Trying to get my head around Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
MB <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Theo Markettos" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:25D*[email protected]...
>> MB <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> One thing to note is that registering a card for topups takes 7
>> days, so don't decide you want to topup with a new card in the
>> middle of a field (BTDTGTTS).
>
>
> That's interesting to know, is that every time that you do a top-up
> or just first time?
>
> Better get it organised now for my trip away.
>
> MB

Maplin are doing a '3' USB dongle for 50 quid -
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...-5&T=-11755906 -
is that the sort of thing that this thread is discussing?

The blurb says:
"Getting online with Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband is easy.
Just buy a Top-up, convert it to the Add-on of your choice, and you can surf
the net almost anywhere.
1GB ( 10) enables you to:
- Send 650 plain text emails
- Surf the web for 30 hours
- Download 30 two minute videos
- Download 60 music tracks"

I presume that ( 10) means ten quid - though there's no pound sign shown on
my browser?

I also assume that your £10 enables you to do any *one* of the bulleted
items - or a mixture of parts of each - rather than *all* of them.

How is browsing charged for? 30 hours is only an hour per day for a month -
is it *actually* timed or does it depend on what you download, such that you
would *typically* use all of your 1GB in 30 hours?

It seems to me that something like that may be useful when I'm away in my
caravan - although only being valid for 30 days is a limitation since I'm
likely to have several short breaks of a week or less, spanning several
months in total - so I would presumably have to buy a new £10 top-up for
*each* break? Since mobile reception isn't very good in a caravan (being a
bit like a Faraday cage), is there any reason why I couldn't use a USB
extension cable for the dongle, and dangle it out of the window?
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
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---

› See More: Trying to get my head around Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband

"Roger Mills" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> MB <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> "Theo Markettos" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:25D*[email protected]...
>>> MB <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> One thing to note is that registering a card for topups takes 7
>>> days, so don't decide you want to topup with a new card in the
>>> middle of a field (BTDTGTTS).
>>
>>
>> That's interesting to know, is that every time that you do a top-up
>> or just first time?
>>
>> Better get it organised now for my trip away.
>>
>> MB
>
> Maplin are doing a '3' USB dongle for 50 quid -
> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...-5&T=-11755906 -
> is that the sort of thing that this thread is discussing?
>
> The blurb says:
> "Getting online with Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband is easy.
> Just buy a Top-up, convert it to the Add-on of your choice, and you can
> surf the net almost anywhere.
> 1GB ( 10) enables you to:
> - Send 650 plain text emails
> - Surf the web for 30 hours
> - Download 30 two minute videos
> - Download 60 music tracks"
>
> I presume that ( 10) means ten quid - though there's no pound sign shown
> on my browser?
>
> I also assume that your £10 enables you to do any *one* of the bulleted
> items - or a mixture of parts of each - rather than *all* of them.
>
> How is browsing charged for? 30 hours is only an hour per day for a
> month - is it *actually* timed or does it depend on what you download,
> such that you would *typically* use all of your 1GB in 30 hours?
>
> It seems to me that something like that may be useful when I'm away in my
> caravan - although only being valid for 30 days is a limitation since I'm
> likely to have several short breaks of a week or less, spanning several
> months in total - so I would presumably have to buy a new £10 top-up for
> *each* break? Since mobile reception isn't very good in a caravan (being
> a bit like a Faraday cage), is there any reason why I couldn't use a USB
> extension cable for the dongle, and dangle it out of the window?
> --



I think they are just trying to give an indication of what 1GB means in
usage though it seems an odd way of doing it - plain text EMails take up
very little bandwidth so you could send many more than that.

The attraction of 3 is that there is no need for regular top-ups so handy
if only needed a few times a year.

I can't see why you cannot extend the dongle within the limits of USB
(which I can't remember).

MB

Roger Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
> MB <[email protected]> wrote:
>
[7 day delay]
> > That's interesting to know, is that every time that you do a top-up
> > or just first time?

The first time only. You can still buy topups in shops while you're
waiting.

> I presume that ( 10) means ten quid - though there's no pound sign shown on
> my browser?

