[Q] uk unlimited data plans - General Questions and Answers

i've been looking at giffgaff but after receiving 4 sims - none of which will register i'm wondering if they're that difficult to get registered with, how bad can the service be?
hit me up with genuine Uk unlimited no-cap-throttles or fair usage nonsense on uk networks please
payg preferably, sim only contracts considered.
thanks

I have been using 3UK for years, and I have the all-you-can-eat data plan, sim only.
I pay a MONTHLY contract of 15 pounds ( so I can stop it wherever I want), with 300 min+ 5000 SMS, free 3 to 3 calls, and all-you-can-eat-data.
Works flawlessly. With Speednet test I got always 6/7 MB download sometimes more, I watch in streaming a lots of football games without issues (even on my old Hero), and I got a good signal everywhere. My friends are using 3UK too, no problem so far.
Hope this can help.

Related

UK T-mobile new unlimited GPRS tariffs!

first forgive me if allready posted ( have done a search but found nothing )
there been much disscusion at other forums, started 1st april, check out, http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=plans_webnwalk
its either combined with a new tarrif or available as a £7.50 to an exsisting tarrif.
suddenly my wizard becomes more useable with such a bargin price!
GREAT!!
Thanks for that man, i just called T-Mobile up and asked them about it and yes its true! for only £7.50 i can go online all day on gprs/umts for no extra charge! i've just cancelled my dumb gprs allowance i used to have (£5 for 6MB) It works on any Flext or relax price plan so anyone who is thinking of it....go for it!!
Standard charge for T-Mobile is: 1MB=£7.50........... ouch now thats bad!
don't even think of going online without the web n walk upgrade!
I've got it too, only just got my Wizard and was excited about having Wi-Fi access to the net, but this pretty much makes Wi'Fi redundant for me!
great, and even better is ,
if you get the new contract with them now, not even you got 25% off for traiff, and also the unlimited GPRS..
so, you only pay for 5.63 pounds for unlimited GPRS..
What if I bought a contract with the 25% off thena dded the GPRS? Willth ey give me it at 25% off do ya reckon?
I only bought my Vario from T-Mobile a couple of weeks ago, and now they introduce this! I want my 25% off GPRS
Hopefully other operators will start to follow suit.
I'd pay £10 a month for GPRS/3G access on O2...
just to add around the 19th april there adding a faster pro version £9.99 per month 2 gb limit, can be used on laptops, 3g etc
Are there multiple speeds of GPRS?
fil said:
just to add around the 19th april there adding a faster pro version £9.99 per month 2 gb limit, can be used on laptops, 3g etc
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Eh? I thought it was unlimited?
yep says unlimited , subject to fair useage, which i belive is 40mbs? but theres so many different storys numbers???
may be a bit like my ntl 2gb download limit, when i had it, used to go well well over that, nothing happened?
paulrockliffe said:
Are there multiple speeds of GPRS?
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Click to collapse
some one correct me if im wrong,
but 2g is up to 56kbps
then there 2.5g which a normal 2g phone can handle , thats 384kbps
and then 3g thats 2Gbps
It's quite simple...
For £7.99 (Web'n'Walk) you get unlimited data, but with a fair use policy that prohibits services such as VOIP, filesharing and streaming. It also does not permit you to use your phone as a modem for your PC/laptop. I *believe* that UMTS on this service is capped at 128Kbps.
For £9.99 (Web'n'Walk Pro) you get data limited to 2Gb/month, but with no limitations on how you use that data (i.e. you're allowed streaming, VOIP, filesharing, and permittted to connect your phone to your laptop/PC). I *believe* the speed cap is lifted, allowing full 384kbps UMTS service.
Just revising this... I now believe that regular Web'n'Walk offers speeds up to 384kbps, while Web'n'Walk PRO will potentially offer access to the UMTS-HSDPA standard which T-Mobile are planning to roll out across their network, with potential speeds up to 1.8Mbps (which fits nicely with their "upto 5x faster" statement).
how do they know if I'm streaming radio off the net?
paulrockliffe said:
how do they know if I'm streaming radio off the net?
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TCP/UDP ports, MCAST, protocol filtering?
There are so many ways to block unwanted traffic...
Hal.
I signed up to a 12 month contract with 02 UK just two days ago. ****ty 4M for £5 is rediculus but XDA Exec for £150 is a good offer. Any ideas if O2 plans on competing with this at all?
wifi through AP allowed too in UK?
Hi there,
In the Netherlands TMO claims you can use Web'nWalk for their wifi AP's too. No use on my magician , but is it allowed in the UK too? & with that you'll never be far from a proper internet connection .
M
Btw I'm not exactly a fair user, always >40MB & in january I topped >420MB & never heard anything
changing tarifs
For anyone already with Tmobile but withot the webnwalk tarif - email customer services (free) via the tmobile website and they will switch it for you.
I realised I was paying too much and asked for some info. A really nice lady emailed me all the avaiable tarifs and I changed to a flext tarif webnwalk.
I have gained 20 minutes talk time and unlimitedish GPRS and cut my bill in the process.
I hope other operators do NOT copy T-Mobile..... this is just a marketing scam as far as I am concerned. Don't get me wrong, the price is amazing, but there is a BIG but:
Not only are you limited to the 2GB Usage (which is actually not all that bad), you can not use VoIP (to get free UK phone calls: www.sipdiscount.com using SJphone), you can not even use MSN Messenger, Yahoo, Gtalk, or AIM!!! (no Agile Messenger)!!! OMG
'Use of Voice over Internet Protocol and Messaging over Internet Protocol is prohibited by T-Mobile. If use of either or both of these services is detected T-Mobile may terminate all contracts with the customer and disconnect any SIM cards and/or web ‘n’ walk cards from the T-Mobile network.'
There are plans to lift the IM limitation at the end of the year. We want all ports unblocked!!!
By the way, your DSL or Cable connection is now obsolete due to T-Mobile's innovation: 20Mb Wireless!! Awesome. Can't wait
cya

