Samba Mobile Broadband - Is it Really Free?

Uplink

Ordered my dongle + SIM today. Lied that I'm running Windows to get the Google Chrome browser extension. I'm running Linux and the Battery browser extension doesn't seem to notice. If anything, it looks like a glorified bookmark.

They say it doesn't work with IE... I don't see why you can't just bookmark your page. Yeah, you don't get a fancy battery in your toolbar. Who cares? But then again, why are you using IE anyway?

phayward1963

Does the samba sim work in a mobile smart android phone? if so how do I use the sim and still keep my mobile number the same?

verandi

phayward1963 wrote: »

Does the samba sim work in a mobile smart android phone? if so how do I use the sim and still keep my mobile number the same?

You most certainly wouldnt be able to make calls using the sim. You would have to use two sim cards. One to make calls and texts (the one you have now) and then the samba one for internet. Other people have said it works in smartphones for internet but its not supported and so may not work on a particular handset

This would involve you swapping your sim card whenever you wanted to other feature.

Cool_Chick

I've been a PAYG dongle user for years as I find it cheaper for me than a contract.

I joined Samba a few weeks ago, lured by the promise of "free" broadband. Yes, there's an offer on now so the Sims are cheap. But P&P is not proportionate, especially as it takes a good few days to arrive. And there are so many rules to learn and things to download for such a small amount of megabytes (MB). This service is suited to very light users (e.g. checking your emails daily). Do not use it for watching YouTube, downloading music, opening attachments, viewing photos, online shopping. You’ll be charged much more than my PAYG dongle.

Instructions provided with my Sim were sparse. You will always be referred back to the FAQs on their website, which you need internet access on a PC/laptop/iPad/iPhone to view. It did not load on my Blackberry, so I had to buy extra internet access just to find out how to use Samba.

I had already contacted T-Mobile for my unlocking code, so I should just have had to stick my Samba Sim in my dongle and use it. But I spent hours trying to get it to connect. As per their Contact Us details, I Tweeted them and Texted them for help. All ignored. In the end I Facebooked them and they replied promptly as it’s so public. They told me to email their Support person (yes, they have ONE person in Technical Support!). Then they deleted my Facebook message as they only like to show positive things on their Facebook page. You will see lots of people complaining about this (if you catch them before Samba deletes the posting!).

So I detail the error messages in emails to Support, but he just kept saying “check your internet connection”. This is after me sending around 5 detailed messages in a couple of hours. They won’t speak to you on the phone as there’s only ONE guy working there! Eventually I got access somehow. I have no idea how. I suspect that Samba had forgotten to enable my Sim before posting it.

So I start using Samba and watching the adverts. But the “Battery” app you have to download to monitor usage against credit is not up-to-date. Apparently there is a significant delay in the 3 network sending the data to Samba. I immediately blew my credit and suspended my account as I had no idea how much I was using.

Samba apologised and credited my account with an extra 400MB for free. They then told me to use “MySamba” to monitor usage. But I discovered that this is also out of sync. And it is not user friendly. E.g, it does not show the extra 400MB credit. And, watching an advert may use 10MB. But you will only earn 3.5MB credit from watching it. But your reported credit will increase by 10MB, not 3.5MB. So when you spend an hour watching ads, your reported credit will be over-inflated. So you use the internet but monitor it against the wrong credit figure. So I blew my data usage again.

When they suspend your account, you somehow need to watch adverts to rebuild your credit. But I had to use my PAYG service for this. And my PAYG dongle defaults to Internet Explorer as its browser, which Samba is not compatible with. So I watched hours of ads, and emailed Support to find out why my balance was not changing, only to be told that it had all been in vain.

So I spent over two weeks trying to get Samba up and running. Most of that time was spent emailing Support, who was not always very polite.

I found that I actually enjoyed watching the adverts, but there is a finite amount that they make available to watch each day. At the moment, credit that you earned stays valid. This is changing (see their FAQs!). So you really have to discipline yourself to be a light user to get the best out of Samba.

