DS Forums

 
 

Three - modem use allowed?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 25-08-2007, 20:38
pepsimix
 
Posts: n/a

I have been using T-Mobile £1/day via a Sony-Ericsson T610 and my mini notebook for a while. It works well at around 44kbit/s but still rather slooow.

Does anyone know if it possible to use a 3 phone as a modem in the same way?

It might be proscribed in their T&Cs but still technically possible is the answer I'm after!

It seems they do a £1/day service too, and apparently a weekly deal for £2.50. Seems too good to be true, so probably is.

Anyone tried this with 3 ?
  Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 25-08-2007, 21:15
Nightdeamon
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,633
if you can the speed will be faster as Three is 3G, mobile broadband
Nightdeamon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 25-08-2007, 21:25
pepsimix
 
Posts: n/a
Yes, I think I would get around 300kbit/s . Not mega by home standards but a lot better than GPRS.

Good enough for on-the-move.

I suppose I will just go for it anyway, if it works it works, if not - sell the phone.
  Reply With Quote
Old 25-08-2007, 21:36
Adam D
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: UK,
Posts: 4,939
I still use the £1 a day from tmobile, Slow as you said but when in a 3g area and it has a signal i get around the 300 mark.
Adam D is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 25-08-2007, 21:55
pepsimix
 
Posts: n/a
I still use the £1 a day from tmobile, Slow as you said but when in a 3g area and it has a signal i get around the 300 mark.
I did'nt realise that that was posible - I just assumed that the T-mobile £1/day thing was GPRS only.

I shall certainly look into this, thanks!
  Reply With Quote
Old 25-08-2007, 22:00
Adam D
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: UK,
Posts: 4,939
Yeahh, I was using it last night, Slow with the normal GPRS signal and around 300k in the 3G area.
Adam D is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 25-08-2007, 22:50
steve_ludwig
Banned User
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: In a Cottage in Herefordshire
Posts: 2,628
Fair use policy of 40mb a day though
steve_ludwig is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2007, 07:55
epsomsalts
 
Posts: n/a
how do you set it up as a modem?
  Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2007, 08:16
steve_ludwig
Banned User
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: In a Cottage in Herefordshire
Posts: 2,628
how do you set it up as a modem?

Put a t-mobile pay as you go sim into a datacard

Datacard

Alternatively in some cases you can use the mobilephones internal modem, although I think you are better off with a seperate modem (eg the data card) and a seperate sim in case you get disconnected for exceeding fair use limits on more than a few occasions.
steve_ludwig is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2007, 14:21
Redcoat
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: The wilds of West Tyrone
Posts: 2,122
3 is now starting to roll out HSDPA across its network, which it is marketing as "Turbo". Its already on in Omagh at least. Its coverage map shows where it'll be available for the next three months. But as for the original answer, I can't give a definite answer.
Redcoat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2007, 14:50
intheknow
Banned User
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bristol
Posts: 4,837
Yes it's a fiver for up to 2 gigs a month.
intheknow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2007, 19:00
Mr Cable
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,868
Yes it's a fiver for up to 2 gigs a month.
Erm? What?

XSeries Silver is £5 per month for 1 Gig of Handset only Browsing.

From the 3rd September you'll be able to pay £10 for 3Turbo - a Gig of Data for PC use.

You may be intheknow about some things matey, but not 3's tariffs!
Mr Cable is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 26-08-2007, 19:10
Adam D
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: UK,
Posts: 4,939
Erm? What?

XSeries Silver is £5 per month for 1 Gig of Handset only Browsing.

From the 3rd September you'll be able to pay £10 for 3Turbo - a Gig of Data for PC use.

You may be intheknow about some things matey, but not 3's tariffs!
Agree'd

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08...turbo_tariffs/
Adam D is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 01:16
intheknow
Banned User
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bristol
Posts: 4,837
Erm? What?

XSeries Silver is £5 per month for 1 Gig of Handset only Browsing.

From the 3rd September you'll be able to pay £10 for 3Turbo - a Gig of Data for PC use.

You may be intheknow about some things matey, but not 3's tariffs!
X series £5 said unlimited when I signed up, subject to FUP of 1 gig (used to be 2 gigs, was when I signed up), also included skype and all that.