Questions on GPRS/EGDE Facilities In Australia

Hi there to all oz people...
Im heading for Sydney next week and will stay there for some three years to complete my Bachelor Degree on accounting..
Now as i use my PPC (HTC TyTN) for all basic e-mailing need (Push Mail) and some bit of internet browsing or talking in skype time to time on mobile gprs...so i will also need a gprs/edge/3g/hsdpa data connection plan when i wll buy a mobile sim after reaching there.and as this is my first time in australia so i dont have any knowledge on there mobile operators and the facilities they provide.so my question goes here..
1) Will i be able to use gprs in any prepaid (like pay as you go) package? Bearing in mind that im a student.and if yes then which network providers support this and whose cost is lowest?
2) Does they have any unlimited data plan in prepaid or postpaid?and if yes then which network providers support this and whose cost is lowest?
3) Which mobile operators facilities is the best and you reccomand most?
Thanks in advance....
br.
Sajib
PS: I also posted the same question on Network subforum but didnt get any answer in 3 days so posting it here again..
as i guess here definately has a number of oz people and they could help me out here..
it depends on how much you will travel and where you will based. I live across the road from unsw and get good coverage on 3. they have good data packs (for australia) but there is no unlimited here. pre paid is also not normally allowing full use of gprs or 3g. the problem with 3 is they have a small coverage area in the 3g zone, so if you travel much it will go back to gprs with high cost. I spend $85 on mobile+data a month and I doubt you will be able to do better and still be able to use it frequently. I think 3 push mail is $3 unlimited a month as an add on (this post was done under their 3g coverage on my heremes but 20 meters away I get no covereage)
Australia sucks for mobile data, 3G or gprs theres not alot of difference in the price.
we must give thanks to telstra for that
Australia is like third world country when it comes to internet/broadband. In saying that your best option is to go with 3 as they have least laughable data plans. Also, 3 is about to introduce X-Series which means unlimitied browsing, orb, MSN, Ebay all for very decent price. Mind you very limited number of handsets will be supported for X-Series.

Going to london for a couple of months - recommended GSM provider?

