In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Jim Kewley <JKewley@noanswer.com> wrote:
> Dunno how many here are internet nerds, like me. In my attempts to
> maintain a web connection on our travels with the van, I bought a 3
> mobile PAYG dongle internet connection thingy. Big mistake.
>
> 3 mobile appears to offer the cheapest way of getting on the web
> whilst travelling, consequently I bought one of their dongles. Sadly
> 3 mobile merely serves to emphasise the truth of ' you get what you
> pay for '. Despite the apparent value in it's bandwidth offering the
> truth is most of the time the connection is so slow and unreliable,
> with frequent dropped lines, that anybody would be hard pressed to
> take advantage of the bandwidth available.
>
> Finally, after my umpteenth dropped/slow connection, I gave up with 3
> and decided to try an O2 version of a similar PAYG dongle set up. O2
> is slightly more expensive than 3 but so far I've found it's
> connections to be consistently far better and so much more reliable
> than 3 mobile.
> Sent from the Caravan Club, Wirral Country Park site, via my O2 PAYG
> connection. O2 is retaining a steady 3G connection at 3.6 gigs,
> checking the 3 mobile dongle it seems to be struggling to find a GPRS
> connection at 56 mbs.
>
> HTH for anybody interested.
I too bought a '3' dongle, and have been very disappointed with its
performance. I don't think I've *ever* achieved download speeds in excess of
1Mbps, and it's often not much better than dial-up speeds. In a recent
caravan trip to the New Forest I couldn't make the bl**dy thing work at at,
despite having had some sort of connection on the same site a few weeks
earlier - and despite hoisting the dongle high up outside the caravan on the
end of a USB extension lead.
The version I bought came bundled with 12G of usage - which expires after 12
months - and further top ups cost £10 for 1G or 1 month - whichever occurs
first. [There's no way I'm going to use 12G in 12 months because my use is
only occasional, when away from home - but it was a reasonably good deal at
the time].
One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is that
it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short caravan
trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip (say) 6
weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only used
a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for £39 - including a
bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run out
of bandwidth. Top-ups appear to cost £15 per 1G (as opposed to 3's £10) but,
if they don't expire after one month, may represent better value for
occasional users.
When my year's worth of '3' expires, I shall be very tempted to ditch '3'
and try Vodaphone instead - particularly if user reports in the meantime are
favourable.
Anyone got any experience of Vodaphone mobile broadband?
[I'm cross-posting this to uk.telecom.broadband and uk.telecom.mobile
because I think it's of wider interest than just the caravanning fraternity]
--
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!
I am using T Mobile for my mobile internet, on contract for 12 months,
£15/month and no limit, though there is a fair use policy of 3g, never been
anywhere near that though. Coverage is great and speeds are very good, would
recommend them. I now believe that they are doing a deal with a phone so you
can use the phone as a modem and use the data minutes from that contract.
Neil
"Roger Mills" <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:78s5amF1n0lo9U1@mid.individual.net...
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> Jim Kewley <JKewley@noanswer.com> wrote:
>
>> Dunno how many here are internet nerds, like me. In my attempts to
>> maintain a web connection on our travels with the van, I bought a 3
>> mobile PAYG dongle internet connection thingy. Big mistake.
>>
>> 3 mobile appears to offer the cheapest way of getting on the web
>> whilst travelling, consequently I bought one of their dongles. Sadly
>> 3 mobile merely serves to emphasise the truth of ' you get what you
>> pay for '. Despite the apparent value in it's bandwidth offering the
>> truth is most of the time the connection is so slow and unreliable,
>> with frequent dropped lines, that anybody would be hard pressed to
>> take advantage of the bandwidth available.
>>
>> Finally, after my umpteenth dropped/slow connection, I gave up with 3
>> and decided to try an O2 version of a similar PAYG dongle set up. O2
>> is slightly more expensive than 3 but so far I've found it's
>> connections to be consistently far better and so much more reliable
>> than 3 mobile.
>> Sent from the Caravan Club, Wirral Country Park site, via my O2 PAYG
>> connection. O2 is retaining a steady 3G connection at 3.6 gigs,
>> checking the 3 mobile dongle it seems to be struggling to find a GPRS
>> connection at 56 mbs.
>>
>> HTH for anybody interested.
>
> I too bought a '3' dongle, and have been very disappointed with its
> performance. I don't think I've *ever* achieved download speeds in excess
> of 1Mbps, and it's often not much better than dial-up speeds. In a recent
> caravan trip to the New Forest I couldn't make the bl**dy thing work at
> at, despite having had some sort of connection on the same site a few
> weeks earlier - and despite hoisting the dongle high up outside the
> caravan on the end of a USB extension lead.
>
> The version I bought came bundled with 12G of usage - which expires after
> 12 months - and further top ups cost £10 for 1G or 1 month - whichever
> occurs first. [There's no way I'm going to use 12G in 12 months because my
> use is only occasional, when away from home - but it was a reasonably good
> deal at the time].
>
> One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is
> that it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short
> caravan trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another
> trip (say) 6 weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if
> you've only used a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
>
> I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for £39 - including
> a bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
> doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run
> out of bandwidth. Top-ups appear to cost £15 per 1G (as opposed to 3's
> £10) but, if they don't expire after one month, may represent better value
> for occasional users.
>
> When my year's worth of '3' expires, I shall be very tempted to ditch '3'
> and try Vodaphone instead - particularly if user reports in the meantime
> are favourable.
>
> Anyone got any experience of Vodaphone mobile broadband?
>
> [I'm cross-posting this to uk.telecom.broadband and uk.telecom.mobile
> because I think it's of wider interest than just the caravanning
> fraternity]
> --
> 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!
>
I bought the Voda dongle - it works fine. There is a requirement to use
it periodically (I think once every 120 days). My main requirement is
to collect e-mails and do very basic web searches, look at train times,
stuff like that, on the few days I am away from home. E-mail collection
is very cheap - the balance goes down by about 10p every time I use it.
I still have over £14 left so GOK how Vodafone will make much money out
of me. I guess if my home office broadband goes down I will use it as a
backup, again mainly for e-mail so might spend a bit then.
