Pay the postage and receive a free 3 mobile broadband dongle for free http://www.3dongle4free.co.uk
Nice find, Glenn. :karma:
Any idea what 3's coverage is like in Scotland?
3 is rubbish, though, isn't it? It's hopeless round here, anyway. Good link though! ;D
Three, along with T-Mobile, have formed a joint company, MBNL to rollout coverage to 98.7 of the UK land mass within the next 2 or 3 years.
Seems like a good thing to have as it costs nothing and you can just top it up whenever. :thumb:
Just take note that the top-up only lasts 30 days :)
any ideas how much your £10 gets you?
Only 1gb I believe.
Mind you, for surfing, that's a lot of pages. Travelodge charge £5/hour for wi fi access.
True.
That's reminded me, Travelodge have another £19 sale starting tomorrow at 6am.
Thanks for the tip. I'll take the Sammy to bed tonight. :)
Ive gone for it, although I may regret it. I only want one for mobile use on the laptop, no use where I live, no coverage, pity Idnet dont do one.
You know how to show Sue a good time, Rik. :tongue:
:rofl: :karmic:
I just knew that post was a hostage to fortune. ;D
:ithank:
Quote from: talos on May 13, 2009, 13:44:29
Ive gone for it, although I may regret it. I only want one for mobile use on the laptop, no use where I live, no coverage, pity Idnet dont do one.
I need to check the coverage for the part of Scotland I'm going to, I might even be able to spend some time in the forum. :)
:argh: We thought we were getting rid of you for a fortnight! ;D
:nana:
You probably are, I think Sue might have an opinion on me sitting in the car all day. ;D
Rik, I believe that Inverness is covered
Thanks, Glenn. :thumb:
Coverage (http://www.three.co.uk/_popup/Coverage_checker?maptypeForm=mbb#)
May not be much good in Scotland Rik
http://www.three.co.uk/Mobile_Broadband/Coverage_and_speed
Oddly enough, I've just come from there. It might be OK... Now to explain to Sue. ;)
Quote from: Rik on May 13, 2009, 14:12:17
:nana:
You probably are, I think Sue might have an opinion on me sitting in the car all day. ;D
You'd probably be left there all night too! ;D
At least I'd have a power source. ;D
Mcdonalds and the Libraries give free WiFi in Inverness
In fact there are lots of them (http://v4.jiwire.com/search-wifi-hotspots.htm?city_id=2130139)
Thanks, Alan. :thumb:
A bit of war driving with WiFi Radar (http://easy-wifi-radar.en.softonic.com/) will find businesses offering free WiFi access, I often use it
Nice tool, thanks, Alan. :karma:
I like the sonar ping you get as the scanner passes a wireless point ;D
Quote from: Rik on May 13, 2009, 13:50:02
I need to check the coverage for the part of Scotland I'm going to, I might even be able to spend some time in the forum. :)
Rik
Works pretty well here in deepest Aberdeenshire. Inverness it works really well, for £15.00 one off payment (lasts 30 days) you get 3Gb download allowance. Have been using it for 18 months now on and off but paid, wait for it, £91.00 for the dongle :eek4:
This is a deal and a half and I have just ordered one on top of my £91.00 version! :eek4: The latest one does not have the 5" lead of the older version is just like a USB thumb/flash drive. Go for it you can't go wrong :thumb:
Are all top-ups time-limited, Q?
Quote from: Simon on May 13, 2009, 13:03:40
3 is rubbish, though, isn't it? It's hopeless round here, anyway. Good link though! ;D
Sebby
3 is not rubbish. It is overall a pretty good deal, especially with this free dongle offer. Don't miss this deal it is excellent, see my earlier post on the subject.
I note they are offering the dongle on their main site at £29.99, or £59.99 with £15 of credit pre-installed. The maths just don't work for me. :)
Quote from: Rik on May 13, 2009, 19:27:45
Are all top-ups time-limited, Q?
Yes, Vodafone do a similar offering for £15.00 that runs for 6 months for 1 Gb of download but you will pay around £40.00 for the dongle. This deal is superb and should not be missed.
It hasn't been. ;)
Sorry, forgot, many thanks to Glenn for the heads up on this deal :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
Quote from: quandam on May 13, 2009, 19:29:39
Sebby
3 is not rubbish.