Hi!
I will soon travel to London for a while and I realized I have no idea whatsoever on what providers exist over there and which is the best.
I will mainly use it for 3G (or are there lots of free WiFi-spots?) and phoning home to Sweden. I will probably need to send SMS and call inside UK sometimes to, but mostly Sweden. It should be a prepaid alternative.
Any recommendations?
I used an Orange card when I was there for a few days last winter. I used it for calls and texts, but I think they had 4 different pre-paid plans, depending on your preferences. It was cheap, and I'd use them again.
Thank you
Best coverage is vodafone, cheapest pay-as-go is orange (£1/day data). Vodafone has 3g pay-as-go, but cannot get 3g on my orange pay-as-go. Many wi-fi hotspots around. Best look at vodafone/orange websites - they are the biggest & best in UK
I'm with O2 and can't really fault them, but Vodafone currently have a deal where you don't pay extra for roaming, so you could take it back to Sweeden and not get caught for extra cash (check terms and conditions though...) O2 do a 'bolt on' which you can buy unlimted web data for a fixed fee (was about £7.50 when I subscribed).
Lots of free wifi (McDonalds is one, but there are more) and plenty of idiots that don't have security on their wifi access points. I know it's stealing, but it can get you out of a fix and it's not like you'll use it for hours on end sitting in someone's front garden...
Check out the '3' network.
Every time you top-up (GBP10) you get 150MB of free data, and a lot of free sms messages.
If 150MB is not enough for you, for GBP5 you can get the Internet Monthly add-on which allows up to 2GB limit over 30 days.
Also, they have a free Skype facility using a modified version of ISkoot (search XDA-Developers for details of how to make it work on WM devices).
I use data far more than calls and sms and I find '3' to be the best deal.
66mustang said:
I'm with O2 and can't really fault them, but Vodafone currently have a deal where you don't pay extra for roaming, so you could take it back to Sweeden and not get caught for extra cash (check terms and conditions though...) O2 do a 'bolt on' which you can buy unlimted web data for a fixed fee (was about £7.50 when I subscribed).
Lots of free wifi (McDonalds is one, but there are more) and plenty of idiots that don't have security on their wifi access points. I know it's stealing, but it can get you out of a fix and it's not like you'll use it for hours on end sitting in someone's front garden...
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This is what I do. £7.50 for unlimited 3G is brilliant, and even though I get EDGE on my Elf, it's still really quite fast. Albeit I only get G or 2G coverage where I live (north of Bristol) but it's still quite nice to have the ability to forget about my emails, and then pick it up and they're sitting there for me.
O2.

Which UK carrier for SIM only 30 day monthly?

