blonde poker forum

I'd like to get some internet connectivity for my lappie on those infrequent occasions when I'm away from home - APAT weekends, holibobs (UK) and the like. Does anyone know what my options are? I'm not sure if it's possible but I'd just like to pay when I use it, I definitely don't want to be paying anymore than a fiver a month (for the facility and then pay on top for usage). I'm with T-Mobile on the Flext 25 tariff but that contract draws to a close in October. Is it worth haggling at this time?

The hotel I stopped in recently charged £10 a day for broadband access - wired in the room. With the amount I'd estimate I'd use it, the total cost per year of any solution would have to be sub £150 for it to represent value for money.

Any pointers would be most welcome.

http://www.vodafonebusinessshop.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=MobileEmailAndData.usbModem&WT_ref=EBU_DEST_WOR_1

looked at that before but was just wondering so after u have paid the intial £120+ VAT, how much is it from then on. Do u just pay 8.95 per 24 hours of usuage or what?

yes

Thankyou dewi

3 are just about to start doing this
http://threestore.three.co.uk/phoneplan.aspx?offercode=&phoneDesc=3_USB_Modem&phoneCode=3GUSBMODDS&tariffid=0

Doesn't seem to expensive but may work out cheaper in the long run as you don't have to buy it 1st but it is an 18 month contract. Depends how often you would use it.

do you know how reliable it is dewi?

tightend was using one over last weekend, he might give an update, red dog's got one too i think

ok thx....

Data cable (about £10) for your phone, plug it into your PC, sorted.

Tighty has the old PCMCIA card and it's not as reliable as the new technology.  Red's is linked up through the USB port, and I'd imagine it's a lot better than the cards of a few years ago.

APAT borrowed a USB T-mobile jobbie from Jeff at EMS during day 1b in Luton and it was excellent, particularly compared to the Vodafone card.  So good that I went out and bought one prior to Day 2 kicking off.  There was no charge for the unit, but APAT will pay a monthly rental of £29, which feels like good value as we will be running APAT updates monthly during S2.

You can, if you have a decent phone that is 3G, use the data cable that somes with the phone, and use the phone as the external 3G device.  No monthly charges, probably per megabyte charges..

I have the Vodafone USB modem for a pony a month. It works ike a dream, much better than the old 3G card. I'm chuffed to bits.

I 've seen these USB modems from T-mobile, Voderphone,and now 3. they all look the same (branded diff of course) does any one know if there's any differences.

they all seem about £25 per mth for 7 gbs.

I'm confusded as per.

Don't even think you'll need 3G, GPRS will do nicely ;)

You are in Leicester right technolog? If you want to pop over to S Wigston I'll sort you out with a 3G card I have a couple sat here at the mo. You just stick a vodafone SIM in and use it pay as you go. (So you would need a SIM).

Regards to the vodafone 3g cards compared to the usb modem, vodafone have about 6 different 3G cards, the older ones are slower than the new ones, so a newer one will be comparable to the new USB modem that everyone is raving about ;) You can also get an external arial for it if you want.

I think a pay as you go option is the best one for occasional use, don't want to be signed up to a 12/18 month contract.

red .....roughly how many MG do you use per hr when playing poker or just general surfing the net?

It wil do, I wouldn't say nicely (I'm on dial up right now :()

See this thread for discussion on the subject: http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=26563.0

thx rich

Just playing poker you can get away with 1MB per table per hour. (but make sure your computer doesn't download any updates or anything) Browsing the web you will use maybe 10/20 MB per hour.

The Vodafone package comes with 3GB per month (3GB is over 3000MB and will be virtually impossible to use unless you are downloading movies or musik))

All pretty much the same Brendan, but imho Vodafone is a bit more expensive but has a lot better coverage.

can be expensive when using abroad then at just over 4 quid per MB

I too use a Vodafone USB dongle- £25 pm for 250mb- I have never managed to use up the inclusive time playing poker and downloading text emails.
Very relaible too with a fair amount of 3G coverage but GPRS pretty well everywhere.
One note of caution tho I used mine very briefly in Vegas this year and it is very expensive when "roaming".
Malc-M

New tarrif is £8.75 for 24 hours when abroad.

that seems fair and affordable

The modem can be had for £91 buy it now on ebay, a substantial saving, but there appear to only be 4 available at this price.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UK-Vodafone-3g-Broadband-Mobile-Connect-USB-Modem_W0QQitemZ170145099316QQihZ007QQcategoryZ96912QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

So you stick the SIM in the card? I believe you can get Vodafone PAYG SIMs for free - would one of these be okay? Any idea of the cost structure of using this solution? How much would you want for one of your cards?

As I said, my T-Mobile 18 month contract is up in a month or so. Is there any mileage in going for a suitable phone/data cable/contract combo? If so any reccommendations?

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions everyone.

I think if you get a pay and go SIM they charge per MB but it is capped at around £10 per day. If you go to get a SIM I'd check with them the exact prices and data allowance.

You can have the card for what I paid for it, £15 off ebay. It's not one of the new faster type, but it gets the job done for occaisional use. I'll do my best to set it up for you if you want.

Of course, you might want to go for one of the newer faster ones, the best way to get one of those is on contract, others have already pointed them out.

Ive had a falling out with vodafone (it started when they sponsored the mancs). I have a phone with 3 and they seem to be advertising something similar, will this be as good (identical, it looks it) as the voda one? Are the limits and coverage the same? Anyone with any understanding of this lark?

Three is either cheaper (3gb for £15/month), or have higher data usage for the same price (7gb for £25/month). But their coverage is nowhere near as good. I signed up for a three modem last week and am now returning it as I could not get a 3G signal in several locations in Leicester, the most important being my house. The actual connection I was getting at home was unusable, it was slower than dial up and GPRS should actually be a bit faster than dial up. Of course in a different are, you might get excellent coverage and service but I didn't :(

I have now signed up for a vodafone £25/month for 12 months (by the way, the three contracts are 18months). I am going to use the cards I already own. A slower and older colt card, and a newer Huawei 1.8Mbps card. You can also get 2 types of USB modem, the round one which will work at 1.8Mbps also, and the brand new square one which will work at upto 7.2Mbps in some areas (about 2 at the moment!) but they are expanding. You can also get a 7.2Mbps Express card. I didn't bother with either of these 7.2Mbps devices as I can't get those speeds at the moment, and by the time I can there will be some on ebay for less than vodafone wanted to charge me (£50 or £100 depending on 12 or 18month contract).

I will be mainly using the 3G card in my linksys 3G router, so I can share it between several PCs. Then occaisionally on the move. It will be quite good to take the router, plug it in to a power socket and instantly have a hotstop for anyone to connect to ;).

untill they start using your hotspot for down losing the first 5 series of lost in HD

Anyone I allow to connect to ;)

thanks rich, i got most of that i think. Time to make it up with vodafone methinks...