T-Mobile Launches £2 Per Day Mobile Broadband 184
Mark.J writes "ISPreview reports that T-Mobile UK has launched an interesting range of new off-the-shelf Mobile Broadband products that do not require customers to sign-up under a long-term contract. The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) style products cost from only £2 per day for 'unlimited' access (3GB Fair Usage Policy applies). To access T-Mobile pre-pay Mobile Broadband, customers simply need to purchase a USB (Modem) Stick 110, which includes a memory card, for just £49.99 and plug it into a laptop to access their favourite websites. Credit can be topped up direct from the laptop and customers are able to select whichever package suits them at the time." For American readers, that's about $3.66 right now -- plus shipping yourself to the UK.
The daily rate is outrageously expensive (Score:2, Informative)
Assuming you check your webmail once a day on your phone, the daily rate will run you 60lbs a month.
The only package that really makes any sense is the 30 day plan:
30 Day
For customers that will use mobile broadband regularly but do not want to commit to a year-long contract, Mobile Broadband 30 Day is the option. Mobile Broadband for thirty days offers unlimited broadband access for only £20.
Still, you're living in the UK, so it's not all wine and roses.
this is for travelers (Score:2, Informative)
This is a good deal for travelers and occasional users; the alternatives are roaming or WiFi hotspots, both of which are much more expensive. If you use it more frequently than a few times a month, you can get much cheaper subscriptions.
I'd love to have this deal available in the US. Right now, I need a monthly subscription even though most of the time I just use WiFi at work and at home.
Expensive (Score:5, Informative)
Here in finland you get usb 3G modem and unlimited traffic @ 384kbps for 9,80euros /month
It can't be both UNLIMITED and 3Gb! (Score:5, Informative)
I can put up with all the 'only £1.99 a day!' and 'from just £49.99' style marketing speak. It's jarring, but at least it's not dishonest.
However I am absolutely sick of hearing 'Unlimited usage! (fair use policy applies equal to 3Gb of data in any 28 day period subject to change)
I'm happy to pay for a 3Gb per month limit. I'd be delighted with an unlimited usage package. But I am fed up with providers advertising 'unlimited', when it is is clearly, unequivocally, NOT unlimited!
I'd urge any UK readers that agree to generate a gentle trickle of complaints to the Advertising Standards Agency [asa.org.uk] and the Office of Communications [ofcom.org.uk].
Re:Will the dongle work with my Eee PC? (Score:1, Informative)
No idea. T-Mobile's website doesn't even say which versions of Windows it's compatible with let alone mentioning Macs or Linux
Re:The daily rate is outrageously expensive (Score:4, Informative)
Orange have had a better deal for years.
£5 per month for offpeak internet, then £1 per day if you use it onpeak.
My broadband was out of action for two weeks, so for £10 additional cost, I was able to work over my phone. (Normal Nokia N70, via bluetooth). 3G is more than fast enough.
No limits: I did 3GB in a fortnight.
Nobody said unlimited... (Score:5, Informative)
If you actually check T-Mobile's site instead of reading the article you'll find no use of the word "unlimited" anywhere on the pages.
In fact next to each plan it lists "3GB fair use amount - without any run-on rates."
In fact the only reference I can find to "unlimited" broadband is on ISP Review.
Re:Good for occasional use but modem too expensive (Score:3, Informative)
For an HSPDA modem that's not bad. The price is dropping fast but £20? I bet the chips in there cost that. It comes free if you get a contract.
There are laptops with HSPDA built in coming out and if you have one of those you won't even need to pay that.
Re:Will the dongle work with my Eee PC? (Score:4, Informative)
Probably. These dongles pretty much all pretend to be serial modems and you just need to do some mucking around with AT commands and run pppd.
Some of them need some hackery (eg. the one I have needs a kick to switch from storage mode to serial mode) but you won't be the first to try it so there will be a HOWTO somewhere.
Re:Expensive (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Nobody said unlimited... (Score:2, Informative)
I was looking at this one;
September Offers [t-mobile.co.uk]
It says "UNLIMITED* internet access with no run-on rates"
Further down there's a link "* Subject to fair use"
Following the link lists 15 different tariffs with their various terms and conditions. It's not immediately obvious which applies to the one you were just looking at.
Which site were you looking at? Was it the UK one?
Re:It can't be both UNLIMITED and 3Gb! (Score:2, Informative)
Before anyone claims that T mobile say no such thing;
September Offers [t-mobile.co.uk]
It says "UNLIMITED* internet access with no run-on rates"
Further down there's a link "* Subject to fair use"
Following the link lists 15 different tariffs with their various terms and conditions. There's quite a lot of small print there...
Re:It can't be both UNLIMITED and 3Gb! (Score:1, Informative)
It is unlimited, but after 3GB your access is throttled to GPRS speeds. Of course technically nothing is unlimited, the day only has 24 hours and bandwidth isn't infinite either. The point is that you can go online for a day and only pay a fixed price, without overage fees and without being cut off after a certain amount of traffic.
Re:Will the dongle work with my Eee PC? (Score:1, Informative)
No idea. T-Mobile's website doesn't even say which versions of Windows it's compatible with let alone mentioning Macs or Linux
This is untrue. The T-Mobile UK website seems very clear, complete, and helpful compared to others. There are per-device FAQs.
The USB stick [t-mobile.co.uk] FAQ (under "Web'n'Walk device if the direct link doesn't work) says it supports "Windows Vista, XP, 2000 & Apple Mac OSX 10.2.6 or higher."