Yes.

> I also assume that your ?10 enables you to do any *one* of the bulleted
> items - or a mixture of parts of each - rather than *all* of them.

Those kind of lists are so vague as to be useless. Get some download
monitor software for your computer and you can see how much you use in the
average session. For me about a week's frequent usage in a quite slow 3G
area used about 250MB.

> How is browsing charged for? 30 hours is only an hour per day for a month
> - is it *actually* timed or does it depend on what you download, such that
> you would *typically* use all of your 1GB in 30 hours?

It's all by what you download and what you upload. The list of 'X emails
and Y movies' is merely an example. You can use it constantly for a month
if you like, as long as you don't exceed your allotted byte count.

> It seems to me that something like that may be useful when I'm away in my
> caravan - although only being valid for 30 days is a limitation since I'm
> likely to have several short breaks of a week or less, spanning several
> months in total - so I would presumably have to buy a new ?10 top-up for
> *each* break?

Three Ireland have a mobile broadband deal available in weekly chunks. I
think there's free roaming in the UK (so costs are the same as at home). If
you can get hold of an Irish SIM and set it up then that might work. Don't
use it for calls though, as you'll be charged as if you were making
international calls from Ireland.

> Since mobile reception isn't very good in a caravan (being a
> bit like a Faraday cage), is there any reason why I couldn't use a USB
> extension cable for the dongle, and dangle it out of the window?

No problem, or have a Bluetooth phone and stick it on the roof. I'd try the
reception before committing lots of money as it can be patchy. Here's the
way I tried it for 99p (assuming you have or can borrow an unlocked 3G
phone):

Ordered a free Tesco SIM with a pound of credit on it (any network will do
here, but Tesco/O2's best - see why later)
Made a few calls
Ordered a 99p Three SIM from eBay.
Phoned Tesco and asked for a PAC
Phoned Three and asked to port in the Tesco number
Three give you 10 pounds of credit for porting in
Bought a Mobile Broadband addon with the 10 pounds credit, and tried it for
a month.

Having a Tesco or O2 number on the Three phone makes the Three phone much
cheaper to call from landlines.

Theo

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Theo Markettos <[email protected]> wrote:

> Roger Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
>> MB <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>
>> How is browsing charged for? 30 hours is only an hour per day for a
>> month - is it *actually* timed or does it depend on what you
>> download, such that you would *typically* use all of your 1GB in 30
>> hours?
>
> It's all by what you download and what you upload. The list of 'X
> emails and Y movies' is merely an example. You can use it constantly
> for a month if you like, as long as you don't exceed your allotted
> byte count.
>
In that case, 1GB is ample. I only use between 1 and 2 GBs per month at
home, with 2 PCs permanently connected.

>> It seems to me that something like that may be useful when I'm away
>> in my caravan - although only being valid for 30 days is a
>> limitation since I'm likely to have several short breaks of a week
>> or less, spanning several months in total - so I would presumably
>> have to buy a new ?10 top-up for *each* break?
>
> Three Ireland have a mobile broadband deal available in weekly
> chunks. I think there's free roaming in the UK (so costs are the same
> as at home). If you can get hold of an Irish SIM and set it up then
> that might work. Don't use it for calls though, as you'll be charged
> as if you were making international calls from Ireland.
>
>> Since mobile reception isn't very good in a caravan (being a
>> bit like a Faraday cage), is there any reason why I couldn't use a
>> USB extension cable for the dongle, and dangle it out of the window?
>
> No problem, or have a Bluetooth phone and stick it on the roof. I'd
> try the reception before committing lots of money as it can be
> patchy. Here's the way I tried it for 99p (assuming you have or can
> borrow an unlocked 3G phone):
>
> Ordered a free Tesco SIM with a pound of credit on it (any network
> will do here, but Tesco/O2's best - see why later)
> Made a few calls
> Ordered a 99p Three SIM from eBay.
> Phoned Tesco and asked for a PAC
> Phoned Three and asked to port in the Tesco number
> Three give you 10 pounds of credit for porting in
> Bought a Mobile Broadband addon with the 10 pounds credit, and tried
> it for a month.
>
> Having a Tesco or O2 number on the Three phone makes the Three phone
> much cheaper to call from landlines.
>
> Theo

All very ingenious! But presumably, if I buy a '3' dongle, that does it all
without needing a physical phone? Does a dongle contain a removeable SIM
card, or is everything hard-wired?
--
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!