I collect from a number of POP 3 addresses using Thunderbird,and an
associate company's Outlook web mail system. It connects via 3G when it
can and GPRS when it can't. Speed has not been an issue - but I am not
trying to download large files apart from the odd excel spreadsheet, and
am quite happy to sip my coffee whilst it gets on with things.
They are so cheap now - less than half a tank of petrol - and if I
travelled a lot I would be tempted to have 2 or 3 from different
networks and use whichever is best on the day. With some hotels
charging £15 a night for wireless access in London, it's a no brainer.
Beats having to eat in Macdonalds for their free wifi too.
It has a Micro SD card slot, so can use it as a memory stick as well.
One less thing to carry.
I am a very happy customer.
In message <78s5amF1n0lo9U1@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
<watt.tyler@googlemail.com> writes
>In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
>Jim Kewley <JKewley@noanswer.com> wrote:
>
>> Dunno how many here are internet nerds, like me. In my attempts to
>> maintain a web connection on our travels with the van, I bought a 3
>> mobile PAYG dongle internet connection thingy. Big mistake.
>>
>> 3 mobile appears to offer the cheapest way of getting on the web
>> whilst travelling, consequently I bought one of their dongles. Sadly
>> 3 mobile merely serves to emphasise the truth of ' you get what you
>> pay for '. Despite the apparent value in it's bandwidth offering the
>> truth is most of the time the connection is so slow and unreliable,
>> with frequent dropped lines, that anybody would be hard pressed to
>> take advantage of the bandwidth available.
>>
>> Finally, after my umpteenth dropped/slow connection, I gave up with 3
>> and decided to try an O2 version of a similar PAYG dongle set up. O2
>> is slightly more expensive than 3 but so far I've found it's
>> connections to be consistently far better and so much more reliable
>> than 3 mobile.
>> Sent from the Caravan Club, Wirral Country Park site, via my O2 PAYG
>> connection. O2 is retaining a steady 3G connection at 3.6 gigs,
>> checking the 3 mobile dongle it seems to be struggling to find a GPRS
>> connection at 56 mbs.
>>
>> HTH for anybody interested.
>
>I too bought a '3' dongle, and have been very disappointed with its
>performance. I don't think I've *ever* achieved download speeds in excess of
>1Mbps, and it's often not much better than dial-up speeds. In a recent
>caravan trip to the New Forest I couldn't make the bl**dy thing work at at,
>despite having had some sort of connection on the same site a few weeks
>earlier - and despite hoisting the dongle high up outside the caravan on the
>end of a USB extension lead.
>
>The version I bought came bundled with 12G of usage - which expires after 12
>months - and further top ups cost £10 for 1G or 1 month - whichever occurs
>first. [There's no way I'm going to use 12G in 12 months because my use is
>only occasional, when away from home - but it was a reasonably good deal at
>the time].
>
>One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is that
>it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short caravan
>trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip (say) 6
>weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only used
>a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
>
>I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for £39 - including a
>bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
>doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run out
>of bandwidth. Top-ups appear to cost £15 per 1G (as opposed to 3's £10) but,
>if they don't expire after one month, may represent better value for
>occasional users.
>
>When my year's worth of '3' expires, I shall be very tempted to ditch '3'
>and try Vodaphone instead - particularly if user reports in the meantime are
>favourable.
>
>Anyone got any experience of Vodaphone mobile broadband?
>
>[I'm cross-posting this to uk.telecom.broadband and uk.telecom.mobile
>because I think it's of wider interest than just the caravanning fraternity]
"Roger Mills" <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:78s5amF1n0lo9U1@mid.individual.net...
> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> Jim Kewley <JKewley@noanswer.com> wrote:
>
>> Dunno how many here are internet nerds, like me. In my attempts to
>> maintain a web connection on our travels with the van, I bought a 3
>> mobile PAYG dongle internet connection thingy. Big mistake.
>>
>> 3 mobile appears to offer the cheapest way of getting on the web
>> whilst travelling, consequently I bought one of their dongles. Sadly
>> 3 mobile merely serves to emphasise the truth of ' you get what you
>> pay for '. Despite the apparent value in it's bandwidth offering the
>> truth is most of the time the connection is so slow and unreliable,
>> with frequent dropped lines, that anybody would be hard pressed to
>> take advantage of the bandwidth available.
>>
>> Finally, after my umpteenth dropped/slow connection, I gave up with 3
>> and decided to try an O2 version of a similar PAYG dongle set up. O2
>> is slightly more expensive than 3 but so far I've found it's
>> connections to be consistently far better and so much more reliable
>> than 3 mobile.
>> Sent from the Caravan Club, Wirral Country Park site, via my O2 PAYG
>> connection. O2 is retaining a steady 3G connection at 3.6 gigs,
>> checking the 3 mobile dongle it seems to be struggling to find a GPRS
>> connection at 56 mbs.
>>
>> HTH for anybody interested.
>
> I too bought a '3' dongle, and have been very disappointed with its
> performance. I don't think I've *ever* achieved download speeds in excess
> of 1Mbps, and it's often not much better than dial-up speeds. In a recent
> caravan trip to the New Forest I couldn't make the bl**dy thing work at
> at, despite having had some sort of connection on the same site a few
> weeks earlier - and despite hoisting the dongle high up outside the
> caravan on the end of a USB extension lead.
>
>
I've been using 3internet for 5quid month for some time now with a
smartphone as a modem, and it's acceptable most of the time.
The way I look at it is as mobile BB, at dial up prices.
and Telstra connection manager, with 3 settings
Now it's unlocked i can experiment with other networks.
I've tried Virgin Mobile's 30p per day internet, which works fine
except Virgins billing computer sometimes forgets 30p per day,
and debts at per mb rate, emptying my credit! ;-(
> Anyone got any experience of Vodaphone mobile broadband?
> [I'm cross-posting this to uk.telecom.broadband and uk.telecom.mobile
> because I think it's of wider interest than just the caravanning fraternity]
My Vodafone mobile broadband is reasonable value for money. Speed is
very variable but you can usually get something as it defaults to GPRS
if there's no 3 signal.