I just got my Nexus One unsubsidised about a week ago. Although it can apply for other phones I guess, but I'm interested what your thoughts are to the UK residents on here at xda. I don't plan on signing a new 12+ month contract because I want to save it in case some newer phone comes along.
My contract on my T-Mobile Vario 3 (kaiser) ran out over half a year ago and have since changed to a 30 day SIM only plan (Solo 20 on T-Mob). I was thinking of changing to O2 as since it's the UK provider that actually supports EDGE nationally. Well Orange I think supports it too but it's not on a national scale I dont' think. I travel fairly often on the motorway as well as on trains so I figured having EDGE available while I go through some countryside would be nice.
All 4 providers offer 600 mins for £20 a month, but Orange doesn't include internet at all, Voda only 500MB, while O2 and T-Mob offer unlimited (with FUP of course). Going lower than £20 a month none of them offer internet as part of the package, which is the main reason I am on the T-Mob £20 pm package.
My typical usage hovers around 300 mins a month, I rarely text, and I mostly use my phone for surfing (news, mail, occasional social sites). Now here is the dilema. Last week T-Mobile just overhauled their SIM only monthly plans. All their plans now allow a choice of flexible boosters, which includes unlimited internet as 1 of them. The boosters are available to even their £10 100 mins plan as well! I am more interested in their £15 plan with 300 mins and choosing the internet booster.
So the question is, do I stick with T-Mobile and change to their £15 plan, goto O2 for £20 with EDGE support, or maybe even goto Vodafone because they are using gnomes to speed their internet speed that I am not aware of?
Why havent you mentioned 3? They have the best 3g or hsdpa coverage in the country and also offer unlimited data.
Only trouble is their customer service call centre is in India and they arent very helpfull.
Thats a good point. I have totally forgotten about 3 for some reason. The £15 package from 3 looks interesting. But as I understand that 3 only uses UTMS (3g) frequencies and does not support GSM (2g) frequencies? Which is the reason they always say that 2g only phones are never supported.
I am using a Shift on O2, 30 day contract sim only which is 14.99 per month + £7.50 for unlimited data. This works well though HSDPA cells are not as frequent as I'd like them (on the North Kent Coast).
My Touch Pro 2 is on T-Mobile payg. Plenty of HSDPA cells wherever I go and as long as I topup 10/month data is unlimited for the following month. This setup works quite well for me.
3 have 2g roaming with orange. If you can't pick up a 3g signal, then it connects to oranges 2g towers. The sim cards will only work in a phone if it has 3g, but it doesn't need to use 3g, (just costs them more if you dont).
im with o2 on a 30 day rolling contract, its great.
for £20 u get 600 mins 1200 texts (600 double texts and 600 single texts) + i have added the unlimited data bolt-on as my free bolt-on.
go with o2 my friend, i have never had a problem with them
Do you have EDGE working on the O2? As it's one of the main reasons for me considering O2 as I don't like to be stuck on GPRS while around the countryside without a 3G signal.
Well I've finally nailed it down to either O2 or 3. 3 for their biggest 3G coverage or O2 for EDGE (if it's confirmed working that is).
Use O2 on pay as go Text & Web pretty much always HSDPA or 3G coverage when go out in the sticks it flips between GPRS & EDGE.
I moved to T-Mobile when purchased Touch Pro but soon went back to O2 as constant connection problems when surfing and problems with signal dropping out.
3 meant to be good coverage but @ home had to go outside house just to get signal.
Orange are good for signal but absolute bismal on data usage p/m.
Makaijin said:
Do you have EDGE working on the O2? As it's one of the main reasons for me considering O2 as I don't like to be stuck on GPRS while around the countryside without a 3G signal.
Well I've finally nailed it down to either O2 or 3. 3 for their biggest 3G coverage or O2 for EDGE (if it's confirmed working that is).
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EDGE works fine, im rarely in a 3g area so i have to use EDGE and GPRS a lot. both work fine.
OK, went over to my mates this afternoon to borrow his O2 sim, he's currently on the £20 30 day so I had a play with that on my Nexus one. EDGE works great on the N1. My brother has a spare 3 Pay & Go card lying around that he dug out just now. Testing on it now. If you turn off 3G it roams on the Orange network in 2G mode which connects with EDGE as well!
Now I'm even more at a loss. O2 is £20 pm with 600 mins, but its over-minutes charges are 20p a min(same for land, and all mobile networks). 3 has £15 for 300 mins, but it's over-minutes to other mobiles are 40p a min, wtf? But 3 does have unlimited skype calls which my girlfriend might like since she calls back to China a lot. My average useage hovers around 300 mins, but I do go over it a bit sometimes. Do I control my phone useage a little bit for better 3G coverage and free Skype calls? Or go with O2 for a little more flexibility in minutes?
Argh! Which to choose, which to choose...
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
Makaijin said:
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
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Click to collapse
I think that's a good choice, I'm on O2, SIM Only for £20 and I get:
700 mins
1400 texts (MMS is 1:4)
My Choice of Bolt On (currently Web but has been Blackberry sometimes)
ITS included
[I got their January offer which upped the online tariff from 600 mins and 1200 texts]
I moved to O2 because I travel quite a bit and in addition to ITS you get:
Text messages to the UK taken from bundle at the rate of 1:4
MMS messages to the UK taken from bundle at the rate of 1:4
You can buy a data bundle currently 10MB/£20 and 50MB/£50 - better than £7.50 per MB that I had to pay with T-Mobile.
Best of all, if you don't like it you can give notice and move.
edenc said:
I am using a Shift on O2, 30 day contract sim only which is 14.99 per month + £7.50 for unlimited data. This works well though HSDPA cells are not as frequent as I'd like them (on the North Kent Coast).
My Touch Pro 2 is on T-Mobile payg. Plenty of HSDPA cells wherever I go and as long as I topup 10/month data is unlimited for the following month. This setup works quite well for me.
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Wouldn't you be better off moving to their £20 per month tariff?
DuoM said:
Wouldn't you be better off moving to their £20 per month tariff?
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Only valid reason for his choice would be that he's using a different inclusive Bolt-On, like unlimited O2 to O2 calls, or maybe unlimited weekend calls? Having just checked, things like unlimited internet can be paid extras whereas things like unlimited O2 to O2 you can only take up with your inclusive Bolt-On.
Makaijin said:
Only valid reason for his choice would be that he's using a different inclusive Bolt-On, like unlimited O2 to O2 calls, or maybe unlimited weekend calls? Having just checked, things like unlimited internet can be paid extras whereas things like unlimited O2 to O2 you can only take up with your inclusive Bolt-On.
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Click to collapse
Ahh, yes. Good point.
Thanks
Well, just to keep this thread alive, yesteday Vodafone just updated some of their 30 day plans. One interesting plan is a £25 pm plan that comes with 1GB internet and WiFi with BT Openzone.
With 4 of the major providers updating their plans since January, it'll interesting what Orange will come up with if they do update their packages.
Ah, the wonders of 30 day contracts.
Makaijin said:
Well, just to keep this thread alive, yesteday Vodafone just updated some of their 30 day plans. One interesting plan is a £25 pm plan that comes with 1GB internet and WiFi with BT Openzone.
With 4 of the major providers updating their plans since January, it'll interesting what Orange will come up with if they do update their packages.
Ah, the wonders of 30 day contracts.
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Click to collapse
That 1GB plan looks like an iPhone plan. I asked them about their contract plans with 1GB data, etc last month and they said that you could only get them with an iPhone but since these are SIM Only it should be possible to use them with any phone (unless Vodafone try and restrict the device somehow).
Makaijin said:
After sleeping over it, I have finally decided to go for O2. I don't like that 3 is too expense for over-minutes call charges, and the fact it has to roam with Orange for 2G. Although free Skype calls is very attractive, my current skype habits doesn't really involve me using it outside of my home anyways.
Thanks for everyone's help and comments.
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Click to collapse
You do realise that all "Free Skype Calls" means is that they allow you to use the internet freely to make skype to skype calls using their app?
You'll get the same on o2 seeing as how you're getting an internet bolt on, all you need to do is get a Skype app.
Actually no. The 3 version of the skype app actually dials out a number and doesn't connect via 3G internet nor via wifi if it's available. It reroutes the voice data using a voice connection within the 3 network. The IM portion of skype still uses the 3G data network though. According to my brother, using skype voice via 3 is a really good experience. You don't get drop-outs at all, unlike when you are in a car travelling and it switches cells and/or the connection switches between HSDPA and EDGE etc. Plus all other 4 major carriers have ToC's explicitly restricting VoIP use, although none of them actively block out VoIP apps atm.

