3G data card for laptop

ericthekidstoner

any suggestions on the best 3g data card on the market at the mo?

the best I've found so far is the T-Mobile offer: £19.99/month
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones_im_wnw_pro

Vodafone's equivalent is £45 ex vat
http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.view3Gdatacards

Orange (lol) is hilarious... tariff webpage doesn't even work
http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/3g_plans

MickKnipfler

I've heard that the Tmobile deal is a good one. Is it 3G only though? Does it drop back to GPRS where there's no 3G coverage?

DrBenway

If you have a mobile isn't it easier and cheaper to push for an upgrade
to 3G phone.

wolvesinwales

I tried to use my Free Vodafone 3G datacard whilst on holiday in Scarborough i found it totally useless, constant loss of signal meaning i had to repeatedly reconnect and attempt to log into places.
Despite getting hardly any use at all out of it due to the connection problems my first bill ran to 4 pages and £17.17.
I received a free £20 credit with the card so it hadn't cost me anything in theory but i still complained to Vodafone and they have credited my account with the £17.17 with no argument at all so i reckon they are well aware of problems in trying to use these.

DonnyDave

wolvesinwales wrote:

I tried to use my Free Vodafone 3G datacard whilst on holiday in Scarborough i found it totally useless, constant loss of signal meaning i had to repeatedly reconnect and attempt to log into places.

That is the problem I find with Vodafone's 3g network. Quite often it's best to switch back to GPRS. I presume I'm paying for the data on those failed attempts.

Jason_Lloyd

Hiya

Maybe I can help you out on this.

Pros - The T-Mobile Web n Walk Professional product is by far the cheapest mobile broadband product on the market at the moment at £19.99 a month. You also get a free data card worth £55 and it has unlimited downloads (2Gb fair use cap).

Cons - It's an 18 month contract (ouch!) and current speeds are 386Kbps which is slow for broadband, BUT you do get free unlimited access to BT Openreach and T-Mobile wireless hotspot networks in over 1000 locations across the UK where you can get speeds well beyond 10 Mbps.

All in all a good entry level mobile broadband product. In the next year we're going to see some cracking deals in this space which will make this a genuine rival to fixed line broadband services.

Cheers

Jason

ericthekidstoner

cheers Jason

by the sound of things, the market is gonna hot up!

must admit that if it wasn't for the 18 months contract, I would've gone with T-mobile already (£19.99 * 18 is quite a lot of money!). Plus its mighty inviting considering the un-competitive Vodafone offer

I'll probably wait till the new year then. Got a wifi creditEcard in the mean time for emergencies (or bouts of insufferable boredom)

durain

i am testing the t-mobile 3G card at the moment. on paper, looks good, especially if you can use the wi-fi hotspot coz you gonna get a much better speed and connection reliablility. i think all starbucks got t-mobile wi-fi.

pity i am stuck in the office most of the time. really need to go out and test it fully.

Jason_Lloyd

We're watching the mobile broadband market quite closely at the moment. I agree it's still too pricey right now but it's going to change soon trust me.

3 announced yesterday they're launching their own broadband data cards, we've not got pricing detail yet but it should come in at a competitive price which should open up the market further.

Be also interested to hear how you got on with the road test of the T Mobile service.