[Digger]

Going to do some research in a mo but time is of the essence as you will see!

On a semi-whim went into CPW (Car Phone Warehouse) last night to purchase a T Mobile 3G USB Modem so I could go out and about with my EEE PC and take advantage of inclusive free use of Starbucks and BT Openzone Hotspots. Web 'n walk 3GB free allowance, all for £20 per mth 18mth contract. Great methinks, and worked brilliantly this a.m. in Starbucks connecting at 7.2mbps .

This morning I had a DOH! moment. All along I had been planning in the next month or so to upgrade my old mobile (currently on Orange) to (probably) T Mobile because of their apparently reasonable flext web 'n walk data deals.

Now you see the DOH! bit coming. I've just signed up for a contract that I cant use for my mobile so if CPW play by the book they cant refund me. I am going back tomorrow, as I spoke to the competent salesman who "hopes" to be able to help get me onto a new mobile phone deal with web 'n walk and refund the £20 per mth 18mth contract. . .hopefully.

My question is what would be the best phone to get that would allow me to use the (Bluetooth?) modem functionality to connect netbook at reasonable speeds to interweb. I dont think T Mobile do a 3G phone. My ideal phone would be the keyboard/touchscreen HTC Diamond Pro (out soon?). Any WinMobile phone is in the running but the Nokia E71 seems to be in the running. Does the modem work via bluetooth rather than a dangly USB cable?

I need to decide tomorrow I reckon as the longer I leave it more likely I will be tied into initial contract.

Thoughts and suggestions very welcome

DOH!

[londonguy1973]

Firstly, for £20 a month you should really only have signed a 12 month contract. There is no benefit in signing the 18 month one at the same price. Not sure if CPW do the same price as t-mobile stores but a 24 month contract would have been £10 for 3 months then £15 after.

Secondly, of course tmobile do 3G phones. We do HSDPA ones too which if you want to use the phone as a modem youll be better of getting. However to use the phone as a modem and get its HSDPA speeds youll need to add £12.50 to whatever contract you take out for the phone. A lot of people decide to spend the little extra and keep the modem and phone seperate.


The HTC diamond, Mda vario 3, Mda touch plus all have HSDPA speed and are windows based. ALong with the LG Viewty, Nokia n95, Ericsson K660i and Ericsson C902 all having the HSDPA speed too.

[Sy1441]

Originally Posted by londonguy1973

Firstly, for £20 a month you should really only have signed a 12 month contract. There is no benefit in signing the 18 month one at the same price. Not sure if CPW do the same price as t-mobile stores but a 24 month contract would have been £10 for 3 months then £15 after.

Secondly, of course tmobile do 3G phones. We do HSDPA ones too which if you want to use the phone as a modem youll be better of getting. However to use the phone as a modem and get its HSDPA speeds youll need to add £12.50 to whatever contract you take out for the phone. A lot of people decide to spend the little extra and keep the modem and phone seperate.


The HTC diamond, Mda vario 3, Mda touch plus all have HSDPA speed and are windows based. ALong with the LG Viewty, Nokia n95, Ericsson K660i and Ericsson C902 all having the HSDPA speed too.

The benefit of taking an 18 month plan is the usb modem is free whereas its £19.99 on the 12 month plan.

[Digger]

Well, I didnt get time to return it today, so hopefully i will be able to get a refund, as the phone I think i want is not out yet, HTC Touch Pro

Originally Posted by londonguy1973

Firstly, for £20 a month you should really only have signed a 12 month contract. There is no benefit in signing the 18 month one at the same price. Not sure if CPW do the same price as t-mobile stores but a 24 month contract would have been £10 for 3 months then £15 after. . . .

Can I get these prices on the high street (we are talking about just the USB modem still)?

. . .However to use the phone as a modem and get its HSDPA speeds youll need to add £12.50 to whatever contract you take out for the phone. A lot of people decide to spend the little extra and keep the modem and phone seperate.

Didnt realise you had to pay the extra for hsdpa! With the right phone will i be able to get 7.2Mbps sppeds via Bluetooth with the laptop?

[Digger]

Originally Posted by Sy1441

The benefit of taking an 18 month plan is the usb modem is free whereas its £19.99 on the 12 month plan.

True and when i inquired about a 12 month contract, how i laughed. . .£140 iirc. . .just for a cheapy usb modem .

[prking]

Originally Posted by Digger

Well, I didnt get time to return it today, so hopefully i will be able to get a refund, as the phone I think i want is not out yet, HTC Touch Pro



Can I get these prices on the high street (we are talking about just the USB modem still)?



Didnt realise you had to pay the extra for hsdpa! With the right phone will i be able to get 7.2Mbps sppeds via Bluetooth with the laptop?

You won't get 7.2Mbps with Bluetooth as it can only cope with much less. To get 7.2Mbps you would need a USB connection.

[hornydragon]

BT 2.0 is max 2.1 Mbps data transfer, Does anyone know when Orange will have HSDPA in the UK?

I thought the £12.50 was the web n walk Plus functionality which is cheaper then a seperate modem and you can of course put the sim in a modem if you want. I have been doing some digging into HSDPA recently and there is some cool stuff out there like HSDPA routers.

[londonguy1973]

Originally Posted by Digger

Can I get these prices on the high street (we are talking about just the USB modem still)?

Yes, its in all t-mobile stores

Originally Posted by Digger

True and when i inquired about a 12 month contract, how i laughed. . .£140 iirc. . .just for a cheapy usb modem .