I never said it was. ;)
No, I did, because, in my area, I've heard several complaints about signal weakness. I guess it was a little unfair to generalise, as they could be fine in other areas.
Quote from: quandam on May 13, 2009, 19:29:39
Sebby
3 is not rubbish. It is overall a pretty good deal, especially with this free dongle offer. Don't miss this deal it is excellent, see my earlier post on the subject.
Thanks for that quandam - it's always useful to hear the opinions of actual users.
Forgive my dumbness here folks, but I've just registered and got this reply:
You will be taken to your basket. Please enter your
coupon code in the basket to redeem your free dongle.
Please click the button to activate your coupon
or you will pay full price!
Please have your credit or debit card at the ready
to pay postage.
Your dongle voucher code is :XXXXXI'm assuming the "coupon code" and the "voucher code" are the same thing. :dunno:
Anyhoo, I think I'll give this a punt, so thanks to kinmel for the heads up. :thumb:
I think that is a safe assumption to make, Drummer, and I would imagine that you see it applied prior to giving card details anyway (I've not gone through the process myself).
Quote from: drummer on May 14, 2009, 01:43:02
so thanks to kinmel for the heads up. :thumb:
I cannot claim the kudos for this, Glen is your man.
Quote from: Lance on May 14, 2009, 08:43:27
I think that is a safe assumption to make, Drummer, and I would imagine that you see it applied prior to giving card details anyway (I've not gone through the process myself).
You do. It's worth noting that you have to supply an order reference on the next screen.
Quote from: Sebby on May 13, 2009, 22:58:23
I never said it was. ;)
Sebby, you are quite right, you didn't, my apologies :blush:
Quote from: drummer on May 14, 2009, 01:43:02
Thanks for that quandam - it's always useful to hear the opinions of actual users.
Forgive my dumbness here folks, but I've just registered and got this reply:
You will be taken to your basket. Please enter your
coupon code in the basket to redeem your free dongle.
Please click the button to activate your coupon
or you will pay full price!
Please have your credit or debit card at the ready
to pay postage.
Your dongle voucher code is :XXXXX
I'm assuming the "coupon code" and the "voucher code" are the same thing. :dunno:
Anyhoo, I think I'll give this a punt, so thanks to kinmel for the heads up. :thumb:
Drummer
If you haven't already done the deed, there is a box that you click on in the 'payment' page alongside the box asking for your voucher code. Having entered your code, simply click on the box alongside. By the way, used the 3 dongle considerably on a recent visit to Windsor and was achieving around 3.2Gb download speed. May have been extremely lucky with that particular location but in general have found the device works well.
Good luck with your purchase. :thumb:
Cheers everyone! Should be the dog's dongles for the macbook >:D
How many of is that, now? Five? :)
Quote from: quandam on May 14, 2009, 10:02:35
Sebby, you are quite right, you didn't, my apologies :blush:
:hehe:
No worries. ;D
Hi guys, this seems too good to be true
So you are saying that I just pay for postage and get this dongle foc. no other charges ever except for top-ups
sounds great, what's the catch?
So far, there doesn't appear to be one. :fingers:
Quote from: melbob on May 14, 2009, 18:11:03
Hi guys, this seems too good to be true
So you are saying that I just pay for postage and get this dongle foc. no other charges ever except for top-ups
sounds great, what's the catch?
Absolutely no catch. As stated in an earlier post I paid around £90.00 for the same (very similar) around 18 months ago. Have used it on and off without major problems. 3 has good coverage throughout the UK especially in the highly populated areas and reception in those areas is exceptional. After all, what have you got to lose? Answer: £4.95!!!! Go for it! :thumb:
Quote from: melbob on May 14, 2009, 18:11:03
Hi guys, this seems too good to be true
So you are saying that I just pay for postage and get this dongle foc. no other charges ever except for top-ups
sounds great, what's the catch?
The company has 90,000 to give away apparently
Do you know what, I think I'll be a devil and go for it :evil:
As you rightly say, bar £4.95, I have nothing to lose.
