It appears a recent Vista security update is causing problems with USB Mobile Broadband devices, including the 3 Modem Stick.  It appears that the update causes Vista PCs to power down the dongle, even though it’s connected and data is flowing.  Shane from SOS has come up with an interesting solution, which he has released on his blog.  Basically it’s a batch file which runs a directory listing of the disk section of the USB device every 5 minutes to ensure it’s kept active.  Hopefully, a proper fix will be released by Microsoft soon; given O2, Vodafone and 3 are all in talks with Vodafone, it hopefully won’t be too long.

Story courtesy of 3mobilebuzz.

Whether it’s the phone itself, the innovative pricing, or the promotion of the device and the abilities it has, but according to an mobile device survey by Admob, the 3 SkypePhone is now the number 5 mobile internet device in the UK, based on the number of adverts served to mobile devices. The top 10 are:

• Sony Ericsson K800i
• Nokia N95
• Sony Ericsson W810i
• Sony Ericsson K610i
• 3 SkypePhone
• Nokia N73
• Sony Ericsson W850i
• ZTE F866
• Nokia 6120c
• Nokia 6300

It’s also interesting to note the ZTE (a USB modem) is in there too, and mainly only on 3 UK in the survey too. The 3 SkypePhone came straight into this survey in 5th place, with 2.7% of the market (by ads served). No wonder 3’s data usage has increased by so much.

T-Mobile now offers it’s USB Modem on PAYG for £99.99 with a £4 per day offering. It’s advertised as unlimited, but it’s Web’n'Walk Plus, which doesn’t offer all services (VOIP is not allowed on this tariff, for example), and compared to 3’s £10 for the whole month doesn’t sound such good value if you would use it more than twice a month. Also, we could not find out whether T-Mobile actually meant unlimited, or had a fair usage policy on this service.

So, O2, T-Mobile, 3, and Vodafone all openly promote good data deals (although some of them could do with keeping their web sites up to dates with their latest deals and T&Cs), Orange stand out as only promoting their pay monthly service, and not a PAYG service.

According to an article by Fresh Plastic, the 3 SkypePhone is now available at both Woolworths and Sainsburys at just £39.99 on PAYG. Even better value, this includes a £10 TopUp credit, reducing the real cost. We’ve been a fan of the 3 SkypePhone since launch, and since then 3 have made a small, but significant change to Internet Access. For 50p a day, £2.50 a week, or £5 a month you have always been able to access the Internet direct from the phone, but for the last few months, 3 have opened up a new option for customers; Mobile Broadband.

Mobile Broadband costs £10 per month, but importantly allows you (under the T&Cs) to connect your PC through the 3 SkypePhone to access the internet. Technically, the cheaper Internet Access is limited to direct access from the mobile itself, and this limitation is removed for the Mobile Broadband option. Now, some people question whether this is worth the extra £5, given the fact that the same £10 also buys you 30 days credit for a PAYG USB Modem too. Well, remember that it also gives you free Skype access on the 3 SkypePhone, and with the ability to configure the phone to provide the PC access via Bluetooth, then you can have the same access without anything attached to a Bluetooth capable laptop. For many, this Skype access makes the 3 SkypePhone better value. Even if you only topup with £10 per month, and use this all for mobile data (ie you don’t use it for phone calls) the device will feel useful because of the Skype access. Of course, looking at the other point of view, the 3 USB Modem will get higher data speeds, so that may be a deciding factor for that option instead.

Price drop story courtesy Fresh Plastic [Via 3mobilebuzz]

Although we first announced it a couple of weeks ago, today 3 finally reduce the price of the ZTE and Huawei E220 USB Modems to £49.99. The new USB Modem Stick (E169) remains at a higher price though. Go and buy your PAYG USB Modem here.

On Friday O2 finally launched their competition to Vodafone and 3’s Mobile Broadband. For £20 a month you get a 3Gb allowance (with a handy text message at 2Gb warning you the allowance is running out). Over that, it’s 20p per MB. However, you do also get unlimited WiFi via The Cloud. One limitation - you must be an existing O2 customer, and it’s an 18 month contract. There’s a month-by-month option (a bit like PAYG) which is still £20 per month, but you’ll need to buy the USB modem at £120 first.

Unlike 3, the max speed on offer today is 1.8mbps, with O2’s 3.6mbps rolling out in June.

Certainly the unlimited WiFi deal is a bit of a differentiator, but compared to 3’s offer of half price broadband to existing customers; and with the trick of getting a 3 Skypephone on a 6 month contract just to become a customer, it’s not necessarily the cheapest way of getting online for everyone.

Some content courtesy of SMS Text News.

3 have made a number of changes to their mobile broadband USB modems today. The new USB Stick Modem is now the same price as the other USB Modems if you take out a contract (ie free on all contracts except Broadband Lite 12 months). 3 have also dropped the PAYG price of the E220 and ZTE modems by £20, although the USB Stick Modem stays at the same price. When we checked, the pricing was yet to appear on the website, but should do soon.

Even more reasons to go and buy one today….

Update: The PAYG price change will happen on 1st May, although the contract price changes are already up on the 3 website.

Here’s an interesting view of 3’s data usage. It’s interesting for two reasons; firstly as it’s rare for a network to release information like this, and second as it shows the impact the release of their USB Modem solutions has had on their network. The six month period covers the release of the 3 SkypePhone and the increased marketing behind their USB Modems.