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
MB <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> I think they are just trying to give an indication of what 1GB means
> in usage though it seems an odd way of doing it - plain text EMails
> take up very little bandwidth so you could send many more than that.
>
> The attraction of 3 is that there is no need for regular top-ups so
> handy if only needed a few times a year.
>
Yes, but AIUI, I'd still have to buy a new top-up for each occasion if more
than a month had elapsed - even though I wouldn't have used up all my 1GB of
bandwidth?

> I can't see why you cannot extend the dongle within the limits of USB
> (which I can't remember).
>
> MB

I think it's 5 metres - which is more than adequate.
--
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!

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Richard <[email protected]> wrote:

>>
> You will find that the coverage of mobile broadband is patchy in less
> densely populated areas. Also, just because a provider has excellent
> mobile phone coverage in an area doesn't mean that mobile broadband
> is available there too. Mobile broadband is rolled out in areas of
> high population density first as provision is fairly costly & (more
> potential customers = more dosh = more profit). However, it is/will
> eventually become more widespread (same story as the early days of
> mobile phone coverage.
> Richard

Very valid point! The Maplin blurb claims 91% *population* coverage - but I
realise that that doesn't mean 91% *area* coverage. Is there any way of
finding out where coverage is *actually* available, in order to see whether
my usual caravan destinations are covered? When in a mobile-BB non-coverage
area do you get nothing at all when using the dongle, or does it still
work - albeit at a much lower speed?
--
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" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> Richard <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>>
>> You will find that the coverage of mobile broadband is patchy in less
>> densely populated areas. Also, just because a provider has excellent
>> mobile phone coverage in an area doesn't mean that mobile broadband
>> is available there too. Mobile broadband is rolled out in areas of
>> high population density first as provision is fairly costly & (more
>> potential customers = more dosh = more profit). However, it is/will
>> eventually become more widespread (same story as the early days of
>> mobile phone coverage.
>> Richard
>
> Very valid point! The Maplin blurb claims 91% *population* coverage - but
> I realise that that doesn't mean 91% *area* coverage. Is there any way of
> finding out where coverage is *actually* available, in order to see
> whether my usual caravan destinations are covered? When in a mobile-BB
> non-coverage area do you get nothing at all when using the dongle, or
> does it still work - albeit at a much lower speed?
> --


3 have a coverage checker on their website.

MB

"DieSea" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Watch how you top it up though
>
> wrong way costs a fortune

This is the bit I haven't been able to get my head around since I can't
find instructions on how to "convert" a 3 PAYG whatever into 1GB, 3GB, or
whatever they say you get. AFAICT you have to do this before you use the
top up to connect otherwise you pay something stupid like several quid per
megabyte.

Can anyone tell us just what you have to do, and whether there's an initial
"period of grace" to let you connect and immediately convert the bandwidth
you've just bought?

TIA,

Geoff

"Geoff Lane" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "DieSea" <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>> Watch how you top it up though
>>
>> wrong way costs a fortune
>
> This is the bit I haven't been able to get my head around since I can't
> find instructions on how to "convert" a 3 PAYG whatever into 1GB, 3GB, or
> whatever they say you get. AFAICT you have to do this before you use the
> top up to connect otherwise you pay something stupid like several quid per
> megabyte.
>
> Can anyone tell us just what you have to do, and whether there's an initial
> "period of grace" to let you connect and immediately convert the bandwidth
> you've just bought?
>
> TIA,
>
> Geoff

Geoff go to this URL

https://my3.three.co.uk/myaccount/ou...dleCharge.done

after filling in your various Numbers

go to choose add on

then chose your monthly data

job done


I bought my dongle from 3 g in the Trafford Centre ,

where they were less than helpful , it cost me £99.99

A couple of weeks later it dropped to under £50.00 guess who was peeved

I've used it a couple of times with a month or so in between

Your data lasts a month

If you don't use it all you loose what's left

DieSea

"DieSea" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Geoff Lane" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...

