[lonewolfonline]

I currently have a PAYG Virgin sim in my C905 (unlocked, unbranded). Previously a Nokia 6230i which I bought with the sim many years ago.

I also have a mobile broadband contract with 3 (5GB) with a USB modem.

All I want is to be able to browse the net on my phone when I'm down the pub, at work, random places... as you do.

I also want to plug my phone into my laptop or desktop PC and use it instead of the usb modem.

1 contract/package, 1 device, 1 bandwidth allowance, 1 bill. Easy!

Or so I thought....

The only internet I can get with Virgin is restricted to one of those "fair use" policy of 25mb per day. Yes 25mb.

Three say that I their sims will only work on a three handset because it needs software loaded to work, I can have a new C905 handset for £39 per month

O2 wont let you download anything... not even youtube or any streaming media

The only place that actually went anywhere to explain why I can't have mobile broadband on my mobile is Vodaphone. So say, the phone uses WAP when browsing the net on the handset, where the usb modem uses 3g/hsdpa. The use different access points and therefore using the mobile broadband sim in the phone will incur additional charges, as would the phone sim in the modem. When I spoke to the advisor, the best he could offer me is a phone contract and a mobile broadband contract with a free usb modem!

Vodaphone advertise a mobile broadband package on their website which looks to me exactly what I am after.

I get Sim £10 as a basic package and add onto that "Mobile broadband via your phone" package.

To quote from the mobile broadband page:

Quote

Feel the freedom. Use the internet your way – with full access to VoIP services like Skype™, and peer to peer services like file sharing.

With Mobile broadband via your phone, you get a whopping 5GB each month. Simply use your phone as normal – and if you have a 3G phone, connect it to your laptop to turn your phone into a broadband modem.

Now, I'm not really all that geared up on mobile technology as I was many years ago but this all sounds a load of to me. Why do they advertise a broadband on your phone package, if it wont actually work??? Does the advisor know ?

I can put my three sim into my phone and browse the full unrestricted internet through the phone browser, I can plug in the laptop and browse it using my phone as a modem. I can put my Virgin sim in the phone and browse the net on the handset as well as on the laptop, albeit filtered and "optimised".

So why can't I have 1 package that does this????

Or am I asking for rocket science???

Grrr

[cchaos]

I see that you havent mentioned orange in that rant: on pay as you go their internet/wap usage is something like 25MB per day, BUT theres no way you will hit that limit (meaning I was playing an online game with my phone as a modem, and surfing the net, and updating all my virus definations and I never hit the limit)

You will have to sort out the "adult content" restriction, and register the sim to get it "active" and enable 3G/HSDPA on it but that shouldnt be too messy. Oh the price of their internet: £1 per day, taken from your credit (effective from when you enable it via 450, until 23:59:59)

This post has been edited by cchaos: 02 August 2009 - 03:05 PM