In other news, the 3 SkypePhone is currently on special offer at 3 - you can (for a short time) get the phone for free on a 6 month contract (instead of the more normal 12 or 18 month contracts). Even better, this 6 month contract is enough to qualify you for half price mobile broadband, although you will need to keep the contract running to benefit from the reduced mobile broadband pricing.

Data network story courtesy of The Inquirer [Via Tech Digest]

Well, a week after we first mentioned it, we have one of the new 3 USB Stick Modems here. As with some other people, the first laptop we tried wouldn’t accept that the device was there, but on a second laptop it worked just fine (some software conflict that Huawei really need to find and resolve, or at least offer advice on).

In terms of speed, we’ve mainly seen connections at 3.6mbps, which is faster than our broadband. As well as offering a data connection, the software allows you to send and receive SMS text messages.

For those times when you are on the train, or have limited room for the stick modem to point straight out, it also comes with a short USB extension lead, but for most uses, it’s a straight plug in and work setup. The device also features built in storage where the software and drivers are stored, meaning you don’t even need to carry around an install CD.

As part of the launch of this new modem, 3 are offering some innovative pricing deals: for a start, if you are an existing customer, you can get the Mobile Broadband service for half price. Also, they have recently announced some very competitive tariffs, where you can get a free phone, pay a fairly reasonable monthly cost, and get a fair few minutes included as standard, yet also get unlimited texts.

Now, that means if you took the free phone, and then applied for mobile broadband, for a combined monthly cost of just £32.50 would get you a free phone, 500 minutes, unlimited texts, and mobile broadband with a 3Gb a month allowance. Note: the phone contract may be only 12 months (a bit of a rarity nowadays), but the mobile broadband contract has to be at least 18 months to benefit from the half price deal, although you still get the choice of all the USB modems (although the new USB Stick Modem will come with a one off charge to purchase unless you take a 24 month Broadband contract). This offer is only valid until the 31st May, so worth thinking through these options right now.

Although we’ve yet to try it, if you are roaming onto one of the 3 networks around the world, you still get the same deals and benefits - which means mobile broadband at no additional roaming costs.

Head over to the 3 Store now to look and order all these offers for unlimited texts and USB Modems.

Further to our announcement of the 3 USB Stick Modem yesterday, 3 have confirmed that they plan to offer the modem on a wider range of tariffs (12 month contracts and on Broadband Lite (1Gb)). These options are all likely to incur a small charge to buy the device, and aren’t available yet.

This new USB Stick Modem has been released by 3 today. It’s currently available for FREE, but only on the two higher Broadband contracts (Broadband 3Gb 24 months and Broadband 7Gb 24 months or 18 months); there’s no word as to whether it will be available on PAYG.

3 have reduced the price of their PAYG USB Modems from £99.99 to £69.99. The data Addons price has stayed the same, but is already very competitive. Head over to 3’s website to order.

We covered the release of the Vodafone USB Modem Stick here, however, Automated Home have got an in depth review of the modem available here.

Vodafone are dropping the monthly price of their 3G USB Modems. The price for their 3Gb data allowance, will drop to £15 per month (if you take an 18 or 24 month contract). At these contract lengths, you will also get the USB Modem for free too. As Vodafone are yet to update their website to reflect this, we can’t confirm whether the £15 includes VAT or not. This price drop should be taking effect from today.

Thanks to SMSTextNews.

Vodafone are now offering a new USB Modem in their range of devices. It’s a USB stick, which plugs directly into the USB port - no trailing device on the end of a cable, like the more common USB Modem used. It’s available now from free (on 24 month contracts), up to £149 (no PAYG) direct from Vodafone.

Update: It’s a Huawei device (model E172), and supports speeds upto 7.2mbps (although Vodafone’s fastest network access is only available in selected areas of London and a few airports.

Carphone Warehouse have launched a new deal. For £35 per month (18 month contract), you get the 3 USB Modem, with 3Gb of data and 200 SMS text messages per month. However, they are also providing a free Dell laptop as part of a complete mobile broadband solution. This compares with paying around £350 for the laptop, and £15 per month for the usb modem. This means at the end of the 18 months, the cost is about the same, but it may be easier for people to finance without the initial cost of the laptop.

Thanks to SMS Text News.

As we first mentioned here, 3 have now released their USB Modem as a Pay As You Go (PAYG) offering. Simply head over to their website, buy the modem for £99.99 (in Black, White and Pink as mentioned here or the Black ZTE version), and then topup with 1Gb, 3Gb, or 7Gb data packs for £10, £15 or £25 respectively, which are valid for 30 days (charges of £1 per Mb apply once the allowance is used up, although you should be able to topup again).

In comparison, Vodafone charge £9.99 for 24 hours access, with a 500Mb limit, so if you plan to use the USB modem a little more frequently (but not enough to buy one), or want a little more headroom in the bandwidth limit, then this deal may well be for you. You also get the modem for the same price directly, without needing to quote special discount codes.

3 have released a couple of limited edition versions of their USB Modem. The hardware and mobile broadband plans are the same, but the modem is now available in pink and black. These two new colours are available now, and at the same price as the original white.

Have you got yourself a 3 USB Modem, or a Vodafone USB Modem, and fancy making it look a bit different?  If you look at the 3 Accessories section, you’ll see that they have a link to 3Skins,  which is a 3 branded version of the Skin4Things website. This company sell skins, basically stickers, to apply to your mobile phone, but they also include a few other devices, including the USB Modem (they also have skins for games consoles and laptops).

Picture courtesy of SMSTextNews.

Although 3 may well launch their USB Modem soon, Vodafone already offer their USB Modems with a PAYG option.

More details and pricing (including an offer) in the rest of the article.

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