E-Mail contact by 3G Data Card? Forums

BrianL

I am going to stay at Blue Anchor Bay in Somerset for a while and need to maintain E-Mail contact. I went on the web to try to find out about 3G Data Cards with little success because the mobile telephone companies appear to make their tariffs complicated in an attempt to confuse potential customers.
Can anyone tell me what they think is a cost effective 3G Data Card service?

DABurleigh

"Cost effective" is a bit like one man's meat is another's poison! How much are you prepared to pay per month or per Megabyte, and is 3G speed essential for you or is GPRS sufficient?

Then the answer readily drops out Smile

Dave

MikeE

I got one of these Vodafone 3G cards

http://www.scancom.co.uk/section.php/502/0

from Scancom last year. (at the time I seem to remember it was about £150 inc VAT - now gone up a bit Sad

). I've used it quite a bit for email, which is fine at 80p per MByte; but for web browsing it can work out a bit expensive (though the cost can be reduced by not downloading images - you can turn this off in your browser preferences).

In the UK I rarely get a 3G signal (I guess I go to the wrong places Laughing

) and the card then defaults to GPRS -- which is a lot, lot slower (but the same cost since charging is done on a Mbyte rather than time basis).

I recently used it for six weeks in the Algarve where the rate was about £5 per Mbyte and I had a very good 3G signal in all the places I used it.

Cheers

Mike

BrianL

The answer to, “How much are you prepared to pay per month or per Megabyte?” is simple. As little as possible.

The answer to, “Is 3G speed essential for you or is GPRS sufficient? Is also simple. I do not know what is meant by, “3G speed” and I do not know what “GPRS” is so I do not know how to calculate the cost

The position is this. I wrote a guide to British camping and caravan sites with a view of the sea a year or so ago and had a web page which alowed those who wanted to order a copy over the web using Paypal. Looking at those messages shows that they are about 20 KB each when they come ion on Broadband.
I have just written a sequel to the last book carrying details of 150 of the best sites that I found but when it is printed I will not be at home to deal with orders and I think it only correct to get them off the same day that I receive them. The problem is that I will be down in Somerset.
If I assume that the new book will sell 20 copies a day and that each order will be 20KB what sort of tariff should I look for?

MikeE

3G speed is about the same as a (slowish) broadband connection (390 MB/sec), whilst GPRS will give you something like dial-up speed. For the datacards that I am aware of there is no difference in cost between downloading a piece of data with 3G or GPRS - only in the time it will take to download it. Also, all the datacards that I know of are both 3G and GPRS - they will give you either dependent on the coverage at the location you are in.

Your choice is really a trade-off between how much you pay for the device and how much you pay for the download of data - much like the choice of a mobile phone tariff. The 80p per MB offered in the Scancom deal is pretty low (I think) - at the cost of £175 for the card. You could get a cheaper card - with free a data download allocation for a higher monthly tariff. Like a mobile phone deal you would be on a minimum term contract though.

There was a debate in this forum on this topic last Sept/Oct:

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-8828.html

tha t is worth reading.

You don't say how long you're going to be away - if this is a one-off and you won't need internet access for very long then any datacard solution could be a pretty expensive option. Have you considered the use of an internet cafe (there is possibly one in Minehead) or WiFi - a nightly trip to the nearest access point (possibly a MacDonalds or PC World!) with the laptop might solve your problem a lot cheaper than a datacard.

Mike

DABurleigh

>Also, all the datacards that I know of are both 3G and GPRS<

Oh I wish, Mike, 'cos then I'd have one. Unfortunately 3G PAYG data cards come with expensive strings attached, whether paying top price for the hardware, or OTT for 3G data as text bundles. Scancom do a data PAYG SIM only with paltry strings attached of £24 over 2 years at 80p per Meg, but this, unfortunately, is only GPRS.

Brian, well the context of your query is gradually emerging, you don't say what data speeds your phone might be capable of already (recent ones might have high speed data or Edge technologies built-in), and you will be sited in a very marginal/ spotty area for 3G, as I'm sure you've already checked. Has the hotel assured you 3G is available? If your envisaged use is temporary, and for only 400kB a day download/upload, frankly you have the full spectrum of data solutions available to you, the cheapest (as this seems to be a driver) being patient with a 9600 baud dial-up mobile phone in your hotel room, connecting twice per day.

If you particularly want a laptop datacard, then I'd get a Vodafone one off Ebay for £60, buy a Scancom 80p per Meg GPRS card, and make do with that. In due course I'm sure 3G PAYG SIMs will be available.

Hope this helps,

Dave

MikeE

Hi Dave,

Sorry if my previous post was misleading, I was trying to be brief.

As I understand it the datacard that Scancom distribute (it's an Option Qualcomm card on a Yes Telecom contract) is a 3G/GPRS card. It can be obtained with either a GPRS only SIM or with a 3G/GPRS SIM - it's the SIM which determines whether it operates on the 3G or GPRS networks. The only cost difference between the two seems to be that to use it on the 3G network you have to pay about £175 for the card Sad

whereas with GPRS only it comes for free Smile

(given a two year contract). Give this marketing strategy it might be some time before 3G PAYG SIMS become available - the operators will have to recoup their huge outlay for infrastructure and 3G licences first I guess.

Whether £175 for the card is OTT or not depends on the value to the user of the 3G operating speed - although my experience so far suggests that since its not available in most of the places (in the UK) that I want to go to maybe I should have gone for the GPRS only option and settled for the lower speed ('cos that's what I get anyway)!!

Mike

MikeE

mmmm - sorry about that. The card isn't free (of course) for GPRS only - just the SIM. As Dave says the cards are available on eBay....

Mike

DABurleigh

There are cards, and then there are cards.....

Each post, mine included, is only inaccurate if the reader assumes a different one to that intended by the writer Smile

I wish I knew when 3G PAYG data SIMs might be available. If something as compact as the Imate K-JAM
http://www.imate.com/t-DETAILS_KJAM.aspx
becomes available with 3G in the next few months, I'll probably settle for that as the only mobile personal technology hardware "box" I need other than WiFi/BT laptop, BT GPS RX, and Ixus 700 camera. That's quite a concession from a gadget freak.

I don't like the current 3G offering of:
http://www.imate.com/t-DETAILS_JASJAR.aspx
but I wonder the £/Meg data costs on the 3G contract SIMs that are available for it. I'll peruse this evening.

Dave

BrianL

Many thanks for all your suggestions. It appears to me that this technology is primarily used by the business community and funded by their organisations that they work. This means that prices are high and will remain so because I doubt that the private market are that interested in immediate E-Mail contact. That would be great if I were still working and my company were paying for it but I am to close to 70 to enjoy such a dream.
My primary reason for wanting immediate E-Mail contact is that I have written a sequel to my book, “Sea View Camping and Caravan Sites in Britain” and it is due to be printed in a few weeks. The reason that I was looking for immediate E-Mail contact is that my wife has bought a Static caravan in Blue Anchor Bay in Somerset and I will be expected to spend some time there. This means that I will not be at home to deal with book orders so it looks as though I will be spending some time at the local library in Watchet downloading my E-Mails.
There is another alternative. I am very hard of hearing and therefore have never bought a mobile telephone. My wife does have an ancient 7 year old Nokia which although heavy enough to use as a weapon if anyone was stupid enough to attempt to mug her is so old that it doesn’t even know what an E-Mail is. My alternative has to be to I buy a mobile telephone which has the facility to let me download E-Mails. Now all I need to do is to find out which one.