Thanks chaps
I've gone for one - the worst that can happen is that I end up with a £30 dongle that doesn't work for me - I'm sure someone would buy it for the £15 I'd have spent finding out. :)
Quote from: melbob on May 14, 2009, 18:40:30
Do you know what, I think I'll be a devil and go for it :evil:
As you rightly say, bar £4.95, I have nothing to lose.
Thanks chaps
£4.95 is/could be your total loss if all went pear shaped....I bet you won't regret it at that price! :rub:
Quote from: Rik on May 14, 2009, 18:44:12
I've gone for one - the worst that can happen is that I end up with a £30 dongle that doesn't work for me - I'm sure someone would buy it for the £15 I'd have spent finding out. :)
Rik
You are a little rascal, in fact you are a real :evil: You know it makes sense! :rub:
Oh, I do. We'll try not to make you too jealous, Q. ;)
Ordered mine, all went OK but, I was a bit iffy about putting in my card details, there seemed to be very little security evident. :fingers:
I bet it won't work on my W98 Laptop !! ;D
You'd be right! (Assuming it's the same one!)
Quote
The MF627 gives you download speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps. Plus you can use your new best friend as a memory stick, just add a MicroSD card to the slot and load up to 4GB. And don't ever worry about losing the lid because it's connected with a handy strap!
To use your ZTE MF627 you'll need a few things. Your computer or laptop needs a minimum of 50MB hard disk space, 1 free USB port, a Windows 2000, XP, Vista or and Mac OSX operating system. Simple.
Quote from: sparky on May 14, 2009, 19:54:18
I bet it won't work on my W98 Laptop !! ;D
Nothing will!
I have been coming to that conclusion lately Sebby ! Even AVG have bailed out of supporting it.
Trouble is I need it for running some old work diagnostic tools, so I have to keep it going.....Cheers.
Sparky.
Can't you run it within a virtual machine on a newer computer?
Hi Lance,
Slightly off topic I guess, but,
well maybe, maybe not. It also needs serial comms through a comm port for terminal emulation and dumping DOS programs out to peripheral tape libraries and the like. I guess basically, I'm just not prepared to shell out big bucks to find out that I cannot get it to work.
Mind you, if this laptop dies, I might have no choice.
Quote from: sparky on May 15, 2009, 08:45:20
Slightly off topic I guess, but,
That's normal for this place!
Quote
well maybe, maybe not. It also needs serial comms through a comm port for terminal emulation and dumping DOS programs out to peripheral tape libraries and the like. I guess basically, I'm just not prepared to shell out big bucks to find out that I cannot get it to work.
Mind you, if this laptop dies, I might have no choice.
I think the biggest problem you would have is finding a modern laptop with a comm port (i'm assuming serial port). I know you can get USB to serial adapters though. As for whether or not it would work within a VM I don't know!
Well mine arrived connected and working on the mac. I know I've a poor 3g signal at home so not expecting great things here and indeed only 1Mbps but should allow more flexibility at work where 3g signal is strong as not then behind a corporate firewall.
I did register a credit card and it did take sometime before the obligatory £10 appeared as credit . This then has to be converted to a mobile add on for broadband use.
Below is 2 out 5 bars on the UMTS meter
(http://www.speedtest.net/result/476095085.png) (http://www.speedtest.net)
This is what I get via idnet
(http://www.speedtest.net/result/476098844.png) (http://www.speedtest.net)
Certainly not too bad - a very usable connection!
Certainly opens a few more options when I'm away from home.
Quote from: stevethegas on May 18, 2009, 11:27:01
Well mine arrived connected and working on the mac. I know I've a poor 3g signal at home so not expecting great things here and indeed only 1Mbps but should allow more flexibility at work where 3g signal is strong as not then behind a corporate firewall.
I did register a credit card and it did take sometime before the obligatory £10 appeared as credit . This then has to be converted to a mobile add on for broadband use.
Below is 2 out 5 bars on the UMTS meter
(http://www.speedtest.net/result/476095085.png) (http://www.speedtest.net)
This is what I get via idnet
(http://www.speedtest.net/result/476098844.png) (http://www.speedtest.net)
Hi! Steve
Mine arrived this morning as well. Nice little package of goodies. Remember, if you are in a poor reception area use the small USB cable that came with it and this will act as an aerial and
should improve the signal. :fingers:
As I said before it really is location, location, location, I did achieve 3.2 download whilst in Windsor recently. :thumb:
Now where did I put that lead ;D
Mine just arrived too. :)
Quote from: Rik on May 18, 2009, 13:03:03
Mine just arrived too. :)
Steady Rik, steady! :yeay:
I'm overwhelmed by new methods of connecting today, Q, as I also had a new line installed this morning. :)
Haven't seen mine yet, and I ordered it before I posted the deal :'( maybe it's waiting at home, the postie hadn't arrived by the time I left for work.
