3G on Vodafone - a feature of the phone or the connection?

I wonder if anyone can help me with understanding how 3G is provisioned with
Vodafone?

I have a small number of phones on a group account including one 3G phone
and a 3G card. The phone I currently use (Nokia 6230i) is not, as you know,
a 3G phone. But, if I buy a 3G phone, can I put my existing SIM card (to
which, of course, is linked my phone number) in it and thereby get access to
3G services? Or do I have to get 3G services provided on that specific
number/SIM?

When I rang Vodafone with a closely related query, the answer I got seemed
to imply that 3G-ness was not a characteristic of the SIM and I've never
seen any mechanism by which you can 'convert' a connection from something
else to 3G - which seems to support the notion that it depends on the phone.

You might be asking me why I don't just suck it and see? Because the
employee issued with the requisite phone had it stolen from her and I am
still deciding what to replace it with.

TIA

Paul

"Dave C" <enlli@despammed.com> wrote in message
news:iH5_h.8167$615.3031@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
> Paul wrote:
>> I wonder if anyone can help me with understanding how 3G is provisioned
>> with Vodafone?
>>
>> I have a small number of phones on a group account including one 3G phone
>> and a 3G card. The phone I currently use (Nokia 6230i) is not, as you
>> know, a 3G phone. But, if I buy a 3G phone, can I put my existing SIM
>> card (to which, of course, is linked my phone number) in it and thereby
>> get access to 3G services? Or do I have to get 3G services provided on
>> that specific number/SIM?
>>
>
> Vodafone do not use different SIMS for 3G. I've had two for some time. One
> worked on 3G OK With the other I had to ring up and have 3G provisioned,
> but that only took a couple of minutes
>
> --
> Dave C

Vodafone allow all customers to use 3G (and HSDPA) if they have GPRS/Packet
data enabled on their account. They need to have a suitable phone to use
the service of course....

regards,
Bet

"bet no one" <do.not.email@answer.in.the.newsgroup> wrote in message
news:Qah_h.5287$%9.2062@newsfe7-gui.ntli.net...
>
> "Dave C" <enlli@despammed.com> wrote in message
> news:iH5_h.8167$615.3031@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
>> Paul wrote:
>>> I wonder if anyone can help me with understanding how 3G is provisioned
>>> with Vodafone?
>>>
>>> I have a small number of phones on a group account including one 3G
>>> phone and a 3G card. The phone I currently use (Nokia 6230i) is not, as
>>> you know, a 3G phone. But, if I buy a 3G phone, can I put my existing
>>> SIM card (to which, of course, is linked my phone number) in it and
>>> thereby get access to 3G services? Or do I have to get 3G services
>>> provided on that specific number/SIM?
>>>
>>
>> Vodafone do not use different SIMS for 3G. I've had two for some time.
>> One worked on 3G OK With the other I had to ring up and have 3G
>> provisioned, but that only took a couple of minutes
>>
>> --
>> Dave C
>
> Vodafone allow all customers to use 3G (and HSDPA) if they have
> GPRS/Packet data enabled on their account. They need to have a suitable
> phone to use the service of course....
>
> regards,
> Bet
>
Thanks - that's very helpful

Paul