All you do is plug your phone into your laptop via USB and you're away on the x series £5 unlimited. Here's the details on their website:

* Unlimited Windows Live Messenger* already included in your price plan
* Unlimited Skype to Skype calls*
* Unlimited data* to use on:
* Web surfing (Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Go)
* Mobile Mail (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail and other ISPs)
* Podcasts
* eBay - Free in your price plan

* £5 a month

*Unlimited Data

Fair Use Limit: 1 GB each month

X-Series - 1 GB should be more than enough to allow you to surf websites, use ISP email and download podcasts

X-Series Silver & Gold - 1 GB should be more than enough to allow you to surf websites, use Mobile Mail and download podcasts

We will let you know by text message once you have reached the fair use limit and ask you to cease using the included data services for the remainder of the month. If you continue to use the services we may suspend your data usage until the next month. This will not impact your access to other X-Series services.

I can't see where it says you can't plug your phone in via usb for that price? maybe you can correct me.
intheknow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 09:32
wavejockglw
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 10,276
"I can't see where it says you can't plug your phone in via usb for that price? maybe you can correct me."

It's buried in 3's X-Series terms and Conditions and has been posted at least twice recently.

From 3's T+C's (X-Series Gold)

"Fair Use Policy - X-Series

To make the most of the X-Series from 3, we encourage you to use the services as much as you like. To help us meet our commitment to you and other customers, we also ask that you use the services fairly. Our take on fair use limits is set out below.

Please remember that the X-Series services are for your personal use only and do not include using your mobile as a modem with your PC or laptop."

http://three.co.uk/xseries/fair_use_policy.omp
wavejockglw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 13:34
intheknow
Banned User
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bristol
Posts: 4,837
Poo... what happens if you do? What do you pay?
intheknow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 14:47
squawkBOX
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Central Scotland, UK
Posts: 871
Official answer: You can't use it as a modem.

Unofficially; the service works fine, if you use your handset as a modem, it will just come out of your X-Series "allowance." You get 1GB, then a warning at that point. Then you get a soft suspend at 2GB until your next billing cycle.
squawkBOX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 16:18
intheknow
Banned User
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bristol
Posts: 4,837
So that's fine then !!!!!!

So actually what I originally said WAS correct 2 gigs for £5 a month and you can use your mobile as a modem, all be it unofficially.

Quote Mr Cable

" You may be intheknow about some things matey, but not 3's tariffs! "

Want to take that back Mr Cable!
intheknow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 16:18
wavejockglw
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 10,276
Official answer: You can't use it as a modem.

Unofficially; the service works fine, if you use your handset as a modem, it will just come out of your X-Series "allowance." You get 1GB, then a warning at that point. Then you get a soft suspend at 2GB until your next billing cycle.
Word of warning: At any time 3 UK can bill for modem use on X-Series at their published rates and it's very simple for them to tell when you are dialing-up as your connection for each session is authenticated using Calling Line ID. Definately not worth the risk as £10 on the new Turbo 3G tariff gets you 1GB of use officially without having to worry about ... will they charge me £1/MB. it has already happened to some X-Series customers and it's their own fault for ignoring the published T+C's. Chancers!!

NB: No doubt once the chancers get charged we will see them come on with a tale of woe re their challenging of the bill with Mumbai!! I think 3 have made the information re X-Series very clear and anyone who chooses to ignore their terms has no excuse for complaint.
wavejockglw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 16:32
intheknow
Banned User
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bristol
Posts: 4,837
It's not that clear, especially if you don't read all the small print, they could have put 'handset data only'
intheknow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 17:50
squawkBOX
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Central Scotland, UK
Posts: 871
I've never seen any customers being charged for X-Series products when using the handset as a modem. I won't say, its impossible because I have not seen it - however I might be able to provide some info as to why some customers have been charged.

The network does not at the present time distinguish between handset usage and modem usage. It is simply processed as "data." However, the way X-Series works is that if you call up and add it onto your account; it usually is provisioned straight away and works within a few hours. (should nothing go wrong )

However, if you have had a price plan change, i.e. maybe as an upgrade, then you add the X-Series addon onto the account, then this will not reflect until after your monthly billing cycle. So all the frontend systems say that an X-Series addon is on the account, customer service will see this and it will show as active on My3. However, it won't be provisioned for the customer on the backend systems, so any data usage may end up being charged as the £2 per meg under "casual web."

