Trying to get my head around Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband

I am trying to get my head around Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband.

I want something that I use occasionally on trips away from home but I
don't want charges if not using it for several months.

I thought that 3's Pay As You Go service would meet my requirements then
noticed that you could still be charged high charges if you exceeded your
1GB bandwidth. Do they need your credit card details when purchasing
top-ups and converting to "add-ons" (I think that is their terminology).

I don't understand why mobile bandwidth providers have this excessive
charge if you exceed your bandwidth allocation, why can't they just cut you
off until you top up? Would Pay As You Go mobile phones have sold in such
large numbers if they started charging £10 a minute for a call if you used
up your £10 top-up?

I refuse to give a company what is effectively an open cheque so might just
end up not buying a mobile broadband service.


MB

"Neil Vince" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
> You have no need to worry. I use 3's Pay as you Go Mobile Broadband
> service, and they do not need your credit card details to top up or
> convert the top up into a add on. I personally use vouchers that I get
> from my local Tesco's.
>
> Also, when you have run out of your allowance it only charges you the
> £1.00/MB if you have any of your top-up left over. So, it does cut you
> off until you top up.
>
> It is in no way an open cheque, and an excellent way to budget your
> usage.
>
> I have a bit more information on this on my Blog if anyone is
> interested.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/0
>


Thanks

I would have thought that it would only charge you £1/MB is you have used
up your 1GB (or whatever), so cannot understand how they can charge you
once it is used up.

Presumably you could buy another 1GB in a couple of month's time, activate
it and start again on that 1GB until you use it up or the 30 days runs out.


This on the 3 website under Pay As You Go is what confused me

Step 3: Convert your Top-up to an Add-on at My3.

IMPORTANT: You don’t need to log in to activate your Top-up voucher. But
you must convert your Top-up to an Add-on, otherwise you'll be charged £1
per MB.



Similarly the My3 site has

Mobile Broadband customers - You must convert your Top-up to an Add-on
otherwise you'll be charged £1 per MB





The TinyURL you quoted was wrong?

MB

On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:46:05 +0100, Neil Vince wrote:

> Also, when you have run out of your allowance it only charges you the
> £1.00/MB if you have any of your top-up left over. So, it does cut you
> off until you top up.

I'm considering 3's mobile broadband as well for the same reasons as
MB, however, I find your paragraph above a little confusing.

Mobile broadband is a new area for me, so I'm not au fait with it yet.

On Aug 25, 8:58*am, "MB" <m...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> I am trying to get my head around Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband.
>
> I want something that I use occasionally on trips away from home but I
> don't want charges if not using it for several months.
>
> I thought that 3's Pay As You Go service would meet my requirements then
> noticed that you could still be charged high charges if you exceeded your
> 1GB bandwidth. *Do they need your credit card details when purchasing
> top-ups and converting to "add-ons" (I think that is their terminology).
>
> I don't understand why mobile bandwidth providers have this excessive
> charge if you exceed your bandwidth allocation, why can't they just cut you
> off until you top up? *Would Pay As You Go mobile phones have sold in such
> large numbers if they started charging £10 a minute for a call if you used
> up your £10 top-up?
>
> I refuse to give a company what is effectively an open cheque so might just
> end up not buying a mobile broadband service.
>
> MB

t-mobile's mobile broadband service is £4/day!!!

Charani <SGBNOSPAM@ mail2genes.invalid> wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:46:05 +0100, Neil Vince wrote:
>
> > Also, when you have run out of your allowance it only charges you the
> > ?1.00/MB if you have any of your top-up left over. So, it does cut you
> > off until you top up.
>
> I'm considering 3's mobile broadband as well for the same reasons as
> MB, however, I find your paragraph above a little confusing.

I have a 3 SIM which usually has 0 pounds on it. Between me topping up a
tenner and buying the mobile broadband addon it has 10 pounds cash balance.
Once I've bought the addon 'Check my balance' on the 3 WAP site shows me how
many MB I have left as well as my cash balance of 0 pounds. Once I run out
of MB or after a month the data connection stops working outside 3's WAP
site. No doubt if I had a non-zero cash balance at this point I'd be
charged a pound a megabyte until it was exhausted.

It's just the same as if you bought a 200 texts bundle on PAYG - after the
texts were exhausted or expired you're just back to normal PAYG. The whole
point of PAYG is that you can't go into debt. Otherwise they'd need credit
checks on all their users or anyone could easily get free service.

Theo

On 26 Aug 2008 13:49:39 +0100 (BST), Theo Markettos wrote:

> I have a 3 SIM which usually has 0 pounds on it. Between me topping up a
> tenner and buying the mobile broadband addon it has 10 pounds cash balance.
> Once I've bought the addon 'Check my balance' on the 3 WAP site shows me how
> many MB I have left as well as my cash balance of 0 pounds. Once I run out
> of MB or after a month the data connection stops working outside 3's WAP
> site. No doubt if I had a non-zero cash balance at this point I'd be
> charged a pound a megabyte until it was exhausted.