I imagine that Samba will suit some users very well. And they are very new so they have the opportunity to use this feedback to make effective improvements (as they won’t listen to feedback via their Twitter, Facebook or website – search Twitter for “Sambamobile” and see other customers’ feeedback). But they are not for me right now. I have thrown away my Sim and asked them to delete my account.

For the level of service that I need, my PAYG service is cheaper. It also gives very good reception, very good immediate Customer Service and very good immediate Technical Support, which I have realised now is very important for me. And you can’t beat speaking to a human, even if they are in another country!

michael607

i have had my samba sim just over a month now and it is great.

i already had a 3G dongle which i bought off eBay. i ordered my sim, having paid my £4.99 and it was with me in 2 days.

at the time of writing this feedback, the Samba Mobile Broadband battery app only works with Chrome or Firefox browsers (which isn't a big issue).

Once my sim arrived, i loaded it into my dongle, plugged the dongle in and updated the drivers on my laptop via wi-fi.

then, once done, switched off my wi-fi and connected via 3g dongle.

i did a speed check and was getting up to 4.25mbps download speeds.

very decent.

i should point out, that when i ordered my sim card, i started watching the ads in order to build up my MB credit on my account.

now, at first look i was hesitant about the idea of ads, but it works really easy.

while i'm mucking about on facebook or twitter via my IE browser, i have google chrome open and 'watch' the ads in the background (in effect, i play the ad with volume down low and just do what i do on my laptop as normal)

once the ad has finished, click on another, and so on and so forth.

to be honest, it only really would work for someone where they have access to a fixed line broadband connection.

i use my dongle in my laptop out and about, so it works great as the speeds are good and it's completely free, no ongoing costs, you simply watch more ads to top up your balance.

another good point is that the data you earn by watching the ads is not time limited, so the balance remains until it is used up.


i'm not too sure how long this will be around for, but i say, get in there while you can and milk it for what it's worth.

hope this is useful for someone.

Uplink

Samba could improve their ad viewing experience. I didn't quite catch the punchline of the Aldi advert, so I wanted to see it again, but Samba said the ad expired. Well... I understand they don't want to credit me twice for the same ad, but let me see it for free, will ya?

keith1st

Just got my Samba sim and it couldnt be easier to install, easy to work up credit, and lets be honest, you only need to run the add, not live it!
I am basically a home wifi user so I only need cell access rarely, the Samba system is ideal for me

Uplink

Got mine today. As I said earlier, I'm running Linux (Ubuntu), so it was all a shot in the dark. But I got it working in the end. Apparently, the dongle attempts to be very user friendly, and it doesn't give you access to the modem when you plug it in. It gives you access to a makeshift CD instead. To get access to the modem, just eject the CD and the dongle will reconnect with a different USB ID which Ubuntu can talk to. Then you just use it like a normal broadband modem: it appears in the Network Manager, you click 3internet, and off you go, no hassle at all. *** Later edit: found out that this technology is called ZeroCD(TM). Its purpose is to avoid shipping an extra driver disc in the box.

verandi

My sim turned up today. Seems to work fine in my phone broadcasting a wifi hotspot.

Only downside I have noticed so far is when watching adverts while using samba to connect to the internet. They say that you wont use up credit when watching ads to top up. However, I had a couple of cases of the advert expiring. Meaning I wasnt given any credit and lost some to watch the ad too. Might be because I got distracted and went off the tab for too long, so just be carefull when earning credit using samba internet.

4444405

I have been using Samba for the past month and I've recently bought a second sim card for my son who lives away from home. For best results I recommend using Safari web browser as it gives me 100% success for viewing adverts and displaying the purple earn more credit button which informs me the page has successfully ended. I don't download the battery tool as the website will show you your allowance as you hover the mouse over the earn credit battery. Seven tabs running at once is enough for an average computer in my opinion.