For those that have seen users being charged, have they complained about this soon after an upgrade/change PP?


The above might not be the reason why some customers have been charged; however I personally think it provides an explaination of why some users may have been charged in the past.

So the moral of that story is, add X-Series before your bill cycle yourself (if you are already a 3 customer) or before an upgrade. If a customer upgrades and the X-Series is put on the account before the request of a change of Price plan it can be used straight away. If its added after the change in price plan, the service won't work fully until the next bill cycle.

Like wavejockglw says, be careful as the T&Cs say you shouldn't use it as a modem and one day you might end up getting a charge, so any modem usage will be at your own risk - even though at the moment, I know that you can use it as a modem without being charged extra.

If you want to be safe, take out the new 3Turbo HSDPA modem at £10/month for 1GB, £15 for 3GB or £25 for 7GB and modem use is included. If you don't want a seperate contract for this, you'll soon be able to put an addon on your account so you can use your existing handset as a modem.
squawkBOX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 18:30
Mr Cable
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,868
So that's fine then !!!!!!

So actually what I originally said WAS correct 2 gigs for £5 a month and you can use your mobile as a modem, all be it unofficially.

Quote Mr Cable

" You may be intheknow about some things matey, but not 3's tariffs! "

Want to take that back Mr Cable!
Nope! You stated 3 offer £5 for 2Gb. You point me to the section of their website that confirms this! Then I'll take it back!

The thread is called 'Three - modem use allowed?'. The answer - at this moment in time - is NO! You can try throwing 'unofficial' anecdotal evidence around all you want but Three's official line is;

"Please remember that the X-Series services are for your personal use only and do not include using your mobile as a modem with your PC or laptop"

Which means if you choose to risk it, they can feel free to charge you JUST ABOUT WHATEVER THEY WANT! They may not at present, but I'm not willing to take the risk. They MAY start enforcing it when they actually have official data bundles available but then again they may not!

If you want to be safe, take out the new 3Turbo HSDPA modem at £10/month for 1GB, £15 for 3GB or £25 for 7GB and modem use is included.
What he/she said! Very wise.
Mr Cable is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 27-08-2007, 18:44
Mr Cable
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 2,868
Word of warning: At any time 3 UK can bill for modem use on X-Series at their published rates and it's very simple for them to tell when you are dialing-up as your connection for each session is authenticated using Calling Line ID. Definately not worth the risk as £10 on the new Turbo 3G tariff gets you 1GB of use officially without having to worry about ... will they charge me £1/MB. it has already happened to some X-Series customers and it's their own fault for ignoring the published T+C's. Chancers!!

NB: No doubt once the chancers get charged we will see them come on with a tale of woe re their challenging of the bill with Mumbai!! I think 3 have made the information re X-Series very clear and anyone who chooses to ignore their terms has no excuse for complaint.
Whoa! For the first ever, I actually agree with wavejock about Three (in this post at least). VERY valid points there!
Mr Cable is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 00:03
squawkBOX
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Central Scotland, UK
Posts: 871
Just a clarification on the data amounts for X-Series.

You won't find any information on the web in regards to the amount of data that you get cut off for the following reasons;

The x-series was built with the promise of "unlimited" usage, however we all know that most companies can't provide this due to a limitation of bandwidth and to ensure quality of service.

3 allow you to use 1GB of data on any X-Series product (and advertise as such), at which point you will receive an SMS message (can't remember the exact wording) however its basically a warning SMS.

Then when you reach 2GB, a process which is called a "soft suspend" is put on your account. Simply preventing you from using any more data until your next billing cycle. The 2GB limit is not published anywhere as that is the absolute maximum.

However, the difference between the 1GB published and the 2GB soft suspend limit exists, as 3 wanted to be seen as flexible. If you have a look on a post on the X-Series blog - it states somewhere that the company knows that some individuals go over use more one month and less another month.

So you are allowed to use up to 1GB, however using the service after the warning SMS, you have a further 1GB until you can't use the service anymore.
squawkBOX is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 28-08-2007, 18:11
epsomsalts
 
Posts: n/a
In general, how do you set up Three phone to work as a modem?
  Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:32.