It's fine to collect emails. I'm too mean to surf much with it (though
35p kept me enteertained all day a fortnight ago).
As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have
stayed on in the last three weeks had wi-fi - but at (cheapest)
£2.25 for 15mins or £6.99 for an hour I think I'll pass.
Aren't we paying enough for membership and site fees for them to
NOT charge hotel prices? If McD's can do it for free why not the
CC - for members at least?
"Woody" <harrogate3@ntlworld.spam.com> wrote in message
news:f0r1m.312$a34.199@newsfe16.ams2...
> As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have stayed on in the
> last three weeks had wi-fi - but at (cheapest) £2.25 for 15mins or £6.99 for an
> hour I think I'll pass.
>
> Aren't we paying enough for membership and site fees for them to NOT charge
> hotel prices? If McD's can do it for free why not the CC - for members at least?
>
>
> --
> Woody
>
> harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
>
I've just put the July 09 CC Mag down
Wi-Fi at over £30.00 for a month is a pure RIP OFF
Any way I cant remember the last time I took a TV away with me
The only time I now take my net book away with me is when I need it for route
planning
Those that MIGHT need me urgently , have my mobile number and they're told to text
me
Most of the news on tele I don't want to hear anyway
It can be read a few days later in some else's discarded newspaper ;-))
> As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have
> stayed on in the last three weeks had wi-fi - but at (cheapest)
> £2.25 for 15mins or £6.99 for an hour I think I'll pass.
WTF? I think it's fair to say at that kind of price, Wifi in caravan parks
is going to disappear because everybody will be using 3G instead.
--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpEaTm@ale.cx)
23:44:46 up 52 days, 7:02, 2 users, load average: 0.12, 0.08, 0.08
A few flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction
alexd wrote:
> Woody wrote:
>
>> As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have
>> stayed on in the last three weeks had wi-fi - but at (cheapest)
>> £2.25 for 15mins or £6.99 for an hour I think I'll pass.
>
> WTF? I think it's fair to say at that kind of price, Wifi in caravan
> parks is going to disappear because everybody will be using 3G
> instead.
"DieSea" <DieSea.NoSpamPlease@nnttwlwoorrlldd.ccoomm> wrote in message
news:4a464c7e$0$23999$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
>
> "Woody" <harrogate3@ntlworld.spam.com> wrote in message
> news:f0r1m.312$a34.199@newsfe16.ams2...
>> As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have stayed on in
>> the last three weeks had wi-fi - but at (cheapest) £2.25 for 15mins or
>> £6.99 for an hour I think I'll pass.
>>
>> Aren't we paying enough for membership and site fees for them to NOT
>> charge hotel prices? If McD's can do it for free why not the CC - for
>> members at least?
>>
>>
>> --
>> Woody
>>
>> harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
>>
>
> I've just put the July 09 CC Mag down
>
> Wi-Fi at over £30.00 for a month is a pure RIP OFF
snipped
What extra cost (if any) is there to providing all and sundry to share your
internet connection. Assuming you have a connection in the first place and
that you are not going to hard wire the whole site (daft but thought I would
mention it)? Perhaps the money is to password protect some files.
"Tom" <nospam@here.com> wrote in message
news:J5qdncs0UpeGidrXnZ2dnUVZ8gydnZ2d@bt.com...
> "DieSea" <DieSea.NoSpamPlease@nnttwlwoorrlldd.ccoomm> wrote in
> message news:4a464c7e$0$23999$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
>>
>> "Woody" <harrogate3@ntlworld.spam.com> wrote in message
>> news:f0r1m.312$a34.199@newsfe16.ams2...
>>> As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have
>>> stayed on in the last three weeks had wi-fi - but at
>>> (cheapest) £2.25 for 15mins or £6.99 for an hour I think I'll
>>> pass.
>>>
>>> Aren't we paying enough for membership and site fees for them
>>> to NOT charge hotel prices? If McD's can do it for free why
>>> not the CC - for members at least?
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Woody
>>>
>>> harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
>>>
>>
>> I've just put the July 09 CC Mag down
>>
>> Wi-Fi at over £30.00 for a month is a pure RIP OFF
> snipped
>
> What extra cost (if any) is there to providing all and sundry
> to share your internet connection. Assuming you have a
> connection in the first place and that you are not going to
> hard wire the whole site (daft but thought I would mention it)?
> Perhaps the money is to password protect some files.
>
Come to think about it, it's more likely a support issue. If
someone tries to connect and it doesn't work who is going to
support it and sort it out? If several people complain of
connection issues there may be a problem on the site - who will
support and/or fix that?
If the CC made it available on a sort-it-yourself basis and gave
no guarantees of service availability or reliability then it
might be viable, but we are now in a world that demands 'support'
and there are a surprisingly large number of computer 'users' out
there who don't have a clue what goes on under the bonnet. You've
only got to look what happens on a camp site when something goes
wrong with the 'van - panic (for most) is not the half of it!
I withdraw my original comments - what the CC ought to do is make
sure they have good 3G coverage on 3 or T-Mob and let people use
their dongles. At least they can then get support - at a price!
On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:45:23 +0100, alexd <troffasky@hotmail.com>
wrote:
>Woody wrote:
>
>> As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have
>> stayed on in the last three weeks had wi-fi - but at (cheapest)
>> £2.25 for 15mins or £6.99 for an hour I think I'll pass.
>
>WTF? I think it's fair to say at that kind of price, Wifi in caravan parks
>is going to disappear because everybody will be using 3G instead.
I would agree. Both the CC and C&CC seem to have outsourced the Wifi
to third parties that no doubt have paid for the infrastructure and
are now trying to recoup the cost.
I think it is a case that if they reduced the charges to a more
realistic level they would actually increase the revenue as people
like me would use it instead of my Vodafone PAYG dongle.
The C&CC rates are:
£4 for an hour
£7 for a day
£12 for two days
£25 for seven days
£40 for 14 days
£125 for a whole year
The CC rates are:
1 hour - £5 (Valid for use over 72 hours from first log in)
4 hours - £8 (Valid for use over 92 hours from first log in)
7 days - £20
30 days - £33
What I am not sure about is if you buy, say, 30 days on a CC site, can
you then use it at any CC site with Wifi? I never stay on any one site
for more than 4 or 5 days. CC sites use KeZone and their web site
says that once you have your username and password you can use it at
any KeZone hotspot and BT Openzone site.
