We first covered the Huawei D100 Router as sold by 3UK earlier this year, but we now see it’s been removed from the 3Store (most likely due to 3UK concentrating on the ZTE USB Modem right now, which is not compatible with the Huawei).  Well, courtesy of Hot UK Deals, we’ve been informed that Carphone Warehouse are currently selling their stock of the 3 branded device at half price, which is £34.25.  That’s a very good price for the device, although it is limited to only working with 3UK, and, as already stated, needs a Huawei 3UK USB Modem to work.  However, once you have that, it will offer you the ability to share your 3UK Mobile Broadband connection with upto 4 other devices via Wi-Fi as long as you have access to a power socket.

Given that this does have these limitations, what are the options for others?  Well, the Solwise 3G Router may help out; although it’s designed as an ADSL router, it has a 3G failback capability (ie when the ADSL line is down, it will use a 3G USB Modem instead).  Now, because this isn’t being sold by any particular network, it’s not limited to one mobile network, and also supports a whole range of USB Modems, including a number of ZTE models as well.  It can even support some mobile phones being connected via USB if you have one lying around spare.

As the Solwise has both an ethernet port and Wi-Fi capability, it can act as a nice portable connection sharing device too. The Solwise is a little more expensive at £60 though (although for another few pounds you can get a Euro plug adaptor for the same device given you the ability to use it across Europe; although use a local SIM or be prepared for some horrendous data roaming charges!).

Both these devices still have one problem; the USB Mobile Broadband Dongle has to be physically located close to the main unit (and hence a power socket); if this location does not have the best 3G signal, then you should head over to Mobile Fun, who sell external aerials and signal boosters for the majority of USB Modems on the market (and have some generic ones for those without external antenna sockets).  Finally, it’s not clear if Carphone Warehouse are selilng the Black or White variant (or if you get a choice when ordering online), so it may be prudent to go to your local store if you are looking for a particular colour.

We should say that T-Mobile have a similar unit, but it’s only available with a new Mobile Broadband contract, so if you already have a device, there’s no wasy way of purchasing one…

We’re a big fan of 3 UK and also of Skype, so we are happy to promote the 3UK Skype Free Calls Forever promotion that 3 UK have launched.  Even better than that, they have just announced a price drop on two of their Skype phones on Pay As You Go (PAYG):

• The INQ1 PAYG has dropped from £99.99 to £69.99
• The Skypephone S2 has dropped from £99.99 to £69.99

This makes the 3 UK deal even better; for around £70 you can now buy a phone which will offer free Skype to Skype calls and not even need to topup the device to continue using it (although if you get the INQ1, we’d recommend it’s worth keeping the phone topped up and also getting Mobile Internet access on it to access the other Social Networking features of the phone).

Also, if you are on the lookout for a deal on 3 Mobile Broadband Starter Kits, 3 UK have just dropped the price of their 3GB Starter Kit from £59.99 to £49.99 (for selected USB Modems).

We believe all these deals are already available in the 3Store.

3UK have this week reduced some of the prices of their Mobile Broadband solutions. Firstly they have reduced the price of some of the USB Modem sticks to even lower prices than before, now starting around £30.  Secondly they have reduced the price of the 3 Mobile Broadband Starter Kits, with these now starting around £59, although we still think the 12GB version offers the best value for money.

We see 3UK have also launched a new Starter Kit with a 24GB allowance, for use over a period of upto 24 months, which might appeal to some.

All items are available for order today from the 3Store.

Vodafone have just started a promotion on their TopUp and Go USB Modem Stick for £39 (down from £49 yesterday), which includes the first free TopUp of 1GB (worth £15).  Unlike 3UK, this TopUp will not expire, and we understand nor will any subsequent TopUps.  The K3565 Modem Stick offers downloads of up to 3.6mbps, and includes a microSD slot.

This may be an interesting competitor to the 3 USB Modems, especially with the non-expiry of the TopUp vouchers; but is it good value…  Let’s compare the main networks:

• Vodafone: £15 buys you 1GB of data, but with no expiry
• 3UK: £15 buys you 3GB of data, but it will expire after 30 days
• T-Mobile:£20 buys you 30 days of usage, with a 3GB of data cap (includes Wi-Fi access too)
• O2: £15 buys you 3GB of data, but it will expire after 30 days (it does also include “unlimited” Wi-Fi)
• Orange don’t offer PAYG Mobile Broadband

So, is this a good deal?  Well, we think for those who want to occasionally take their laptop out and about it could be wonderful, removing the need for TopUps unless the data has been used up; for those who need more data, we would probably recommend the 3 Mobile Broadband Starter Kits or any of the contract Mobile Broadband deals.

In other news, we’re hearing Vodafone has an offer on their Vodafone netbook (Dell Mini 9) laptops; half price line rental for the first 3 months; we are finding our netbook very easy to use, and you can read our first impressions of it here.  Full details of this should appear on the Vodafone website soon.