Mine isn't working. :'(
Mine's not arrived either :shake:
Quote from: Rik on May 18, 2009, 16:35:30
Mine isn't working. :'(
Whats wrong with it?
Needs a £10 top up?
No, sadly, that's what I was trying to do when it stopped. The first install was fine, it connected and downloaded a software update, installed that, re-booted and I was trying to get to my account when the signal dropped. Did a walk about, which didn't help, checked that Windows wasn't able to turn it off to save power, removed and re-plugged the dongle. Nada. Called support, 40 minutes of banal advice and waiting while the guy checked with other departments, eventually they came back and said the phone number was blocked for some reason, they'd have to unblock it and let me know. :sigh:
Luckily, 0870 calls are effectively free now. :)
What a PITA! :-\
My feelings exactly. :(
Keep reminding yourself that it was cheap!
I am, Seb, I am - it's just disappointing when you have a new gizmo and can't play with it. :)
I must admit mine didn't work until I put the SIM in. :blush: Its probably the same number.
Shall we check? ;) I did have the SIM in, I'm pleased to say (yes, I read the 'manual' ;D). The first thing mine did, Steve, was to d/l and update to the Connections applet, did you find the same?
It checked for updates but I don't think any were available,it then proceeded to connect to "my 3" account at which point I registered a credit card and did a top up and then transferred that as a mobile addon.
How odd. I must have an old one then. :) It wouldn't do anything before the d/l, then wouldn't work after. Deep joy. :'(
I should be getting mine this week, hope it works. will need it in july ;D
I'll keep you posted, Paul. :)
Mines arrived ;D not tried it yet
If everyone else's works with no problems, I shall cry. ;D
Sorry Rik, but mine seems to work.
I am wounded. ;D
Did anybody get an email to say it had been dispatched?
Not me. Though I may send an email when I despatch it. ;)
Thanks Rik, I'm still waiting :mad:
You can have mine, Bob. :)
Rik
Just tried to use mine and had the same problems as yourself. Rang 3 CS and after some investigation it appears that I am not in a 3G area. I then told the guy that I had bought a dongle from them some 18 months ago and that one receives a signal and can be used in the same location. It all went quiet, I assume shoulders were shrugged :dunno: :dunno: :dunno:
To prove it to myself I dug out the old 3 dongle and gave it a whirl, you guessed it, it worked!! Albeit not a super dooper signal but a useable one none the less.
I would have thought that you were definitely in a 3G area (MK?) whereas mine could be iffy. When you visit Scotland in a few weeks if you will be in a fairly highly populated area, ie Aberdeen, Inverness or the like, it should work well for you.
When you rang did they mention that you may not be in a 3G area?
One good thing, it didn't cost a fortune. :thumb:
No, they didn't say it was a coverage issue, Q, quite the opposite, they said coverage was good and there were no local problems. It did work to start with, downloaded the software update quite speedily and it was only after that the problems started. According to 3, the number has been 'blocked' and it will take 24 hours to resolve. So, I'm waiting. :)
What I pain. I wonder why that would have happened.
That I don't understand, Seb. It's not as if I instituted the d/l and was trying to get away with it free. :(
My dongle is now working. :thumb:
:yes:
I take it they've now unblocked you? ;D
It looks like it. :)
Quote from: Rik on May 19, 2009, 16:08:24
My dongle is now working. :thumb:
Ah good to hear, these problems can usually be fixed with the right ointment ;D
:nana: :rofl: :karmic:
Quote from: Rik on May 19, 2009, 16:08:24
My dongle is now working. :thumb:
Well done Rik!
I wish mine would work.
