OT - mobile broadband SIMs again and eBay

Following on from the previous thread, I am looking for a SIM only deal.

However, the 3 deal which looks best is:

[Note this URL requires you to navigate around - can't get a direct link to the pages.

SIM only 12Gb for 12 months for £51.49. I only have HSDPA USB sticks, not HSPA+ so they may not be compatible - have asked 3. Same deal including HSPA+ USB stick (premium dongle Huawei E367) £99.99 Same deal including HSPA+ USB stick (standard dongle, details not showing) £81.99

[Now changing horses in mid stream. I thought that I had found a ridiculously cheap deal on eBay where the dongle cost was virtually nil. I am now slightly baffled - the deals are selling the previous generation ZTE MF112 for various reasonable or ridiculous prices, and the SIM only deals are more expensive than from the 3 website. No sellers of the E367 stick shown by search. Just found a well old 3.6mbps HSDPA dongle for £89.99
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?pt=UK_Computing_LaptopAccessories_PCMCIACards&hash=item27bca4f319show the E353 dongle as an HPA+. Priced at £64.99 + £6 this seems £12 cheaper than the 3 site. Does anyone know if this is the standard dongle? If so this may be a reasonable deal.

Also, the 3 site doesn't seem to say if the latest dongles support a micro SD card. O.K. - Google says both E353 and E357 support the same data rate and also a micro SD card.

3 web site now achieving a "suck+" rating.

I am now guessing that the E353 is the standard and E357 the premium dongle.

It is claimed that the E357 has a brand new chipset but I haven't found which one yet. The E353

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the Qualcomm 8200a chipset.

So, now losing the will to live, is the E357 with bendy bit and self retaining cap worth the extra over the more conventional looking E353? Does it have major performance advantages?

TIA

Dave R

Reply to
David WE Roberts
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Gnargh! URL tampering gives

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shows the E357 supports GSM and the E353 does not.

No information yet to tell me if the standard software can use this and if e.g. the E357 supports text and voice from your PC.

Reply to
David WE Roberts

You'd be better posting in one of the dedicated mobile phone groups (uk.telecom.mobile et al), as there are experts on phones/plans there, whereas uk.diy may have no users of such phones/tariffs, as well as being off-topic.

Alan.

Reply to
A.Lee

Double Gnaaargh!

Premium dongle with 1Gb data included £34.99

12 month SIM only £51.49 Total £86.48

So I can buy a premium dongle with 12gb/12 months for £99.99 or a premium dongle with 13gb/13 months for £86.48!

Am I going mad, or is the world less logical than I thought?

Hang on....

Premium dongle, 3Gb/3 months £44.99

12 months SIM only £51.49 Total £96.48 15 months for less than the price of 12.

Oh, does anyone know if you can buy a SIM and wait 3 months before you activate it?

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David WE Roberts

As others have said before me, the breadth of knowledge on the NG usually makes OT posts worthwhile.

Reply to
David WE Roberts

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>

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> show the E353 dongle as an HPA+. Priced at £64.99 + £6 this seems £12

Slightly away from your 3 sims etc, but there are often Vodafone PAYG sims & dongles available on ebay with unexpiring credit - so it rolls over from one month to the next, where many deals don't.

I'm a light mobile BB user, with variable use one month to the next. On average I have used only a few hundred MB per month over the last 2 years of a contract. I've just dumped my £15/month contract (upto 3GB) and got an unexpiring PAYG sim, as even at £15/1GB to top-up, will still work out much cheaper than the contract.

Reply to
AlanD

Are these still available? Last time I looked I couldn't find any non-expiring ones.

Reply to
Mark

Well, I think they stopped selling them *new* a couple of years ago, I have one that I keep topped up, it's been very handy on the two occasions the phone cables have been tea-leaved ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

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