3g prepaid 24gb starter kit - prices

PlutoinCapricorn

I bought a 12gb prepaid 3 mobile broadband kit last September. I have around 2.5 gb remaining so am starting to think about a replacement.

I don't want to change to topping up as this involves registering, I think that the 24gb prepaid kit is my best option now. Someone on MSE reported that Dixons Online were selling them for £116, they were £244 last September!

They are being sold at various prices: 3g are still charging £244, but PC World asks £149.99. Dixons online now have £249.99 (black modem) and £124.99 (white modem). It seems that the explanation is the type of modem used, does anyone have any information about this? WOuld the cheapest, white dongles work as well as the black ones?

benjus

The cheaper package offers the older E220 modem which are being phased out in favour of the USB stick style ones. I don't know if there would be any difference in speed, but seeing as you already have a Three 3G dongle, you should be able to just take the SIM out of the new one and put it in the one you already have. Then sell the new one on ebay!

You can also get a Three 3G dongle for £5 from here: http://www.3dongle4free.co.uk/

PlutoinCapricorn

I was wondering whether it was anything to do with not working with LINUX.

One of my laptops has Windows, the other has LINUX. My Huawei dongle works on both of them. I want a replacement that does too. Apparently there is a ZTE dongle out there that cannot deal with LINUX, and this might be the cheap one.

benjus

The cheaper one advertised on Dixons is a Huawei E220 and the expensive one is a Huawei E160G. The one that's currently being offered for £5 is a ZTE MF627. But do you really need to replace the modem? Surely the new SIM card is all you need...?

PlutoinCapricorn

That is very useful: so long as the cheap version works on both my laptops, I don't care if it looks like a spoon! And as you say I can put the 24gb SIM into my Huawei dongle - I guess that they would work well together?

I did ask in a 3 shop whether I could just buy a 24gb SIM, they said that many people want to buy SIMs separately but 3 do not sell them this way.

Anyway, £124 or so for up to 2 years' prepaid internet access looks like a great bargain to me. I am tempted to hang on a bit longer in case Dixons' £116 offer comes back, but perhaps it is best to get it while it is available.