On the subject of the Vodafone service, I have found this to be
excellent and I have always been able to get at least GPRS in some
pretty remote locations in Scotland. I have a motorhome and whilst my
wife tops up the food at supermarkets as we travel between sites, I do
whatever is necessary with the usual 3G connection you get in towns
and can then cope with GPRS on the sites.
As a further point to note, I found the USB modem a pain and as I have
an expresscard slot on my laptop, bough an out of contract Vodafone
datacard (which Vodafone only offer with a business contract) and put
my USB modem SIM card in it. It works perfectly and is a lot more
user friendly. These datacards also come with a PCMCIA adaptor.
I stayed at Southlands, IoW last year, and they had an excellent WiFi
set-up,
we were asked to contribute to a local charity - £3 for 10 days, excellent
value.
We were able to search for return bus times to link up with a walk - in
stages - from St Catherines to Needles and Totland Bay.
Also up-to-date local weather, opening times of various museums, etc.
I can get 40 mins service from Premien Inn for a £2.00
Southlands has now been taken over by the Caravan Club, if CC&C can't offer
this I might change.
Colin
"Tom" <nospam@here.com> wrote in message
news:J5qdncs0UpeGidrXnZ2dnUVZ8gydnZ2d@bt.com...
> "DieSea" <DieSea.NoSpamPlease@nnttwlwoorrlldd.ccoomm> wrote in message
> news:4a464c7e$0$23999$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
>>
>> "Woody" <harrogate3@ntlworld.spam.com> wrote in message
>> news:f0r1m.312$a34.199@newsfe16.ams2...
>>> As a point of interest, three of four CC sites that we have stayed on in
>>> the last three weeks had wi-fi - but at (cheapest) £2.25 for 15mins or
>>> £6.99 for an hour I think I'll pass.
>>>
>>> Aren't we paying enough for membership and site fees for them to NOT
>>> charge hotel prices? If McD's can do it for free why not the CC - for
>>> members at least?
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Woody
>>>
>>> harrogate three at ntlworld dot com
>>>
>>
>> I've just put the July 09 CC Mag down
>>
>> Wi-Fi at over £30.00 for a month is a pure RIP OFF
> snipped
>
> What extra cost (if any) is there to providing all and sundry to share
> your internet connection. Assuming you have a connection in the first
> place and that you are not going to hard wire the whole site (daft but
> thought I would mention it)? Perhaps the money is to password protect some
> files.
On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:34:10 +0100, "Colin Jackson"
<cojack6ATbtinternetDOTcom> wrote:
>Southlands has now been taken over by the Caravan Club, if CC&C can't offer
>this I might change.
>
>Colin
I stayed at Southlands a couple of weeks ago and enquired what had
happened to the Wi-Fi. I was told that the previous owner took the
kit with him and the CC Club had not yet decided whether or not to put
in their own system. Vodafone only gives GPRS there and you have to
go a mile or so down the road towards Sandown to get 3G.
I did get an answer from the CC Club today to my question. If you
biuy a voucher on one site then you can use it on any of their sites
that have Wi-Fi until it expires. There are currently 38 sites with
Wi-Fi listed.
Although I have been using Vodafone PAYG mobile broadband I make a
point of checking Wi-Fi coverage on any sites where it is installed. I
stayed at the otherwise excellent CC site at Onich last month and the
Wi-Fi signal was useless unless you were very close to the transmitter
by reception. This was ackowledged by the wardens. In contrast I
noted that the C&CC Club Site at Delamere Forest had transmitter
repeaters sensibly sited.
On Jun 5, 2:31*pm, RCC <richard@mapson_cowling1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> I bought the Voda dongle - it works fine. *There is a requirement to use
> it periodically (I think once every 120 days). *My main requirement is
> to collect e-mails and do very basic web searches, look at train times,
> stuff like that, on the few days I am away from home. *E-mail collection
> is very cheap - the balance goes down by about 10p every time I use it.
> I still have over £14 left so GOK how Vodafone will make much money out
> of me. *I guess if my home office broadband goes down I will use it as a
> backup, again mainly for e-mail so might spend a bit then.
>
> I collect from a number of POP 3 addresses using Thunderbird,and an
> associate company's Outlook web mail system. *It connects via 3G when it
> can and GPRS when it can't. *Speed has not been an issue - but I am not
> trying to download large files apart from the odd excel spreadsheet, and
> am quite happy to sip my coffee whilst it gets on with things.
>
> They are so cheap now - less than half a tank of petrol - and if I
> travelled *a lot I would be tempted to have 2 or 3 from different
> networks and use whichever is best on the day. *With some hotels
> charging £15 a night for wireless access in London, it's a no brainer.
> Beats having to eat in Macdonalds for their free wifi too.
>
> It has a Micro SD card slot, so can use it as a memory stick as well.
> One less thing to carry.
>
> I am a very happy customer.
>
> In message <78s5amF1n0lo...@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
> <watt.ty...@googlemail.com> writes
>
>
>
> >In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
> >Jim Kewley <JKew...@noanswer.com> *wrote:
>
> >> Dunno how many here are internet nerds, like me. *In my attempts to
> >> maintain a web connection on our travels with the van, I bought a 3
> >> mobile PAYG dongle internet connection thingy. *Big mistake.
>
> >> 3 mobile appears to offer the cheapest way of getting on the web
> >> whilst travelling, consequently I bought one of their dongles. Sadly
> >> 3 mobile merely serves to emphasise the truth of ' you get what you
> >> pay for '. Despite the apparent value in it's bandwidth offering the
> >> truth is most of the time the connection is so slow and unreliable,
> >> with frequent dropped lines, that anybody would be hard pressed to
> >> take advantage of the bandwidth available.
>
> >> Finally, after my umpteenth dropped/slow connection, I gave up with 3
> >> and decided to try an O2 version of a similar PAYG dongle set up. *O2
> >> is slightly more expensive than 3 but so far I've found it's
> >> connections to be consistently far better and so much more reliable
> >> than 3 mobile.
