Comments on: Mac-compatible, USB 3G Vodafone Modem

by: Martin

Sun, 06 May 2007 22:38:18 +0000

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!!

by: Jeff Jenkins

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 18:38:16 +0000

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.

by: peter

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:55:25 +0000

I live in Louth! Thanks for the further info, btw.

by: Martin

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 19:56:09 +0000

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

by: peter

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:19:19 +0000

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

by: Martin

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:19:42 +0000

So it’s well worth upgrading to the unlimited plan if you can.

by: Martin

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:17:36 +0000

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!