Maplin have reduced the price of the Maplin minibook between now and 24th December. Instead of the RRP of £169.99, it’s now just £139.99. Maplin have offered discounts on this small netbook before, but this is the largest discount we’re aware of. Also available from that webpage is a downloadable Wi-Fi patch for the device to deal with wireless connectivity problems. From that webpage there is also a link to CnM Lifestyle, from where you can download system restore tools, a few extra applications and games, and even a driver for the Huawei E220 USB Modem for 3G access.

This may not be as feature rich as the Asus Eee PC units, but price wise it certainly may serve as a device for kids to have internet access.

Fancy a mobile broadband device, but don’t want to commit to a long contract?  3UK have now got the E220 Modem available on a 6 month contract.  Just a quick reminder; the E220 is not one of the newer USB dongles.

According to 3UK, this will work with the D100 Router they released last week, although having told us that the router shipped with a battery when it doesn’t, we would suggest you get confirmation from 3UK on this compatibility before purchasing if this is a key feature for you.  We suspect it will work (as it’s a Huawei device), although it won’t be as neat as using a new dongle USB Modem.

Head to the 3Store for more details.

Update: This was apparently too popular for 3UK, who have now removed it from their website.

3UK have kindly provided us with more technical details behind the D100 Router. This is made by Huawei, and we understand it will work with any Huawei USB Mobile Broadband modem, including the original 3 USB Modem, as well as the more recent dongle versions. It won’t, however, work with every USB modem 3 have sold, eg the black and green ZTE modem will not work (by virtue of being made by ZTE, and not Huawei).

As a passing comment, the ZTE modem has now been dropped by 3UK due to limited remaining stock, and the overall move to USB dongles, although it’s still available as one of the 3 Mobile Broadband Starter Kits if you really must have a green and black modem!

After the ethernet port we mentioned last week, the key feature the D100 router has is a built in Li-Ion battery. It’s 950mAh, which is equivalent to many mobile phones, so we would expect this is capable of powering the device for a few hours; this may seem shorter than a mobile phone, but remember it’s got to power the USB modem as well as provide a constant Wi-Fi signal. However, the inclusion of a battery will allow the device to function whilst out and about without necessarily needing a power socket, which has to be a good feature.

The tech specs are:

• Weight : 200g
• Size : 110 x 90 x 27
• Battery : 950mAh (LiP) BST-38
• Speed : Dependent on modem being connected.
• WLAN: IEEE 802.11b/g
• UMTS Signal Indication
• Lion Battery and power indication
• DC connector and external DC power supply
• Connector for external USB device (ie the USB Modem)
• Up to 32 user connected through Wi-Fi
• Networks : GPRS 900/1800/1900/UMTS 2100

Colours

• White
• Black

Other Features

• 1 RJ45 port

3UK have also confirmed it will retail for £69.99 (when buying a new contract), and is available today from the 3Store. It’s half price with the offers we mentioned last week; as well as those taking a new phone *and* Mobile Broadband contract, it appears it will be half price for existing Mobile Broadband customers, although you may need to ring up to get this offer.

We should also state, it is tied to 3, so will not work with Huawei dongles on other networks.

3 are stating this is capable of replacing a home broadband service, and certainly for occasional internet users that is a very possible situation. For those that travel with multiple devices, or even small offices, it could also offer an attractive option.

Update: It appears the tech specs from 3UK themselves may be wrong, and it may not include a battery after all. We’re seeking confirmation from 3UK on this point…

Update: 3UK have confirmed this was an error in the initial technical specs that were sent out, it does not contain a battery and that the tech specs on the 3 website are now correct.  3UK have apologised for the confusion this has caused.

Just last week, T-Mobile launched their Wi-Fi Broadband router, the T-Mobile Mobile Broadband Share Dock.  This is a Wi-Fi access point that accepts the T-Mobile USB Mobile Broadband dongle, and allows you to share and access the mobile broadband connection.  It’s limited to 3 concurrent devices, and as part of configuring it, you set a password to protect access.

The biggest downside is that in the short term T-Mobile have stated it will only be available with a *new* Mobile Broadband contract (£20 for 18 months which includes the Mobile Broadband dongle), but some people are reporting it’s going to be available to existing customers, at a price which varies based on your current contract.  This should be available in stores around now, although it does not appear yet on the T-Mobile online store.

Now, this week, 3UK have launched their own equivalent device, the D100 Router.  Looking a little smaller and neater, it also performs the same function; providing access to the 3 USB Modem via wireless, and 3 say this can be shared with up to 4 people.  It will work with all Huawei USB dongles, although possibly not the elder Huawei USB Modem devices.  However, there are something about this which have attracted our attention…

Although we have little other details, we notice an ethernet socket on the side; it will be interesting to see what this is for, and whether it allows you to use this on both wired and wireless networks.  3UK are also currently making this only available with a new mobile broadband, but that can be a contract or PAYG, and we understand it will be available within the next few weeks, and priced as follows:

• If you are a new customer, you can pay £69.99 when you purchase either a Mobile Broadband contract *or* a Pay As You Go USB dongle.
• If you are a new customer, and you buy 2 “contracts” at the same time, it will only cost £34.99.  We’re not sure if this means you can purchase a phone contract and a broadband contract and benefit from the half price, but we hope it does.
• Finally, if you are an existing 3UK monthly contract customer, it will cost you £34.99 with a new Mobile Broadband contract.

