3rd party GPRS Providers?

jonat8

13-03-2003

Do 3rd party GPRS providers exist, i.e. not attached to a specific mobile network. I have a Virgin phone that supports GPRS but Virgin do not provide GPRS service for what I can make out. So my question is, are there any network independent GPRS providers with reasonable prices, or has anyone succeeded in getting a Virgin phone to work with GPRS?

Thanks
Jonathan.

richardadc

14-03-2003

GPRS can only work if your network supports it, just as you can't connect to a different network to make a call.

Quackers

14-03-2003

T-Mobile have GPRS, and since Virgin piggy back on T-Mobiles network i do not see why GPRS should not be available to you. Has a customer service person told you this? or have you not phoned up, as the service has to be activated too.

hxbro

14-03-2003

The network they run on might not allow them to have it. Its like onetel who work over vodaphone, they couldn't have mms until they have proved they can handle it, yet they sold mms phones, I remember questioning this when I was putting the data onto the web site for them.

Hx

jonat8

14-03-2003

Quote:
“Originally posted by ripsaw82
T-Mobile have GPRS, and since Virgin piggy back on T-Mobiles network i do not see why GPRS should not be available to you. Has a customer service person told you this? or have you not phoned up, as the service has to be activated too. ”

Nobody told me but when I bought the phone there was something on the box saying they have not tested the GPRS functionality and thus could not guarantee it worked. So I assume they don't support it.

An interesting point I noticed last night while flicking through the phone (Panasonic GD67) manual, there are 2 different styles of icon for signal strength - 1 for GSM and 1 for GPRS and my phone always shows the GPRS icon but there are no connection settings configured for GPRS.

Quackers

14-03-2003

I did not wack any settings in, T-Mobile activated it for me.

exilis

14-03-2003

Virgin don't officially support MMS or GPRS yet but that doesn't mean it doesn't work.
Best idea would be to phone virgin, expecially if you have a virgin branded phone (ie bought out a virgin megastore or something, otherwise they would be likely to blame cpw or wherever for not telling you the phone is not gprs enabled)
GPRS however is still a wee bit touchy on pay as you go, Orange especially you can get it enabled depending on who you speak to at the call centre.
Ohh and just because virgin piggy back off t-mobile means nothing if the deal doesn't include gprs!
Best idea is to phone them, as I said alot of these things are down to the rep you get in the call centre (from personal experience)