(Q) Very slow speeds on Virgin PAYG

Hello there everyone I'm not sure what to do in this situation but I recently switched to Virgin as they are offering unlimited internet and texts on PAYG for £10 so I went for it, I have had a Sony Xperia U for over 4 months unlocked to any network, I have had perfect services from 3 and Tmobile internet and I live about half a mile from a Mobile mast so I pretty much get great speed and signal at home but day 1 with virgin was fine I speed tested and got results almost on par with the high results in the picture shown (NOTE: The good results are T-Mobile PAYG, my dads SIM he let me test) but as of day 2 and on to today being the 4th I have had very terrible speeds, if I download an app on 3 internet or T-Mobile it usually downloads 1mb/s+ is about average, but when I download an app using Virgin it takes forever (50kb/s lucky to get 150kb/s)
So it got me searching the internet and I read an article posted March 2013 (cant fully remember the site but I will find it again) saying that Virgin are throttling customers but cant admit to it and have a fair usage policy, but didnt tell me this in my SIM pack? I've also heard many PAYG customers are ranting the Virgin forums about this but I'm not quite sure what I read is true as it's the internet.
I've tried every possible solution: taking the battery out, taking the SIM out, formatted my phone (waste of time), switched to the other Virgin network options, re-installed internet and mms settings but still experiencing the same problem, the speed test clearly shows whats going on surely? Considering Virgin have Orange and T-Mobile services. I also spent over an hour being played elevator music by a foreign Virgin customer service lady that couldn't understand my English (I am English and a clear speaker) and kept telling me to take my battery and SIM out, literally.
Can anyone help me or maybe anyone else of knowledge or have experienced this? Would love to know thanks for reading
Sent from my ST25i using xda app-developers app
Hi mate I have virgins monthly sim only and no problems with data or calls or text on my Asus fonepad. My other phone is on t mobile and the speeds are similar allowing for differences in device. I'm on a monthly contract at 12 quid a month for 150 min, unlimited text and unlimited data. If it's true that payg is being throttled you could look at changing to the month by month contract. It's an extra 2 quid and only requires 30 days notice to end it. Plus you get the talk minutes.
just root it and use Set DNS from the play store.
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