clay Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 just thought i would pass on my trials of a 3 mobile dongle that i borrowed the other week to go on my travels. longleat cc site - waste of time hillhead cc site - patchy , comes and goes, on one occasion it came in \'wall to wall' Wells caravan site, 1 mile from city - it was so slow that it was not worth bothering. conclusion - waste of my time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 My experience is that the 3 dongle is not as good as they would have you believe - but it does seem to have better coverage in the places that I have tried it than does the O2 dongle. The O2 dongle does however have free wifi hotspot use - but only if you can camp/park near a wifi hotspot! Quite how either of these compare to Vodafone, T Mobile and Orange I don't know - but I bet that someone knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 I'm currently using the 3 Dongle at the Lincoln Show ground and it's working well,last week we were at Kings Lynne and it didn't work at all, My friend has a 3 dongle on contract and it hasn't worked for11 months, ever since he moved from Bournemouth to Norfolk,3 say tough,it worked at Bournemouth when you signed up ,its not our fault you moved to Norfolk where we have little or no connection, so he is paying £15 a month for something he can't use ,luckily his contract expires next month, 3 s call centre is in India,and if you don't have a three phone [who would ] it costs a fortune to ring them.Generally I am happy with my 3 pay as you use Dongle but would NOT recommend any one to get one. :-( :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 If you send 3 an email via their website with any grumbles politely outlined you may well get a phone call back offering an alternative - like a switch to PAYG - if you are unhappy with the contract an/or lack of coverage where you live? It seems to work sometimes where I least expect it and not where I do expect it and there seems no logic to the coverage at times? They do seem aware of their image and keen to help where they can - or at least the very nice lady with the accent was - but then, as you all know, I am an easy going, tolerant, patient and polite chappie anyway - and that always helps when getting service! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza454 Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 I know that it's an additional expense but this really does improve the connection and speed -http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/THREE-USB-MODEM-HUB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duetto owner Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 been speaking with them today re the antenna beacons down again they are in the process of sharing orange ones to improve their coverage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Bazza454 - 2009-09-27 7:25 PMI know that it's an additional expense but this really does improve the connection and speed -http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/THREE-USB-MODEM-HUBGood idea - is there a version that will work with any dongle much like a home router works with any isp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Vindy - I don't know which bit of Lincoln showground you were on but I had to sit in the middle of a field to get any reception as we were so far out from the exhibition area! Nice though as we were near the woodland bit which was great for the dogs. :-D On Friday I couldn't get any reception at all, and even the phones struggled. ON Saturday afternoon I managed to get reception (in the field) until the laptop battery just about gave out but I couldn't read the screen very well due to the sunshine so couldn't win! B-) I was speaking - just - to my Mum on my 3 phone and after about 10 minutes it cut off and I couldn't get a signal again. It really does depend on your location and also whether the transmitters are playing up or not - just had fun tonight at home which is usually okay, so I'm not surprised to hear the transmitters are wonky again. As to why we have 3 network phones: it only costs us £16 a month each for 300 minutes plus 300 same network mins, plus another 2,000 same network mins (no kidding!) because we got 2 phone contracts at the same time. For a similar deal anywhere else it was nearer £25 a month ... no contest. Plus, if we do have problems with the dongle it's free to call them on or 3 phones. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAS Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Just answered this on my mobile phone through the opera browser at Lincoln show. Been on all the news sites and my favourite forums at super speed and full reception. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza454 Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Tracker - 2009-09-27 8:24 PM Bazza454 - 2009-09-27 7:25 PM I know that it's an additional expense but this really does improve the connection and speed -http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/THREE-USB-MODEM-HUB Good idea - is there a version that will work with any dongle much like a home router works with any isp? Not sure about O2, Vodafone etc, but the "3" wireless router will only work with the "3" Huawei dongle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Not sure about O2, Vodafone etc, but the "3" wireless router will only work with the "3" Huawei dongle.But if the 3 dongle is unlocked for use with other sims, it should be OK, shouldn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmcclin Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 With regard to the 3 dongle. I live in the North of Ireland and went on line to look at there mobile broadband and found that on the 3.ie (Rep Of Ireland) website the usage allowance includes U.K., Austria,Italy,Australia and Hong Kong. They state that these are all sister sites and therefore no additional usage or roaming charge will apply. When i looked on 3.co.uk site they do not have this facility listed and when i called the call centre in India i was told that there be additional usage/roaming charges in these countries. I asked how 3 Ireland can offer this facility the response was quite abrupt and unhelpful. If they are all 3 networks why can one section offer this and not the other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Mine has not done what I needed it to do and so represents very poor value for money. Once away from home (where I don't need it) it has found useable reception I estimate, on less than 2 sites in 5. As is the way of things, it has definitely never worked on those occasions when internet access was needed urgently. Trying to use it just once in France (in extremis) was completely hopeless and yet, still managed to rack up a large bill. Will give up on it as soon as the contract expires. Bob :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 gmcclin - 2009-09-28 11:13 AM With regard to the 3 dongle. I live in the North of Ireland and went on line to look at there mobile broadband and found that on the 3.ie (Rep Of Ireland) website the usage allowance includes U.K., Austria,Italy,Australia and Hong Kong. They state that these are all sister sites and therefore no additional usage or roaming charge will apply. Used to be the case for 3 UK, that deal ended on 30th June, it was the reason I have a 3 phone as I used to go to Ireland quite often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Never tried a 3 dongle but I did try a T Mobile one and it was pathetic. Strangely it was even slower than using my T Mobile phone as a modem so I took it back, cancelled the contract and now I use my phone as a modem. Its a Sony Erricson 3G phone with a 5 Mega pixel camera and where I can get 3G connection its great, if no 3G connection available its still ok for general e-mail and occasional browsing use. Jacqui uses a Nokia slidey job with 3G on T Mobile and gets similar results when using it as a modem. I pay £5 a month on top of my business contract to use it for unlimited web access, no doubt there is a fair usage policy somewhere in the small print but I'm unlikely to ever get near it. We both used our phones as modems at the Lincoln show this weekend past and had no problems at all with decent connection speeds (difficult to compare with our home broadband as we're on a 50 Mb connection here. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWO Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 I could not get a signal for my 3 phone at the Coniston or Keswick campsites last week in the Lake District at all, so I would reckon that the internet would be a real no-go. The Co-pilot could get a signal with her Vodafone, so perhaps their internet would work. Looking at the various tariffs on offer it would seem to me that for a casual user the Vodafone PAYG would seem the best deal on offer at the moment, as there is no time limit on the credits once they are bought, most of the others put a time limit on using the credits, and also with my experience in lake district you might be able to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted September 29, 2009 Share Posted September 29, 2009 vindiboy - 2009-09-27 6:20 PM I'm currently using the 3 Dongle at the Lincoln Show ground (snip) I have a T-Mobile dongle on contract which finishes next February. One of the attractions when I took put the contract was that T-Mobile were supposed to be combining their network with 3 to the benefit of subscribers to both. That has obviously not happened. When we arrived at Lincoln last Thursday morning I was able to get a full HSDPA T-Mobile signal but it then dropped to GPRS. Later that day I got the full signal but for the rest of the weekend only GPRS whenever I tried. I was able to receive and answer e-mails using my (Vodafone) mobile phone and Palm PDA (also GPRS signal) but anything else was out of the question. When it works the T-Mobile dongle is very good but it's disappointing that the coverage is less than expected. I'll be cancelling my T-Mobile contract when it ends in February (though may go on to PAYG if the deal is good enough). Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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