> >> Sent from the Caravan Club, Wirral Country Park site, via my O2 PAYG
> >> connection. *O2 is retaining a steady 3G connection at 3.6 gigs,
> >> checking the 3 mobile dongle it seems to be struggling to find a GPRS
> >> connection at 56 mbs.
>
> >> HTH for anybody interested.
>
> >I too bought a '3' dongle, and have been very disappointed with its
> >performance. I don't think I've *ever* achieved download speeds in excess of
> >1Mbps, and it's often not much better than dial-up speeds. In a recent
> >caravan trip to the New Forest I couldn't make the bl**dy thing work at at,
> >despite having had some sort of connection on the same site a few weeks
> >earlier - and despite hoisting the dongle high up outside the caravan onthe
> >end of a USB extension lead.
>
> >The version I bought came bundled with 12G of usage - which expires after 12
> >months - and further top ups cost £10 for 1G or 1 month - whichever occurs
> >first. [There's no way I'm going to use 12G in 12 months because my use is
> >only occasional, when away from home - but it was a reasonably good dealat
> >the time].
>
> >One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is that
> >it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short caravan
> >trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip (say) 6
> >weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only used
> >a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
>
> >I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for £39 - including a
> >bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
> >doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run out
> >of bandwidth. Top-ups appear to cost £15 per 1G (as opposed to 3's £10) but,
> >if they don't expire after one month, may represent better value for
> >occasional users.
>
> >When my year's worth of '3' expires, I shall be very tempted to ditch '3'
> >and try Vodaphone instead - particularly if user reports in the meantimeare
> >favourable.
>
> >Anyone got any experience of Vodaphone mobile broadband?
>
> >[I'm cross-posting this to uk.telecom.broadband and uk.telecom.mobile
> >because I think it's of wider interest than just the caravanning fraternity]
>
> --
> Richard C
I used the Camping and Caravanning Club's WiFi system when away
recently.
Expensive - £25 for a week but varied very much from site to site.
CCC Dartford - reasonable speed, CCC Veryan (in the same week) total
KRAP!
CCC Verwood - worked long enough to take my money and then packed up
and then I used up the balance at CCC Blackmore - perfect!
On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:17:13 -0700 (PDT), Furry Fred
<furrysnews@googlemail.com> wrote:
>On Jun 5, 2:31*pm, RCC <richard@mapson_cowling1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> I bought the Voda dongle - it works fine. *There is a requirement touse
>> it periodically (I think once every 120 days). *My main requirement is
>> to collect e-mails and do very basic web searches, look at train times,
>> stuff like that, on the few days I am away from home. *E-mail collection
>> is very cheap - the balance goes down by about 10p every time I use it.
>> I still have over £14 left so GOK how Vodafone will make much money out
>> of me. *I guess if my home office broadband goes down I will use it as a
>> backup, again mainly for e-mail so might spend a bit then.
>>
>> I collect from a number of POP 3 addresses using Thunderbird,and an
>> associate company's Outlook web mail system. *It connects via 3G when it
>> can and GPRS when it can't. *Speed has not been an issue - but I am not
>> trying to download large files apart from the odd excel spreadsheet, and
>> am quite happy to sip my coffee whilst it gets on with things.
>>
>> They are so cheap now - less than half a tank of petrol - and if I
>> travelled *a lot I would be tempted to have 2 or 3 from different
>> networks and use whichever is best on the day. *With some hotels
>> charging £15 a night for wireless access in London, it's a no brainer.
>> Beats having to eat in Macdonalds for their free wifi too.
>>
>> It has a Micro SD card slot, so can use it as a memory stick as well.
>> One less thing to carry.
>>
>> I am a very happy customer.
>>
>> In message <78s5amF1n0lo...@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
>> <watt.ty...@googlemail.com> writes
>>
>>
>>
>> >In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
>> >Jim Kewley <JKew...@noanswer.com> *wrote:
>>
>> >> Dunno how many here are internet nerds, like me. *In my attempts to
>> >> maintain a web connection on our travels with the van, I bought a 3
>> >> mobile PAYG dongle internet connection thingy. *Big mistake.
>>
>> >> 3 mobile appears to offer the cheapest way of getting on the web
>> >> whilst travelling, consequently I bought one of their dongles. Sadly
>> >> 3 mobile merely serves to emphasise the truth of ' you get what you
>> >> pay for '. Despite the apparent value in it's bandwidth offering the
>> >> truth is most of the time the connection is so slow and unreliable,
>> >> with frequent dropped lines, that anybody would be hard pressed to
>> >> take advantage of the bandwidth available.
>>
>> >> Finally, after my umpteenth dropped/slow connection, I gave up with3
>> >> and decided to try an O2 version of a similar PAYG dongle set up. *O2
>> >> is slightly more expensive than 3 but so far I've found it's
>> >> connections to be consistently far better and so much more reliable
>> >> than 3 mobile.
>> >> Sent from the Caravan Club, Wirral Country Park site, via my O2 PAYG
>> >> connection. *O2 is retaining a steady 3G connection at 3.6 gigs,
>> >> checking the 3 mobile dongle it seems to be struggling to find a GPRS
>> >> connection at 56 mbs.
>>
>> >> HTH for anybody interested.
>>
>> >I too bought a '3' dongle, and have been very disappointed with its
>> >performance. I don't think I've *ever* achieved download speeds in excess of
>> >1Mbps, and it's often not much better than dial-up speeds. In a recent
>> >caravan trip to the New Forest I couldn't make the bl**dy thing work at at,
>> >despite having had some sort of connection on the same site a few weeks
>> >earlier - and despite hoisting the dongle high up outside the caravanon the
>> >end of a USB extension lead.
>>
>> >The version I bought came bundled with 12G of usage - which expires after 12
>> >months - and further top ups cost £10 for 1G or 1 month - whicheveroccurs
>> >first. [There's no way I'm going to use 12G in 12 months because my use is
>> >only occasional, when away from home - but it was a reasonably good deal at
>> >the time].