I do think that the 'older' version I have works on the 'simple' ordinary mobile phone link (as well as 3G in the right area) and the latest version just works in the 'strong' 3G signal areas, suppose that this would be described as progress. :dunno:
Get yours warmed up for your trip Northwards and we will look forward to receiving your pearls of wisdom via your dongle. :thumb:
I never drip pearls of wisdom from my dongle, Q. ;)
It's difficult to say, without a reference point, but the reception here seems poor on this dongle, just 4 bars, so I wonder if the 3 network is more patchy than it might be. Perhaps I should also get a Vodafone one and compare? :evil:
It's 3 more bars than I get, I only had 1 bar ;)
I feel humbled, Glenn. ;D
We have a whole new tune if we add up all the bars or is that a new jingle
Probably a jangle, Steve. :)
Dam thing messed up my network settings on the mac today wouldn't connect to the LAN when I got home until I deleted 3G settings. I think the problem is my ignorance of network setup in mac os x though.
I haven't had any issues like that here, Steve, it worked alongside existing wireless and cable.
I think it may be something due to "network locations" and order preferences the automatic setting seemed to get taken over by the 3g device. I should be able to setup a separate location for the 3g device
Er, pass. :)
My likely the truth is me meddling ;D
I did manage briefly a HSDPA connection at work
You little devil you. ;D
Quote from: stevethegas on May 19, 2009, 18:45:07
I think the problem is my ignorance of network setup in mac os x though.
I know that feeling!
Quote from: stevethegas on May 19, 2009, 18:59:50
I did manage briefly a HSDPA connection at work
HSDPA is great where available. 8)
Looked at the international roaming rates, best to leave it at home I think @ £3/MB :eek4:
That's not so bad when you look at mobile phone data charges abroad, usually around the £7.50/MB mark. If you were using your phone as a modem, the 3 dongle would work out significantly cheaper.
And an internet cafe even cheaper still!
That's true!
Apart from all the coffee and pies you'd buy! ;D
Pies, yes, coffee, no. :)
I'm sure you'd find something! Oh, food again! ;D
The stumbling block was drink. :)
Quote from: Sebby on May 19, 2009, 22:09:50
That's not so bad when you look at mobile phone data charges abroad, usually around the £7.50/MB mark. If you were using your phone as a modem, the 3 dongle would work out significantly cheaper.
Quote from: Rik on May 19, 2009, 17:41:21
I never drip pearls of wisdom from my dongle, Q. ;)
It's difficult to say, without a reference point, but the reception here seems poor on this dongle, just 4 bars, so I wonder if the 3 network is more patchy than it might be. Perhaps I should also get a Vodafone one and compare? :evil:
3 roam onto Orange when they are out of range of their own transmitters, it used to be O2 then they moved to Orange.3 are like T mobile not known for great reception even though they say otherwise, Rik. Orange has pretty good 3G coverage but Vodafone is the best I think in the UK.
Thanks, Gary, that may be the solution for me, then.
Got mine today. not tested it yet, will do that later tonight.
And me !
Itching to play with it, hope it works :fingers:
Mine didn't work at work today. I discovered I'd left it at home :blush:
Quote from: Gary on May 20, 2009, 11:21:56
3 roam onto Orange when they are out of range of their own transmitters, it used to be O2 then they moved to Orange.3 are like T mobile not known for great reception even though they say otherwise, Rik. Orange has pretty good 3G coverage but Vodafone is the best I think in the UK.
My experience (and somewhat of a general consensus as I understand) is that Orange have the worst coverage out of all the operators. I've been on T-Mobile in the past and found the reception excellent. I believe you're right in saying that Vodafone are the best in the UK in terms of coverage.
well my one connects and gets 6 bars, only trouble is, my3 seems to be down (cant access through idnet either) :whistle:
We must have caused meltdown, Paul. :)
3 have the largest 3G coverage in the UK, it is increasing as new masts come online with their partnership with T-Mobile.
So they don't use Orange, presumably, Glenn?
I'm posting using my 3 dongle at the mo ;D
So you are. :)
back on idnet now, much faster ;D
the 3 dongle is fast enough though, loaded the forum within 4 secs.
and a FYI. the 3 dongle works on Windows 7 RC.
