Darren-K Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 I signed up to Vodafone mobile broadband yesterday morning and got the tiny white modem today in the mail, http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/assets/img/features/usbmodem/usb_stick_lightbox.jpg well,. i bought the 3gb a month package which is now half price at £15 per month,and fine for regular use (ie i dont download movies or anything so i recon it will be ok) I got it cos im moving soon to a flat that hasnt got internet Anyhow heres my review of Vodafone Mobile broadband so far : 3gb per month package, £33 to buy the modem (1 off ) £15 per month / 24 mnth contract. upto 7.2 mbs download speed, Small white usb stick that glows a diff colour to reflect your connection, ( green,darkblue or lightblue - gprs,3g or broadband) easy to install, fast delivery. * Im in the north west,and within 5 mins i had a 7.2mb connection,( can be slower depending on area) my white usb stick was glowing light blue and it was all honestly seamless, the great thing is the dashboard allows you to send sms texts from you computer no problem and you can recieve texts too,. Whilst i admit the only error i made was popping the sim card in upside down at first - Im giving this 10/10 for the first nights use so far . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiceRocket Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 3gb per month package, £33 to buy the modem (1 off ) £15 per month / 24 mnth contract. upto 7.2 mbs download speed, Hmm I'm thinking for a 24 month contract you should've got the modem stick for free but maybe it costs due it being twice as fast my 3 stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted May 30, 2008 Share Posted May 30, 2008 Friends are considering this as well, but they get pants mobile reception in their flat, do you think it would be OK or keep breaking up? What's your reception been like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-K Posted May 31, 2008 Author Share Posted May 31, 2008 Hmm I'm thinking for a 24 month contract you should've got the modem stick for free but maybe it costs due it being twice as fast my 3 stick. yeh its free if you get the 5gb package Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-K Posted May 31, 2008 Author Share Posted May 31, 2008 Friends are considering this as well, but they get pants mobile reception in their flat, do you think it would be OK or keep breaking up? What's your reception been like? reception has been realy cool, mines buried amongst a ton of wiring in my studio however it comes with a short USB extension lead so you can move it around a little,. speed wise,well when i first connected i got the lightblue light on the unit which signifies broadband speed,also on the pc screen it come up with "you are connected at 7.2mps" however when i checked an hour or so later the speed graph looked nearer 2.8mps to my eyes,. however the modem was still lightblue - Theres no connection problems so far at all,my only concern is that i go over 3gb in a month as they charge a wopping £15 for every 1gb over 3gb in any given month. oh and altho it works sweet on my PC,. on my laptop im having issues,altho that could be due to the settings - but i`ll let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I got a text from vodafone telling me that my 7.50 p/m package on my mobile was now unlimited. It might be worthwhile for people who want the mobility without the contract. Maximum speed is 3.5g though. Can connect using either a data card or bluetooth. Sounds like a nice piece of kit though but i'm guessing its totally signal dependant as it uses a sim card. I get a crap reception in my home but everywhere else its excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Do they work in europe? that would be good for my next road trip. I take it they work when on the move? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Do they work in europe? that would be good for my next road trip. I take it they work when on the move? Yeah but usage costs a bomb and isn't included in the monthly price ("roaming data charges"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Yea just had a look, £10 per day in europe and you can only use it abroad if you get a 24month contract, the more expensive 30day contract dont cover europe. I think i will still get it though as finding hotels last year that had wireless was a pita and none of the chateaus had it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Yea just had a look, £10 per day in europe and you can only use it abroad if you get a 24month contract, the more expensive 30day contract dont cover europe. I think i will still get it though as finding hotels last year that had wireless was a pita and none of the chateaus had it. They are good. If you are regularly in a particular country you could look at getting one from that country's provider, e.g. Vodafone Spain for a similar monthly price. You don't have to have one of these cards or USB things either. If you have a mobile phone that supports HSDPA (3.6mbps or 7.2mbps) or even 3G (384mbps) is good enough in a lot of cases (not far off basic half-meg broadband), and your laptop has bluetooth, then you can use your mobile as a bluetooth modem and achieve the same results. You just tack the £5 or £7.50 a month onto your mobile contract with T-Mobile (web'n'walk) or whatever. That way it also covers usage from your mobile itself, e.g. email on the phone itself or whatever data usage your phone might do (some phones play youtube videos, messenger etc.). You'd have to check all that our with your provider if you were interested though - I think with T-Mobile the web'n'walk basic only includes usage from the phone itself, then you have to pay a bit more again (web'n'walk plus or something) to cover usage as a modem with your laptop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 They are good. If you are regularly in a particular country you could look at getting one from that country's provider, e.g. Vodafone Spain for a similar monthly price. You don't have to have one of these cards or USB things either. If you have a mobile phone that supports HSDPA (3.6mbps or 7.2mbps) or even 3G (384mbps) is good enough in a lot of cases (not far off basic half-meg broadband), and your laptop has bluetooth, then you can use your mobile as a bluetooth modem and achieve the same results. You just tack the £5 or £7.50 a month onto your mobile contract with T-Mobile (web'n'walk) or whatever. That way it also covers usage from your mobile itself, e.g. email on the phone itself or whatever data usage your phone might do (some phones play youtube videos, messenger etc.) Yea thats not a bad idea, i will look into it:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Yea thats not a bad idea, i will look into it:) Cool. Don't forget about my edit - make sure you don't sign up for something that doesn't include usage as a modem with your laptop.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiceRocket Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 my only concern is that i go over 3gb in a month as they charge a wopping £15 for every 1gb over 3gb in any given month. You should be ok as long as you don't download the big stuff like tv shows and don't average more than 45 mins of video (eg Youtube etc) a day with still around 10MB to spare for forum use, emails etc. If you visit lots of websites then it might a good idea to get a program that blocks web popups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Got mine this morning, cant believe how good it is, im going to use it for a couple of weeks and if it stays this good im going to cancel my bt broardband. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Ahh my email and msn wont work, any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 Be careful how you use it abroad Jamie: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2244870/Holiday-maker-Iayn-Dobsyn-stunned-to-get-andpound31,500-mobile-phone-bill.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 lol, reduced the bill to £229, still cant get me email/msn working? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 I got one of these on T mobile, claimed I could get 7.2 megaflops of download speed, can only get 53 kilaflops Think Ill be sending it back. Is there any sort of security on it blocking MSN Jamie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieP Posted July 5, 2008 Share Posted July 5, 2008 dunno mate, jut tried dial up and cant get them working on that either, worked fine on my broadband, im in the middle of changing contracts and the new one dont come on till the 11th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren-K Posted October 4, 2008 Author Share Posted October 4, 2008 An update on this, ive been happy with my Voda mobile internet upto now,however recently some websites have completely stopped working !?! If you are on the Vodafone network i bet you cant access this site : http://www.jamroom.net it works for everyone else... weird ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konrad Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Try to change DNS server settings, maybe vodafone one is missing something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branners Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 We use one of the Voda units at work. When we take over a new building we put the 3g PCMCIA card in to a wireless router and run a network over that until the ADSL and SDSL gets connected. Its a great little trick. There are all sorts of wireless routers now for those things, Netgear do one where the SIM just plugs in the back of the router and you get 3g broadband and a wireless router in one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Man Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I am with 3 and it keeps cutting out. When it work its great but for me in a flat is not good enough. I am renting now and waiting for the housing market to stabilize before buying a house so I don;t want to sign any telecoms contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.