>>
>> >One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is that
>> >it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short caravan
>> >trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip (say) 6
>> >weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only used
>> >a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
>>
>> >I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for £39 - including a
>> >bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
>> >doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run out
>> >of bandwidth. Top-ups appear to cost £15 per 1G (as opposed to 3's £10) but,
>> >if they don't expire after one month, may represent better value for
>> >occasional users.
>>
>> >When my year's worth of '3' expires, I shall be very tempted to ditch'3'
>> >and try Vodaphone instead - particularly if user reports in the meantime are
>> >favourable.
>>
>> >Anyone got any experience of Vodaphone mobile broadband?
>>
>> >[I'm cross-posting this to uk.telecom.broadband and uk.telecom.mobile
>> >because I think it's of wider interest than just the caravanning fraternity]
>>
>> --
>> Richard C
>
>I used the Camping and Caravanning Club's WiFi system when away
>recently.
>
>Expensive - £25 for a week but varied very much from site to site.
>
>CCC Dartford - reasonable speed, CCC Veryan (in the same week) total
>KRAP!
>
>CCC Verwood - worked long enough to take my money and then packed up
>and then I used up the balance at CCC Blackmore - perfect!
>
>You just can't win!
Stick with the Vodaphone dongle at least if it doesn't work you only
lose pennies.
In uk.telecom.mobile Roger Mills <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> wrote:
: One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is that
: it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short caravan
: trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip (say) 6
: weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only used
: a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
This isn't true if you use a 3 PAYG SIM - rather than the dongle's own SIM -
in a 3 Dongle! Then you get (in addition to only £5/Gb for 30 days) daily
and weekly Internet topup options.
: I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for ?39 - including a
: bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
: doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run out
: of bandwidth.
This is true - but is *not* available in "SIm-only" form.
> On Jun 5, 2:31*pm, RCC <richard@mapson_cowling1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> I bought the Voda dongle - it works fine. *There is a requirement to use
>> it periodically (I think once every 120 days). *My main requirement is
>> to collect e-mails and do very basic web searches, look at train times,
>> stuff like that, on the few days I am away from home. *E-mail collection
>> is very cheap - the balance goes down by about 10p every time I use it.
>> I still have over £14 left so GOK how Vodafone will make much money out
>> of me. *I guess if my home office broadband goes down I will use it as a
>> backup, again mainly for e-mail so might spend a bit then.
>>
>> I collect from a number of POP 3 addresses using Thunderbird,and an
>> associate company's Outlook web mail system. *It connects via 3G when it
>> can and GPRS when it can't. *Speed has not been an issue - but I am not
>> trying to download large files apart from the odd excel spreadsheet, and
>> am quite happy to sip my coffee whilst it gets on with things.
>>
>> They are so cheap now - less than half a tank of petrol - and if I
>> travelled *a lot I would be tempted to have 2 or 3 from different
>> networks and use whichever is best on the day. *With some hotels
>> charging £15 a night for wireless access in London, it's a no brainer.
>> Beats having to eat in Macdonalds for their free wifi too.
>>
>> It has a Micro SD card slot, so can use it as a memory stick as well.
>> One less thing to carry.
>>
>> I am a very happy customer.
>>
>> In message <78s5amF1n0lo...@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
>> <watt.ty...@googlemail.com> writes
>>
>>
>>
>>> In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
>>> Jim Kewley <JKew...@noanswer.com> *wrote:
>>
>>>> Dunno how many here are internet nerds, like me. *In my attempts to
>>>> maintain a web connection on our travels with the van, I bought a 3
>>>> mobile PAYG dongle internet connection thingy. *Big mistake.
>>
>>>> 3 mobile appears to offer the cheapest way of getting on the web
>>>> whilst travelling, consequently I bought one of their dongles. Sadly
>>>> 3 mobile merely serves to emphasise the truth of ' you get what you
>>>> pay for '. Despite the apparent value in it's bandwidth offering the
>>>> truth is most of the time the connection is so slow and unreliable,
>>>> with frequent dropped lines, that anybody would be hard pressed to
>>>> take advantage of the bandwidth available.
>>
>>>> Finally, after my umpteenth dropped/slow connection, I gave up with 3
>>>> and decided to try an O2 version of a similar PAYG dongle set up. *O2
>>>> is slightly more expensive than 3 but so far I've found it's
>>>> connections to be consistently far better and so much more reliable
>>>> than 3 mobile.
>>>> Sent from the Caravan Club, Wirral Country Park site, via my O2 PAYG
>>>> connection. *O2 is retaining a steady 3G connection at 3.6 gigs,
>>>> checking the 3 mobile dongle it seems to be struggling to find a GPRS
>>>> connection at 56 mbs.
>>
>>>> HTH for anybody interested.
>>
>>> I too bought a '3' dongle, and have been very disappointed with its
>>> performance. I don't think I've *ever* achieved download speeds in excess of
>>> 1Mbps, and it's often not much better than dial-up speeds. In a recent
>>> caravan trip to the New Forest I couldn't make the bl**dy thing work at at,
>>> despite having had some sort of connection on the same site a few weeks
>>> earlier - and despite hoisting the dongle high up outside the caravan on the
>>> end of a USB extension lead.
>>
>>> The version I bought came bundled with 12G of usage - which expires after 12
>>> months - and further top ups cost £10 for 1G or 1 month - whichever occurs
>>> first. [There's no way I'm going to use 12G in 12 months because my use is
>>> only occasional, when away from home - but it was a reasonably good deal at
>>> the time].
>>
>>> One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is that
>>> it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short caravan
>>> trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip (say) 6
>>> weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only used
>>> a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
>>
>>> I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for £39 - including a
>>> bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
>>> doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run out
>>> of bandwidth. Top-ups appear to cost £15 per 1G (as opposed to 3's £10) but,
>>> if they don't expire after one month, may represent better value for
>>> occasional users.
>>
>>> When my year's worth of '3' expires, I shall be very tempted to ditch '3'
>>> and try Vodaphone instead - particularly if user reports in the meantime are
>>> favourable.
>>
>>> Anyone got any experience of Vodaphone mobile broadband?
