http://phlog.net/user/OzDJ

"DJ!" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:38:29 GMT, "Tom Smyth"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Whatever. I was merely pointing out that you can have significantly faster
>>access when outside of 3G/EVDO. I have broad experience with wireless
>>access
>>and I know what works.
>
> "Whatever" indeed.
>
>>You posture about "being out on the road" yet "one or two urgent emails"
>>will suffice.
>
> Go back and read it *in context* Tom. ie In response to your idiotic
> assertion that you'd be better off with NOTHING than GPRS.

Go back and read it *in context* DJ! GPRS does not compare to CDMA data.