Technically the usb modem is £19.99 on the 12 month contract but go into a shop and say youll take the contract if they do the modem free. Trust me, they will discount the 20 quid. Any decent shop with a brain running it wouldnt let you walk out the door without the contract for the sake of 20 quid.

[Digger]

Originally Posted by hornydragon

BT 2.0 is max 2.1 Mbps data transfer, Does anyone know when Orange will have HSDPA in the UK?

I thought the £12.50 was the web n walk Plus functionality which is cheaper then a seperate modem and you can of course put the sim in a modem if you want. I have been doing some digging into HSDPA recently and there is some cool stuff out there like HSDPA routers.

Hmmm I thought Orange offered HSDPA already.

From what I have read I think you are right as regards £12.50 add-on which also allows you to use your phone as a modem (3GB allowance I believe). Alternatively if you have taken out, or plan to take out a standard web 'n walk package you can add the "Plus"+modem 3GB allowance for an extra £5. I will be looking at either a Nokia E71 or an appropriate WinMobile device (HTC Touch Pro) on a 12 month contract.

Would it be correct to say that T Mobile offer the best phone+data tariffs combined?

[GBDG1]

Look out for deals on 3, until last week they were doing their 5GB package for £7.50 a month with free modem. T-mobile are doing 3Gb for £10 a month for existing customers - you may be able to get them to match this?

Orange do free mobile internet on some of their £30-£35 tarriffs and when I looked a week ago T-mobile were doing 700 mins, unlimited texts and free W&W for £30. (not sure how this would apply if you were using as a modem)

From my experience I would look for a stand alone USB modem, using a phone as a modem is a pain in the arse.

T-mobile have some annoying features on their packages such as image compression and not allowing skype.

If you're buying on a whim you might be best with a 3 Pay and go connection. YOu can pick up the modem for £49 (probably cheaper on ebay etc) and for £15 you get 3gb allowance. Might be good if you're likely to get bored after a few months.

[Digger]

I'm cautious about buying into a 3 contract online, because as soon as you insert sim card and make a call, i.e. activate account you are then tied into the contract (12/18 months etc!!!), unlike most of the others where you have 14 days cooling off period. Be Advised! Learnt this couple of days ago when I rang them.

[GBDG1]

Originally Posted by Digger

I'm cautious about buying into a 3 contract online, because as soon as you insert sim card and make a call, i.e. activate account you are then tied into the contract (12/18 months etc!!!), unlike most of the others where you have 14 days cooling off period. Be Advised! Learnt this couple of days ago when I rang them.

This doesn't sound correct on 2 counts. Firstly, buying online should allow you rights under the distance selling regulations which would allow a 7 day no questions asked returned.

Also I had thought that all contracts had a minimum 7 day cooling off period.

I could be mistaken of course.

[Digger]

I agree, can only assume they may be exploiting a DSR loophole.

[londonguy1973]

Originally Posted by Lawrenzini

This doesn't sound correct on 2 counts. Firstly, buying online should allow you rights under the distance selling regulations which would allow a 7 day no questions asked returned.

Also I had thought that all contracts had a minimum 7 day cooling off period.

I could be mistaken of course.

Its a common myth that all contracts have a cooling off period. However to my knowledge youre correct about online ones. Im fairly certain the DSR regulations would give a cooling off period. Cant remember if its 7 or 14 days though. Not sure how 3 would get round them. Maybe the DSR regs state a cooling off period only if the product is unused? Not read into them that much myself.

[londonguy1973]

Originally Posted by Digger

Hmmm I thought Orange offered HSDPA already.

From what I have read I think you are right as regards £12.50 add-on which also allows you to use your phone as a modem (3GB allowance I believe). Alternatively if you have taken out, or plan to take out a standard web 'n walk package you can add the "Plus"+modem 3GB allowance for an extra £5. I will be looking at either a Nokia E71 or an appropriate WinMobile device (HTC Touch Pro) on a 12 month contract.

Would it be correct to say that T Mobile offer the best phone+data tariffs combined?

The extra £5 is still the £12.50 package to use the phone as a modem. Just if you have the normal web and walk package of £7.50 the internet is just for surfing on the phone. Add an extra fiver and you can use it as a modem. Unless you have one of the deals at the moment which give you the £7.50 package free. Then obviously its just the extra fiver.

Generally speaking i think most people who are serious about mobile internet packages take either Tmobile or 3. The good thing about tmobile is that they dont charge if you go over your fair usage but i think 3 are slightly cheaper. mainly because they do charge if you go over. It all depends how much you are going to be using. If youre on the internet most days and do even a little bit of video streaming, i.e youtube etc... then youll hit most fair usage policies reasonably quickly.

Im still a fan of keeping your phone and modem seperate. Especially as its only a few pounds more. Its just so much easier to plug in a small usb stick where it installs itself after 20 seconds. Means you can take it out and use it on any pc if you want to take it to a friends or to work or somewhere. With the phone youll need to install the manufacturers pc suite on any pc you want to use it on. Plus the usb stick goes upto 3.6megs whereas the phone is 1.8megs.

[Digger]

I have managed to extricate myself from the initial usb modem contract and will now try and find a single contract that satisfies both needs, phone and its modem's use to connect lappy to www/email.

Incidentally the usb modem managed to connect at 7.2mbps constantly, except when in the basement when I had no signal, unlike my phone!. I assume that phone's hsdpa via usb cable would be 3.6mbps? I might even find modem via bluetooth might to be bearable in terms of speed. No big deal as wouldnt use it that often.

I think i will wait until the HTC Touch Pro comes onto the market and then make a decision. Incidentally I have been with Orange for well over 10 years. Maybe they will make me an offer I cannot refuse? Somehow I doubt it .