>>
>>> [I'm cross-posting this to uk.telecom.broadband and uk.telecom.mobile
>>> because I think it's of wider interest than just the caravanning fraternity]
>>
You need to bear in mind where you are going to use it most. Vodafone is
very poor in the Borders in Scotland which is why I had to go for the 3
dongle which works fine.
>> --
>> Richard C
>
> I used the Camping and Caravanning Club's WiFi system when away
> recently.
>
> Expensive - £25 for a week but varied very much from site to site.
>
> CCC Dartford - reasonable speed, CCC Veryan (in the same week) total
> KRAP!
>
> CCC Verwood - worked long enough to take my money and then packed up
> and then I used up the balance at CCC Blackmore - perfect!
>
> You just can't win!
On 20/7/09 16:21, in article h4222k$hb0$2@south.jnrs.ja.net, "Brian Mc"
<bkm@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote:
> In uk.telecom.mobile Roger Mills <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> : One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is that
> : it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short caravan
> : trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip (say) 6
> : weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only used
> : a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
>
> This isn't true if you use a 3 PAYG SIM - rather than the dongle's own SIM -
> in a 3 Dongle! Then you get (in addition to only £5/Gb for 30 days) daily
> and weekly Internet topup options.
I am using the 3 dongle on the top up £10 a month set up for my caravan in
Scotland. I am using the dongle in the wireless router that I have just
bought from 3 specifically to use in the caravan. Would this PAYG sim still
work and how would I go about getting one as that would be a cheaper option
for me on the face of it.
>
> : I see that Vodaphone are now offering a PAYG BB dongle for ?39 - including a
> : bundled 1G of usage. AIUI - unlike the equivalent '3' offereng - this
> : doesn't time out, so you don't have to top it up until you actually run out
> : of bandwidth.
>
> This is true - but is *not* available in "SIm-only" form.
"Lynn W" <lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtinternet.com> wrote in message
news:C68A90EB.165C8%lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtin ternet.com...
> On 20/7/09 16:21, in article h4222k$hb0$2@south.jnrs.ja.net, "Brian Mc"
> <bkm@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> In uk.telecom.mobile Roger Mills <watt.tyler@googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>> : One of the problems with the '3' setup (apart from it not working!) is
>> that
>> : it's time limited. So, for example, if you want to use it on a short
>> caravan
>> : trip, you have to buy a month's worth, and if you go on another trip
>> (say) 6
>> : weeks later, you have to buy another month's worth even if you've only
>> used
>> : a fraction of the previous month's bandwidth.
>>
>> This isn't true if you use a 3 PAYG SIM - rather than the dongle's own
>> SIM -
>> in a 3 Dongle! Then you get (in addition to only £5/Gb for 30 days)
>> daily
>> and weekly Internet topup options.
>
> I am using the 3 dongle on the top up £10 a month set up for my caravan in
> Scotland. I am using the dongle in the wireless router that I have just
> bought from 3 specifically to use in the caravan. Would this PAYG sim
> still
> work and how would I go about getting one as that would be a cheaper
> option
> for me on the face of it.
>
>
You can get a free 3pay PAYG sim from http://threestore.three.co.uk/PAYG/SimOnly.aspx
but you may need a Three phone to do the 5quid p.m.internet top up in
It would be simpler to buy a 39.99 Skype S2 PAYG from Three,
pop into any Three shop or buy online.
The Skype S2 phone has a HSDPA modem built in, so simply plug a
USB lead in and use it as a modem, and it'll give you easy planet3 wap
access to do internet top ups with
For each 10 quid top up you get 3 months of 3 to3 calls, 300 text,
150mb of data and unlimited Skype calls.
and you can allocate the 10quid top up for 2 consecutive months of
5 quid internet monthly.
Also Three will give you 10quid credit if you port another networks
number to it, which could give you another 2 months of internet!
I'm sending this with a Three Nokia 6120c HSDPA phone connected
to my laptop via a USB lead on 5quid internet monthly.
I get up to 2Mbps d/l on a 3.5g cell
Also I use Googlemail for free on SMTP SSL port 465,
instead of 3mail for my emails, avoiding Threes email charges
"Steve Terry" <gFOURwwk@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:h431ng$c0j$1@news.albasani.net...
>
> "Lynn W" <lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtinternet.com> wrote in message
> news:C68A90EB.165C8%lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtin ternet.com...
>> On 20/7/09 16:21, in article h4222k$hb0$2@south.jnrs.ja.net, "Brian Mc"
>> <bkm@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
<snip>
>>
> You can get a free 3pay PAYG sim from
> http://threestore.three.co.uk/PAYG/SimOnly.aspx
>
>
This one is better get two free sims
On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 Steve Terry wrote:
>
>"Steve Terry" <gFOURwwk@tesco.net> wrote in message
>news:h431ng$c0j$1@news.albasani.net...
>>
>> "Lynn W" <lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtinternet.com> wrote in message
>> news:C68A90EB.165C8%lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtin ternet.com...
>>> On 20/7/09 16:21, in article h4222k$hb0$2@south.jnrs.ja.net, "Brian Mc"
>>> <bkm@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>
><snip>
>>>
>> You can get a free 3pay PAYG sim from
>> http://threestore.three.co.uk/PAYG/SimOnly.aspx
>>
>>
>This one is better get two free sims
>
>https://www.three.co.uk/Pay_As_You_Go/Free_SIM
I tried that. They still sent me only one free SIM.
>>It would be simpler to buy a 39.99 Skype S2 PAYG from Three,
>>pop into any Three shop or buy online.
>
> Simpler, yes, but also 39.99 more expensive.
>
> Ony useful if you phone people on skype.
I would have thought it would be useful for calling other 3 users as well,
ie an economical way to get free calls amongst a group of handsets [so long
as you top up every 90 days - not exactly an onerous requirement].
--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpEaTm@ale.cx)
19:45:59 up 76 days, 7:46, 1 user, load average: 0.18, 0.14, 0.13
A few flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction
"David Rance" <david.rance@SPAMOFFrance.org.uk> wrote in message
news:xxGe3hNJHgZKFw$H@david.rance.org.uk...