We would recommend and remind you that 3UK are still offering monthly the top Mobile Broadband 15GB tariff at half price for existing customers (ie £15 per month); we’re waiting for confirmation from 3UK as to whether you can use both these offers together.

If you plan to share out your USB Mobile Broadband device with either of these routers, we’d recommend making sure you are on one of the networks higher tariffs.  Certainly the ability to allow friends and family to access the internet when visting you (or you visiting them) or just the ability to create your own wi-fi access point whilst travelling (allowing the connection to be shared by a number of devices) will make these popular sellers.

Next up, we hope the networks release devices that perform the reverse; using an existing fixed broadband connection to provide a femtocell; providing network coverage for your phone in areas where the signal is currently poor.  For many, these type of devices, even if limited to voice and text would be welcome.  They are being worked on (and we have covered these devices before), but it’s still not clear when they will be available for sale.

For the next few days, we will introduce a new deal that 3UK are now offering, some of these are so new, that (at the time of writing) 3UK haven’t updated their website to reflect these details.

Today’s deals aren’t actually new deals, but they are an improvement…

3UK have improved their USB Mobile Broadband offerings, by offering newer and better devices.

Firstly, they are replacing the E169G Stick with the new E169 Stick (yes, a subtle model number difference), with the new version additional featuring a memory card slot as well, allowing the device to work as a card reader.

Secondly, the E160G will now be available in new colours; pink, blue and green.

Although we’ve mentioned them before, a number of the devices are also as Broadband Starter Kits, which is basically a way of buying them as PAYG devices, but with a nice credit already included in the deal.

If interested, head off to the 3Store and read about the 3 USB Modems or 3 Mobile Broadband Starter Kits.

At the time of writing the website did not reflect all new 3UK offers mentioned this week, and some will come with Terms & Conditions and Fair Usage Policies which we were unable to confirm the details of.

Three have spoken with Tech Radar, and provided some interesting information.  Firstly, they are looking to improve their speed up to 14.4mbps over the next year.  This will be achieved by first rolling out 7.2mbps this summer, followed by 14.4mbps in the future.  3 do warn that you’ll need to be within about 200m of a mobile mast to get the benefit from the 7.2mbps speed.

More importantly, they have also stated that the main plan is to increase capacity; “What we hope to offer is greater capacity, in order to serve more users, rather than just focusing on the top speeds.”

With 3’s fantastic USB Modem deals in the 3Store, it might well be worth getting a device today and then upgrade it next year to an even faster one when your current contract is up.

Details courtesy of Tech Radar [via 3mobilebuzz]

If you are looking for a 3 USB Modem, but want an easy solution, then the Mobile Broadband Starter Kits might be the answer. These Mobile Broadband Starter Kits come with the USB Modem (a choice of the popular 3 USB Modems are offered), and also come with an initial data bundle to allow it to work straight away; so all you have to do is to put the SIM into the dongle / modem, connect the dongle / modem to your PC, and you will be able to surf the internet.

A number of options are available, from 3Gb to 24Gb data allowance included. This initial allowance is time limited, just like the standard PAYG USB Modems, but does offer a good deal.

It’s a while since we’ve mentioned the 3 USB Mobile Broadband deals, and 3 have quietly updated these, so we thought we would recap these new deals.

There are still 3 levels (Lite, Plus and Max), but the cost and amount of data allowance per month varies based on the length of contract you sign.

• For Broadband Lite, the figures are fixed; £10 per month with 1Gb of data allowance, irrespective of whether you take a 12, 18 or 24 month contract.
• Broadband Plus costs £15 per month, and comes with 3Gb of data allowance on a 12 month contract, but gives you 5Gb of data for a 18 or 24 month contract.
• Finally, Broadband Max offers some of the best deals for high usage customers. A 12 month contract will cost £25 per month and give 7Gb of data allowance, but 18 and 24 month contracts cost slightly more at £30 per month, but give a massive 15Gb of data allowance per month.

In most cases, the USB Modem is free (the exception being the 12 month Broadband Lite contract, although the £49.99 charge for the device is waived if you are an existing 3 customer). Another option for existing customers is to take the 18 month Broadband Max contract, where 3 will halve the monthly charge (ie you get 15Gb of data allowance for £15 per month).

These deals are all laid out in the 3 Store, and of course the PAYG options still exist if you don’t want the ongoing commitment of paying every month (although you may want to do the sums, as we reckon it’s worth it for many people).

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]