Many thanks ) Your explanation makes it perfectly clear now )

"Theo Markettos" <theom+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:35D*(E-Mail Removed)...
> Charani <SGBNOSPAM@ mail2genes.invalid> wrote:
>> On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:46:05 +0100, Neil Vince wrote:
>>
>> > Also, when you have run out of your allowance it only charges you the
>> > ?1.00/MB if you have any of your top-up left over. So, it does cut you
>> > off until you top up.
>>
>> I'm considering 3's mobile broadband as well for the same reasons as
>> MB, however, I find your paragraph above a little confusing.
>
> I have a 3 SIM which usually has 0 pounds on it. Between me topping up a
> tenner and buying the mobile broadband addon it has 10 pounds cash
> balance.
> Once I've bought the addon 'Check my balance' on the 3 WAP site shows me
> how
> many MB I have left as well as my cash balance of 0 pounds. Once I run
> out
> of MB or after a month the data connection stops working outside 3's WAP
> site. No doubt if I had a non-zero cash balance at this point I'd be
> charged a pound a megabyte until it was exhausted.
>
> It's just the same as if you bought a 200 texts bundle on PAYG - after
> the
> texts were exhausted or expired you're just back to normal PAYG. The
> whole
> point of PAYG is that you can't go into debt. Otherwise they'd need
> credit
> checks on all their users or anyone could easily get free service.
>
> Theo


Is that another way of saying that if you have a £2 / 200MB (for round
figures extrapolated from the £10 for 1GB) left at the end of the 30 days
then you will be able to connect to 3 to activate the top-up / add-on and
it will cost a £1 a 1MB to do so?

That is no problem because I would have considered the £2 / 200MB lost
anyway though it is pity they do not have a method of free activation to
people without a 3 mobile phone.

I would expect to put £10 or perhaps £15 credit on the mobile broadband
dongle before going away for a trip, using my connection at home.

MB



(I hate companies that give themselves stupid names! I used to have lots
of problems at work talking about "thus" who we used for some circuits)

MB <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Is that another way of saying that if you have a ?2 / 200MB (for round
> figures extrapolated from the ?10 for 1GB) left at the end of the 30 days
> then you will be able to connect to 3 to activate the top-up / add-on and
> it will cost a ?1 a 1MB to do so?

No, browsing within Three's mobile site is free. On my phone I can go to
mobile.three.co.uk -> My3 -> Buy Add-ons -> Mobile Broadband ->
Broadband Lite 1GB
to buy the topup, with exactly 10.00 balance on the account. If it cost to
get to this page I wouldn't then be able to buy the topup because my balance
would be less than a tenner.

If you have data left at the end of the month it disappears - doesn't roll
over (AFAIK).

> That is no problem because I would have considered the ?2 / 200MB lost
> anyway though it is pity they do not have a method of free activation to
> people without a 3 mobile phone.

I think you can do this with the USB dongle too - presumably you can go to
the same sites? I think you can also do it with Three's web site on another
machine, but you need registration-usernames-passwords-etc.

> I would expect to put ?10 or perhaps ?15 credit on the mobile broadband
> dongle before going away for a trip, using my connection at home.

One thing to note is that registering a card for topups takes 7 days, so
don't decide you want to topup with a new card in the middle of a field
(BTDTGTTS).

> (I hate companies that give themselves stupid names! I used to have lots
> of problems at work talking about "thus" who we used for some circuits)

Yup, I always call them Three since it makes it a bit easier to Google.
When I bought a topup in a shop it registered as 'Hutchison 3G Ltd' which is
a more sensible name. Calling it '3G' as the shop assistant did is even more
confusing!

Theo

"Theo Markettos" <theom+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:25D*(E-Mail Removed)...
> MB <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> One thing to note is that registering a card for topups takes 7 days, so
> don't decide you want to topup with a new card in the middle of a field
> (BTDTGTTS).


That's interesting to know, is that every time that you do a top-up or just
first time?

Better get it organised now for my trip away.

MB

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
MB <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> "Theo Markettos" <theom+(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:25D*(E-Mail Removed)...
>> MB <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> One thing to note is that registering a card for topups takes 7
>> days, so don't decide you want to topup with a new card in the
>> middle of a field (BTDTGTTS).
>
>
> That's interesting to know, is that every time that you do a top-up
> or just first time?
>
> Better get it organised now for my trip away.
>
> MB

Maplin are doing a '3' USB dongle for 50 quid -
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...-5&T=-11755906 -
is that the sort of thing that this thread is discussing?

The blurb says:
"Getting online with Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband is easy.
Just buy a Top-up, convert it to the Add-on of your choice, and you can surf
the net almost anywhere.
1GB ( 10) enables you to:
- Send 650 plain text emails
- Surf the web for 30 hours
- Download 30 two minute videos
- Download 60 music tracks"

I presume that ( 10) means ten quid - though there's no pound sign shown on
my browser?

I also assume that your £10 enables you to do any *one* of the bulleted
items - or a mixture of parts of each - rather than *all* of them.

How is browsing charged for? 30 hours is only an hour per day for a month -
is it *actually* timed or does it depend on what you download, such that you
would *typically* use all of your 1GB in 30 hours?

It seems to me that something like that may be useful when I'm away in my
caravan - although only being valid for 30 days is a limitation since I'm
likely to have several short breaks of a week or less, spanning several
months in total - so I would presumably have to buy a new £10 top-up for
*each* break? Since mobile reception isn't very good in a caravan (being a
bit like a Faraday cage), is there any reason why I couldn't use a USB
extension cable for the dongle, and dangle it out of the window?
--
Cheers,
Roger
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