Data Cards

LoTwan

I am looking for information on mobile data cards/modems.

Initial purchase price:
Monthly tariffs:
Download limits:
Problems that people are encountering:

Thanks in advance

smellslikeshoes

Lazy much? Its easy enough to find most of that information yourself.

godskitchen

A quick search on here will give you all the info you need

LoTwan

I asked here because for the most part I have a 2 year old "helping" me when I am near my laptop and by the time he goes to bed I am too tired to search.

I wasn't expecting other people to do work for me... but I am sure there are 3 people who could answer from experience.

Obviously I was wrong.

smellslikeshoes

LoTwan wrote:

I asked here because for the most part I have a 2 year old "helping" me when I am near my laptop and by the time he goes to bed I am too tired to search.

I wasn't expecting other people to do work for me... but I am sure there are 3 people who could answer from experience.

Obviously I was wrong.

Its not that hard to type in Vodafone's and three's websites and boom you have answers for 3 of your 4 questions straight from the horses mouth. Ive been on vodafone for 9 months and havent had many problems with it except for an occasional bit of downtime and having to search for signal sometimes. Its a decent product but know that its not a replacement for dsl.

Sam Vimes

anyhoo

vodafone:
€129 for the usb modem
€49 per month
1.4Mbps
5 GB dl limit
12c per MB after that

3:
€79 for the pcmcia data card
€39.99 per month
3.6Mbps
3 GB dl limit
49c per MB after that

or you can use a phone as a modem and get a package for €20pm with a 2GB dl limit. only the v3xx will give 3.6Mbps for the moment. the others give 384Kbps. the benefit is its less per month and you can get it on prepay so no contract


o2:
wouldn't even bother. nowhere near the other two

smellslikeshoes

Commander Vimes wrote:

anyhoo

vodafone:
€129 for the usb modem
€49 per month
1.4Mbps
5 GB dl limit
12c per MB after that

Don't think that monthly price is right pretty sure that is for the now unavailable unlimited package. The price for the 5gb package is 39.99 (I think)

LoTwan

I really appreciate that. I spent an hour yesterday with a toddler trying to pick the keys off my laptop while I unsuccessfully searched because it didn't even have 1/5 of my attention.

watty

You need one of those pouch bags that damages your back, that can go on front or back of you.

Then the toddler will poke your eyes, nose, bite your ears and stick arm down your neck instead of destroying the keyboard.

LoTwan

I wore him in a sling for a long time but he is too long now & there is only so many times a mamma can be kicked in the crotch before it isn't funny any more.

mcaul

I had Vodafone up to january. Speeds were very slow - less than 40% of advertised speeds - 150kb average versus advertised 384kbs. Moved to three in Feb, speeds were twice vodafone's at average of 300kbs and then they switched on the high speed network and I constantly get about 1.5mb. I believe the real speed now of vodafone high speed is about 700 - 800kbs.

As for the 3gb cap - unless you are playing interactive wargames for hours each evening you won't get anywhere near the cap.

The €20 / month on top of a basic price plan is very good pricing. - Simply pliug the v3xx into the usb port on laptop or desktop PC.

LoTwan

So far this month I have downloaded 23G (on a fixed line 2M connection). I could hit 3G in a few days... the search continues

Edwordo

Does anyone know if it is possible to buy a data card that will work with the 3 network and the Vodafone network? I looked on Peats website but couldn't find anything

watty

Yes any 3G/HSDPA card will. You need a SIM and subscription from the relevent operator. Make sure the card really does HSDPA so you are not limited to 384k 3G only. You want both and also GPRS for out of 3G/HSDPA coverage. Most newer cards do all 3 modes.

Edwordo

watty wrote:

Yes any 3G/HSDPA card will. You need a SIM and subscription from the relevent operator. Make sure the card really does HSDPA so you are not limited to 384k 3G only. You want both and also GPRS for out of 3G/HSDPA coverage. Most newer cards do all 3 modes.

Thanks for your response Watty. I should have made it clearer - what I want is to buy a datacard without a subscription. I have a (work) SIM but no datacard.

watty

You still need to buy a sub. An phone sim + datacard does not give any difference to what your phone as a modem does, except faster sometimes* . If you want flat rate you need to buy a sub.


*Assuming the phone is "only" 3G = 384k max and you have an HSDPA card, AND you are in an HSDPA area ... You can of course end up only getting GPRS, or even less than GPRS speed even if the cell has HSDPA, or even not connected. At 25 Users HSDPA in a cell (I think the maximum) you are likely to get less than 100kbps.

In reality if HSDPA got "popular" people will either not be able to get a connection at all, or only get Ripwave speeds. Because it is mobile, they can't limit cell populations to ensure performance like Breeze does.

Further development of 3G/HSDPA won't be for more speed but to try and have a sensible number of users at 200kbps. I think you will only see DSL speeds when one or two users on a cell.

If 3G/HSDPA could really deliver "mobile broadband for the masses" rather than a small elite, why would millions be getting spent on 4G OFDMA systems such as Mobile WiMax and QFT Flash?

uisneach

I will be spending a couple of months in Ireland this summer and was looking to purchase a mobile data card for my laptop. However, because it is only for a few months do you know of any solution where I wouldnt have to commit to a 12 month contract?

I checked out the data plans on vodafone.ie, three.ie, meteor.ie, 02.ie and irishbroadband.ie but didnt see the small print about if you had to commit to a year or not. I suppose I would just have to call each of them. Maybe there are other smaller companies out there offering data plans as well?