> On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 Steve Terry wrote:
>>
>>"Steve Terry" <gFOURwwk@tesco.net> wrote in message
>>news:h431ng$c0j$1@news.albasani.net...
>>>
>>> "Lynn W" <lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtinternet.com> wrote in message
>>> news:C68A90EB.165C8%lynn.williamson@FOREVERREDbtin ternet.com...
>>>> On 20/7/09 16:21, in article h4222k$hb0$2@south.jnrs.ja.net, "Brian Mc"
>>>> <bkm@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>>
>><snip>
>>>
>>This one is better get two free sims
>> https://www.three.co.uk/Pay_As_You_Go/Free_SIM
>
> I tried that. They still sent me only one free SIM.
> David
>
>
Says "Please just fill in this form and we'll send you your free SIM
(plus an extra one to give to a mate)."
Can't see anything stopping you using it again to send one to your
brother/sister/cat etc
"iain" <spamtrap@hairydog.co.uk> wrote in message
news:mkva655q3ui6fjdt0hecjnaf9q6jo275jn@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:21:59 +0100, "Steve Terry" <gFOURwwk@tesco.net>
> wrote:
>
>>You can get a free 3pay PAYG sim from
>>http://threestore.three.co.uk/PAYG/SimOnly.aspx
>>but you may need a Three phone to do the 5quid p.m.internet top up in
>
> No, you don't. You can top up online.
>
>>It would be simpler to buy a 39.99 Skype S2 PAYG from Three,
>>pop into any Three shop or buy online.
>
> Simpler, yes, but also 39.99 more expensive.
>
> Ony useful if you phone people on skype.
>
Assuming you already have a USB 3g dongle or 3g data phone
to put the sim in
Simpler for data because if you buy a 3 USB Dongle you'll probably
have to swap the 3 PAYG BB Sim for a 3Pay Sim and may have to do
5quid p.m.internet top ups in a 3G wap phone as internet top ups
are done in Planet 3 wap.
All ready done and ready to go in a Skype S2 phone
"alexd" <troffasky@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8073790.y0nniJfEyV@ale.cx...
> iain wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:21:59 +0100, "Steve Terry" <gFOURwwk@tesco.net>
>> wrote:
>
>>>It would be simpler to buy a 39.99 Skype S2 PAYG from Three,
>>>pop into any Three shop or buy online.
>>
>> Simpler, yes, but also 39.99 more expensive.
>>
>> Ony useful if you phone people on skype.
>
> I would have thought it would be useful for calling other 3 users as well,
> ie an economical way to get free calls amongst a group of handsets [so
> long
> as you top up every 90 days - not exactly an onerous requirement].
>
>
and 300 text, and MS Messenger
iain <spamtrap@hairydog.co.uk> wrote in
news:mkva655q3ui6fjdt0hecjnaf9q6jo275jn@4ax.com:
>>It would be simpler to buy a 39.99 Skype S2 PAYG from Three,
>>pop into any Three shop or buy online.
>
> Simpler, yes, but also 39.99 more expensive.
>
> Ony useful if you phone people on skype.
I bought two S1 Skypephones from 3 on contract to "take advantage" of the
free Skype calls. I have an Asterisk system and my plan was to purchase
an Asterisk to Skype gateway and include my mobile in the main ring
group. Effectively, that should have given me call diversion of my home
phones to my mobile at zero cost.
However, I found that Skype on 3 is not ready for the big time. Skype
converage is intermittent and only seems available in 3G areas. Even in
3G areas, the Skype login periodically disconnects and the latency can be
horrific (much worse than "normal" - i.e. computer-to-computer - Skype
calls). Thus we found the service too unreliable even to make Skype calls
from home to the mobile and vice versa. Also, the S1 phones locked up at
random and the only way to reset them was to take the back off and pull
the battery. Three replaced one for a basic Nokia but insisted the other
was fine provided I followed their recommendation to completely power
down and reboot the phone once per day and refused to replace that
We're now waiting for our contract to expire in a few months so that we
can go back to O2!
"Geoff Lane" <geoff@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:Xns9C50587BF964Egeoffnospam097akdsh@216.196.1 09.145...
> iain <spamtrap@hairydog.co.uk> wrote in
> news:mkva655q3ui6fjdt0hecjnaf9q6jo275jn@4ax.com:
>
>>>It would be simpler to buy a 39.99 Skype S2 PAYG from Three,
>>>pop into any Three shop or buy online.
>>
>> Simpler, yes, but also 39.99 more expensive.
>>
>> Ony useful if you phone people on skype.
>
> I bought two S1 Skypephones from 3 on contract to "take advantage" of the
> free Skype calls. I have an Asterisk system and my plan was to purchase
> an Asterisk to Skype gateway and include my mobile in the main ring
> group. Effectively, that should have given me call diversion of my home
> phones to my mobile at zero cost.
>
> However, I found that Skype on 3 is not ready for the big time. Skype
> converage is intermittent and only seems available in 3G areas. Even in
> 3G areas, the Skype login periodically disconnects and the latency can be
> horrific (much worse than "normal" - i.e. computer-to-computer - Skype
> calls). Thus we found the service too unreliable even to make Skype calls
> from home to the mobile and vice versa. Also, the S1 phones locked up at
> random and the only way to reset them was to take the back off and pull
> the battery. Three replaced one for a basic Nokia but insisted the other
> was fine provided I followed their recommendation to completely power
> down and reboot the phone once per day and refused to replace that
>
> We're now waiting for our contract to expire in a few months so that we
> can go back to O2!
> Geoff
>
>
The Skype S1 is a load of crap, without a HSDPA modem it can't
d/l at more than 380kbps
The S2 has a HSDPA modem (up to 3.6Mbps) (I get up to 2Mbps
on a 3.5g cell) and is better in all other aspects
Three were foolish to accept the S1, I'd only use a S1 now as a door stop
BTW in the last year Three have added on average at least 3 new BTS
a day everyday, why they aren't publicising that fact is beyond me!
They are planning to cover 98.5% of the UK population by the end of next
year
Long term plan is when (if) they reach 99% of UK population they'll
then be able to drop Orange 2g roaming
Three are without doubt the most improved network in the last 3 years
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