>> TIA,
>>
>> Geoff
>
> Geoff go to this URL
>
> https://my3.three.co.uk/myaccount/ou...dleCharge.done
>
> after filling in your various Numbers
>
> go to choose add on
>
> then chose your monthly data
>
> job done
>
>
> I bought my dongle from 3 g in the Trafford Centre ,
>
> where they were less than helpful , it cost me £99.99
>
> A couple of weeks later it dropped to under £50.00 guess who was peeved
>
> I've used it a couple of times with a month or so in between
>
> Your data lasts a month
>
> If you don't use it all you loose what's left
>
> DieSea
>

That URL is a bit slow with me at the moment

I wonder why ?? !!

DieSea

On 27 Aug 2008 12:55:02 +0100 (BST), Theo Markettos
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Having a Tesco or O2 number on the Three phone makes the Three phone much
>cheaper to call from landlines.

Do you mind explaining this a moment?

Does it mean that the number appears to be a Tesco/O2 number and
therefore will attract whatever in-network advantages there are when
calling from other Tesco/O2 numbers and conversely, will NOT attract
in-network rates when called from a Three number?

This is mind-boggling.

Lorenz

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
DieSea <[email protected]> wrote:

>>
>> https://my3.three.co.uk/myaccount/ou...dleCharge.done
>>
>> after filling in your various Numbers
>>
>> go to choose add on
>>
>> then chose your monthly data
>>
>> job done
>>
>>
>>
>
> That URL is a bit slow with me at the moment
>
> I wonder why ?? !!
>
> DieSea

I get "Service unavailable - please try later" when using IE, and "Secure
Connection Failed" on Firefox.

Any ideas?

--
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!

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
DieSea <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Roger Mills" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>
> Does a dongle contain a removeable SIM
>> card, or is everything hard-wired?
>
> Yes a removable sim card
>
> Watch how you top it up though
>
> wrong way costs a fortune
>
> DieSea

In another post, you say how to do it - but I can't make the link work.

Would you care to elaborate on how *not* to do it?
--
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" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> DieSea <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>>
>>> https://my3.three.co.uk/myaccount/ou...dleCharge.done
>>>
>>> after filling in your various Numbers
>>>
>>> go to choose add on
>>>
>>> then chose your monthly data
>>>
>>> job done
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> That URL is a bit slow with me at the moment
>>
>> I wonder why ?? !!
>>
>> DieSea
>
> I get "Service unavailable - please try later" when using IE, and "Secure
> Connection Failed" on Firefox.
>
> Any ideas?
>


Are you using a Belkin router?

I have been having problems with updates to my Sat Nav from Garmin, worked
OK away from home and ISP say no problem with them. Eventually realising
the common factor was my router so tried a spare one and found OK. I found
a message on the Belkin support area about the problem



Question
Why am I unable to access secure websites or use Live Messenger through my
F5D7633uk4A Ver 1144?
Answer
The original firmware supplied with this version of the router has an issue
relating to the MTU setting on the router. The problem causes the router to
fail to use the MTU setting applied in the router interface menu. This
could cause the above problems.





I have updated the firmware but still giving the same problems so running
on a spare router. I also had problems with some of the links on the 3
site so think it must have been the router also.


MB

"Roger Mills" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...


>
> In another post, you say how to do it - but I can't make the link work.
>
> Would you care to elaborate on how *not* to do it?
> --
> Cheers,
> Roger
> ______

Try this link

https://my3.three.co.uk/mylogin//log...nt%2Findex.jsp

Then choose

1 ) activate your voucher

2 ) activate your 16 digit number

3 ) enter your 3 mobile number

4 ) choose your add on

Here you select your 1 , 3 or 5 gig voucher

This is a bit slow at the moment

Good Luck

DieSea