3G Data Cards.... locked?

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guv - 05 Dec 2006 22:18 GMT

Ive just signed up with t-mobile on web'n'walk plus, so can
legitimately use my phone as a modem on a laptop.

Ive been looking at buying a new laptop and have noticed they are
"giving away" Vodaphone 3G data cards.

Would I be able to use one of these to t-mobile (ie are they locked or
resticted) by inserting the t-mobile sim? Would I get better results
with a card over a phone? The phone in question is a Vario 2 and has a
high speed (1.8mb) link (alledgedly). Not that I see speeds from it
that appear to be faster than a 56k modem!

Cheers

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Matt Wheeler - 06 Dec 2006 06:58 GMT

> Ive just signed up with t-mobile on web'n'walk plus, so can
> legitimately use my phone as a modem on a laptop.
>
> Ive been looking at buying a new laptop and have noticed they are
> "giving away" Vodaphone 3G data cards.

Is it a Dell laptop by any chance ?
Certainly the Dell laptops that we have been getting at work recently
have a sim card slot in the battery compartment. However, we haven't
got the actual card fitted in, so can't use it. I understand the
reason for the Vodafone offering is that if you want the "3G data"
option available, you might have to sign some sort of contract with
Vodafone too, atthough i may be wrong on that. I seem to recall they
aren't locked though.

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guv - 06 Dec 2006 08:06 GMT

>> Ive just signed up with t-mobile on web'n'walk plus, so can
>> legitimately use my phone as a modem on a laptop.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
>Is it a Dell laptop by any chance ?

No, its an Acer.

>Certainly the Dell laptops that we have been getting at work recently
>have a sim card slot in the battery compartment. However, we haven't
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>Vodafone too, atthough i may be wrong on that. I seem to recall they
>aren't locked though.

Yes, I know the contract part - but the pay as you go option is £50 to
buy. Not sure if thats a good deal for a 3G data card.

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Tariq - 06 Dec 2006 07:04 GMT

> Ive just signed up with t-mobile on web'n'walk plus, so can
> legitimately use my phone as a modem on a laptop.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> high speed (1.8mb) link (alledgedly). Not that I see speeds from it
> that appear to be faster than a 56k modem!

The Vodafone 3G cards I've had in the past have both been unlocked - my
dad is using one on Virgin and I use the other on T-Mobile occasionally
(although I find the internet connection fine using a P990 over
bluetooth).

Tariq

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Richard Oliver - 06 Dec 2006 08:29 GMT

As in "giving away" with a "contract"?

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MinervaUK - 06 Dec 2006 13:31 GMT

The Vodafone offer you're refering to is Vodafone Pay As You Use (not
to be confused with Pay As You Talk).

Basically, you buy a laptop from a third party reseller, e.g. Comet,
and as part of a promotion with Vodafone on certain laptops, you
receive a claim number where you can apply for a free data-card via the
following website:

http://www.vfmobileconnect.co.uk/index.php

When you've claimed the data card, you set up a direct debit with
Vodafone. Despite the structure being set up like a contract account
there is no set monthly line rental, instead the direct debit simply
takes your 'used' amount at the end of every month. You're billed
?2.35 per megabyte. You can stop using the service at any time, or if
you'd like you can migrate over to a contract.

Although it may be possible to put an alternative SIM into the data
card you could well encounter functionality problems at both hardware
and software levels. If you wanted to do this I'd recommend contacting
the SIM provider (e.g. Virgin etc) rather than Vodafone, as the
settings would be those applied at network level.

> > Ive just signed up with t-mobile on web'n'walk plus, so can
> > legitimately use my phone as a modem on a laptop.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> As in "giving away" with a "contract"?

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John Blessing - 06 Dec 2006 14:21 GMT

> Ive just signed up with t-mobile on web'n'walk plus, so can
> legitimately use my phone as a modem on a laptop.
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> Cheers

I believe the older cards were unlocked. The recent ones are however locked
to Vodafone. I have one and tried it with a Tmobile sim and it did not work

> Ive been looking at buying a new laptop and have noticed they are
> "giving away" Vodaphone 3G data cards.

I believe the deal varies. When I took mine out recently, on PAYT the 3G
card was 49.95, but the HSPA ( max 1.8Mb) was 99.95

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