Samba Mobile Broadband - Is it Really Free?

andyt8

Hi,

My one warning is after watching an ad to build up your credit DO NOT CLICK ON ANY FURTHER LINK IN THE AD - YOU WILL NOT EARN ANY CREDIT AND INSTEAD WILL BE USING UP YOUR RECENTLY EARNED CREDIT.

The only way to earn is from the link on Samba's "earn credit" button and watching one of the six offered "link through" videos. Don't get interested in the advertisers video and click for further videos. I did this and next day when the account had updated (it takes that amount of time - read samba FAQ) I was in Negative credit and had to start earning all over again.

Now I've learnt that I am very happy with the service. Got the sim with the moneysavingexpert discount and when it arrived put it into my unlocked ex Vodafone dongle K3565 dongle.

Worked fine and the 3 network was so much faster than the Vodafone one (only 2G where I live). Going to use it for occasional use when the landline goes down. I expect they will disconnect the SIM if it is not used for so many days just like other networks - but I can't find that in their T&C at the moment.

banger9365

andyt8 wrote: »

Hi,

My one warning is after watching an ad to build up your credit DO NOT CLICK ON ANY FURTHER LINK IN THE AD - YOU WILL NOT EARN ANY CREDIT AND INSTEAD WILL BE USING UP YOUR RECENTLY EARNED CREDIT.

The only way to earn is from the link on Samba's "earn credit" button and watching one of the six offered "link through" videos. Don't get interested in the advertisers video and click for further videos. I did this and next day when the account had updated (it takes that amount of time - read samba FAQ) I was in Negative credit and had to start earning all over again.

Now I've learnt that I am very happy with the service. Got the sim with the moneysavingexpert discount and when it arrived put it into my unlocked ex Vodafone dongle K3565 dongle.

Worked fine and the 3 network was so much faster than the Vodafone one (only 2G where I live). Going to use it for occasional use when the landline goes down. I expect they will disconnect the SIM if it is not used for so many days just like other networks - but I can't find that in their T&C at the moment.

found this for you http://help.sambamobile.com/Community/Answers/244

DrPaul

OK, actually had a chance to use the SIM in my iPad and can't really fault it.

At my parents' home in North Oxfordshire the signal was a bit marginal and there were a few DNS glitches (connecting to Google of all things), but at Gatwick it worked a treat - saved me from getting ripped off for wi-fi access when I found that I needed to re-download a number of e-books before my flight.

A minor panic on my return to the UK when I couldn't re-enable cellular data on the iPad, but that turned out to be a bug in iOS after "airplane mode" has been used - you need to kill the Settings app and then restart it, otherwise the cellular data setting stays stubbornly greyed out.

All that downloading only used a couple of hundred meg of my allowance as well. Decided to top it up now I'm back, so here's an updated "cheat sheet" of the current crop of adverts - the good news is that Samba seem to have got a lot more advertisers on board, so maybe this is actually going to be a long-term proposition after all!

30 sec ads

Radox
Rice Krispies
Will Ferrell movie trailer
Dior
Adidas
Bacardi
Skechers
Domino's Pizza
Aptamil
Ladbrokes
Walkers
Stoli
The Guardian (but one is also 2:39)


40 sec ads

BT
Gu
United Nations "I Was Here"
Telegraph
Nationwide
Dulux
Vauxhall


50 sec ads

Unicef
Prudential


1 min ads

Nike
Sprite
P&G
Samsung Galaxy SIII
Audi
Kopparberg
Visit Essex
Communities and local government
Lynx
Shell (but one is also 3:22)
O2
Sheba
Sky Sports
Cathedral City
Sainsbury's


1 min 30 sec ads

Hovis
Louis Vuitton
NSPCC
Carlsberg
Greenpeace
John Lewis
DFS
Darksiders II
Toyota
Example
VW
Intel


1 min 50 sec ads

Refuge for women
ottobock (also a 2:52)
esure
Rekorderlig Cider


2 min + ads

Call of Duty Black Ops II (2:16)
Tourism Ireland (2:19)
The Guardian (2:39)
Shell (3:22)
Volvo (3:22)
Samsung (3:39)
Start Rite (4:14)

DrPaul

banger9365 wrote: »

found this for you http://help.sambamobile.com/Community/Answers/244

Now that is something to bear in mind - that the SIM is deactivated if not used for 3 months.

Am I right in assuming that with my iPad I just need to turn cellular data on occasionally so that it connects to the network, even if I'm using wi-fi so no data is actually transferred?

Nookster

Should be enough to keep the SIM active, but if your worried it's not enough there's always Speedtest.net app and you can check MySamba to sure it's there in your usage stats.

banger9365

Nookster wrote: »

Should be enough to keep the SIM active, but if your worried it's not enough there's always Speedtest.net app and you can check MySamba to sure it's there in your usage stats.

been using it most off the day and nothing is showing up in MySamba on usage ,
how long do's it take to update

Nookster

Not sure, I only usually check or notice the next day, positive I read somewhere that it can take hours for usage to show, but earned is instant.

windyng

has this worked? Seems like a great idea.

baysieboy

andyt8 wrote: »

Hi,

My one warning is after watching an ad to build up your credit DO NOT CLICK ON ANY FURTHER LINK IN THE AD - YOU WILL NOT EARN ANY CREDIT AND INSTEAD WILL BE USING UP YOUR RECENTLY EARNED CREDIT.

The only way to earn is from the link on Samba's "earn credit" button and watching one of the six offered "link through" videos. Don't get interested in the advertisers video and click for further videos. I did this and next day when the account had updated (it takes that amount of time - read samba FAQ) I was in Negative credit and had to start earning all over again.

Now I've learnt that I am very happy with the service. Got the sim with the moneysavingexpert discount and when it arrived put it into my unlocked ex Vodafone dongle K3565 dongle.

Worked fine and the 3 network was so much faster than the Vodafone one (only 2G where I live). Going to use it for occasional use when the landline goes down. I expect they will disconnect the SIM if it is not used for so many days just like other networks - but I can't find that in their T&C at the moment.

Can you tell me where or how this is done? Thanks.

roadandirt

Hi
I have used Samba mobile for about 3 weeks and it works well. I soon built up credit to 1.4 gb in about 8 days.I usually turn the sound of the ads and get on with something else on my second computer. I do a lot of motorhoming so it is sometime difficult to get internet on sites or you are charged a lot of money per gb. You do not seem to use your credit up if you are watching ads to build up credit via the samba dongle.So if I am on a tiny site miles from anywhere I can still use my tiny computer to check e-mails which is what its best use for. If you down load videos I would think it would use up credit.Checking e-mails and opening simple webpages uses very little credit.The only downside and I am only being picky is that you can not use it a broad
Conclusion if you want to check e- mails perhaps catch news headlines or even the weather in the middle of a field miles from Witherspoons Mcdonalds etc or even in the home in a spot your wifi doesnot reach then this is ideal
I can fully recomend it