Mac-compatible, USB 3G Vodafone Modem
After all the experimenting with Sidekicks and Nokia Communicators, perhaps I’ve finally stumbled across what I really need? It’s an external USB modem that uses the Vodafone 3G network for on-the-go broadband! Even better, it works on the Mac, so I won’t need to buy a PC laptop with a PCMCIA slot or anything silly like that.
I’m locked into my T-Mobile plan for several more months yet, but perhaps it’ll be worth it since I’m barely using the T-Mobile one due to the crappy Sidekick. Vodafone have two quite different deals. You can get the modem for free and have an ‘unlimited’ (really 1 gigabyte per month) data plan for £45 per month, or you can pay £49 for the modem then £25 per month for 250MB of transfer (and use the Internet ‘pay as you go’ for £1 per megabyte after that).
I think I might go for it. I’m already paying £40 a month to T-Mobile, but with feature-less Sidekicks and broken Nokia Communicators.. perhaps I’ll break loose from that and try a third time lucky? I might even be able to find a way to weasel out of my T-Mobile. Any hints and tips on that front would be appreciated.
(Update: Just called T-Mobile and they say it’ll be £184.42 to escape the next 6 months of my contract. Since it’s only £220 in bills to run that long, I might as well milk the minutes and keep it till then..)
(Update 2: Okay, I’m signed up. It’ll cost £29 per month - VAT was extra - and I can upgrade to the ‘unlimited’ plan if I need to at any time. Now let’s see if this solution will work..)
December 22nd, 2006 at 12:17 am
Hi Peter,
I have been using the Vodafone 3G PCMCIA card on my PowerBook for almost a year now. It’s the best solution i’ve found although 3G can be patchy to say the least. I use it heavily travelling from Lincoln to London and back every week. In London reception is great, on the train it varies and GNER WIFI usually trumps it, come Lincoln it’s nearly non-existent …. When it drops down to GPRS it’s painful but useful in an emergency.
One final note, I actually started off on the PAYG plan but the charges were extortionate at the time - something like £4 a megabyte if you went over your 250MB monthly limit which soon happens of course!
December 22nd, 2006 at 12:19 am
So it’s well worth upgrading to the unlimited plan if you can.
December 22nd, 2006 at 10:19 am
You live in Lincoln?
Vodafone’s map shows all of Louth has full 3G coverage, but I won’t be using it here unless the DSL dies (which just doesn’t seem to happen with Pipex).
I usually go for unlimited plans, but the reason for going with 250 in this case is because I expect not to be using it. I leave town, perhaps, once every couple of weeks (if that), and almost never get any alert messages that mean I need to get online and fix things
It’s just useful for those once-in-a-blue-moon emergencies, like when I was getting error messages at the Trafford Centre and I had another 150 miles to get home to fix a major outage 
Also means I can have a drink at my in-laws!
The Nokia Communicator on GPRS would have done the trick (if it had worked for more than 2 weeks without breaking) and the Sidekick II (also just GPRS) would have done the trick (if the UK version actually had SSH like the US one - good riddance to Danger UK) .. but this certainly seems like the best idea of all.. and it gives me an excuse to take my PowerBook everywhere
Thanks for letting me know that it generally works though.. can’t wait to check it out now
December 28th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
I certainly do. You through this neck of the woods often? Drop me a mail if you are - be great to meet-up.
Also another point I forgot to mention in my original post was that all content goes through the Vodafone proxy in order to reduce bandwidth. In practice this just means that images look rubbish and certain sites can’t even be accessed. Usually I end up using a separate proxy service to get round it but I just found this link about modifying the user-agent header which might be worth a try:
http://www.evdoforums.com/thread1053.html?www.reghardware.co.uk
December 28th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
I live in Louth!
Thanks for the further info, btw.
February 9th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I just got one of these for my MacBook. Have been struggling with a Nokia N80 which would connect about one time in 10 and was really annoying me. I was hoping for a better performance and I was right. Install the supplied software and it just works! First thing I did was a speed test and found I was getting the full 1.4 MBps! Well done Vodafone.
May 6th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
T-Mobile do a usb version now and it is cheaper than Vodaphone. Unlimited for £29 per month but you have to pay £29.99 for the modem.
The other alternative is to plug your pcmcia card into a 3G Modem USB Adapter. These are quite pricey though £95 for the model that will take my vodaphone card although I am actually using a t-mobile sim. It is about time we had a bit more serious competition in order to drive these prices down!!