My main mobile phone is Vodafone but I must admit in the Wrexham area O2 edges it into 2nd place. Over the UK Vodafone is most likely the best, RedCare for intruder alarms now use Vodafone for their secondary signal (It was owned by BT so they always used O2) and now DualCom use Vodafone for their primary signal which shows how good they feel Vodafone is. ;D
Quote from: Rik on May 20, 2009, 17:36:13
So they don't use Orange, presumably, Glenn?
I'm not sure who they peer 2G calls with now, but when I'm working in Amersham it's at MBNL's office (http://www.mbnl.co.uk) who are the management company setup to rollout the network, Ericsson engineers are actually doing the work. Their website is a little out of date, there is not full coverage at the moment.
Need some advice here folks.
Installed the 3 dongle without any credit, so it'll be ready for whenever I need it. Before the dongle light goes green though, I get the device connect/disconnect bongs about three times, so I checked Event Viewer and sure enough, there were quite a few SideBySide errors (event IDs 32 and 59).
According to MS (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923014), this is because I don't have Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package installed (although I notice there's a 2008 version). I don't have .NET Framework installed either FWIW.
Can I expect any problems if I install Visual C++ and should I install the 2005 version, the 2008 version or the 2008 SP1 version? Just created an Acronis backup in the event it all goes belly up.
Would the .NET Framework be a better solution?
ok i have mine. i hope the service is as good and as quick as delivery.
will report back...........
I get the same chimes, Drummer, probably for the same reason. I thought it was just Windows detecting the two devices (removable drive and modem) and getting them connected correctly. As the dongle is on my netbook, which I run as 'light' as possible, I don't have .NET or C++ runtime. Given it works fine without, I'm inclined to leave well alone - if they needed either of those packages, they should have said so. ;)
Thanks for that Rik. You're a man after me own heart as I keep the lappy free of any superfluous doodads and the last thing I want to do is add a new app if I don't really need to.
Now if I could just stop those Event errors appearing... :'(
I've found that, by leaving the dongle connected, or connecting it before I boot the machine, the errors go away, Drummer. It looks like a sloppy bit of coding by the developers.
Progress of sorts.
Booting from cold or rebooting with the dongle inserted has reduced the Event ID error count from twelve to three.
I can live with that. :)
Thanks again Rik.
NP. :)
My son decided he needed a lap top, it's cost him £40 per month with 3 (part of it to pay for lap top) he gets no signal in Barnham! He keeps ringing them up but they are useless, needs to sort before he leaves the Country in January! :rant2:
Quote from: J!ll on Jun 21, 2009, 08:48:23
My son decided he needed a lap top, it's cost him £40 per month with 3 (part of it to pay for lap top) he gets no signal in Barnham! He keeps ringing them up but they are useless, needs to sort before he leaves the Country in January! :rant2:
Jill
I presume your son is thinking of using the 3 dongle abroad? Unless he is going to one of their selected countries he should be prepared for some hefty charges for using the dongle ::) Sorry, but my geography is not that great, :blush: where is Barnham? :dunno:
It's Suffolk.
He hopes to use the RAF when abroad, so am not sure why he should pay all of the £40, but it's a contract :dunno:
Quote from: J!ll on Jun 21, 2009, 11:07:45
It's Suffolk.
He hopes to use the RAF when abroad, so am not sure why he should pay all of the £40, but it's a contract :dunno:
Thanks for the geography update :thumb:
May be of use if you wish to unlock your 3 Dongle ZTE MF627 http://www.jhangra.com/blog/2009/07/how-to-unlock-your-3-zte-mf627-usb-mobile-broadband-dongle/
If anyone's struggling with Three's ZTE MF627 and Mac OS X 10.6.1 this worked for me
Instructions:
1. Install 3 connect as usual on Mac 10.6
2. Download and install the Telstra Drivers from the following link for mac (http://www.maxon.com.au/downloads.php?p=1). since Telstra uses the same ZTE hardware.
3. Run 3 connection setup. Will work like breeze...
Note: This drivers work not only for 3 network it works for all the the ZTE hardware for Mac with latest 10.6 OS
Except it wasn't a breeze I had to install twice before it decided to work
I know how you feel, Steve, thanks for the link. :thumb:
Bloody Macs. I wouldn't have one! :evil:
I feel the same about PCs! :tongue: :)x
I just prefer Burger King. ;D :out:
:rofl: