pineappletree, I feel sorry for your plight... what vodafone fail to understand is that some of us are looking to use Mobile Broadband as a viable replacement for all other connections to the internet. i.e. We’re trying to get by solely using Mobile Broadband!! Which used to be tough using vodafone, though barely attainable, if you severely restrict your data usage. However, this is now not the case, and it has now become impossible!! Two gigs of data for fifteen quid is unacceptable. Especially as they have no other data plan in place for people who like to use the internet more often, or for heavier usage. The vodafone "Need help picking an internet dongle plan?" app on their site is a joke!! You tell it you use the internet regularly (which vodafone clarify as, "I use it all the time
It's my main connection"), and then tell it that you like to Download (which vodafone elucidate as, "I browse a lot, check email
and download large files and movies") and it tells you that the best deal for you is four gigs a month on an eighteen month contract!! Their PAYG deals are even worse with only two gigs being offered for apparently the same level of usage...
Umm, when you (vodafone) said that regular use means "I use it all the time It’s my main connection" and that Downloading means, "I browse a lot, check email and download large files and movies" I was assuming you actually meant that?? I was silly enough to think you were being veracious. Instead you insult us PAYG customers with some poxy two gigabyte deal! That’s the height of stinginess... Maybe vodafone has a very skewed understanding of what large files are? I really would have liked to download some open source software, but seeing how the ISO’s are around three and a half gigs each, I could never do that at all. I would hazard a guess at the average movie being around two hours? Which means, say... maybe a little over one gig per movie? So when vodafone said, "and movies" with the word "movie" being pluralised. I got the distinct impression that they were about to offer something much larger than two gigs, even on a PAYG tariff. That’s flagrant false advertising, surely?? Two gigabytes will not last you thirty days if that’s how heavy you use the internet. I checked the info where is says "What does this let me do?" Which is vodafone’s qualification of what two-hundred and fifty megabytes of data will allow you to do. It says, "Watch 5 short video clips"! So two gigs will get you twenty short video clips. That’s hardly heavy usage for a thirty day period. Less than one a day. Not to mention the other surfing you’d be doing!!
Anyway, I didn’t reply to you pineappletree just so I could berate vodafone. I just thought I’d mention that you may be able to get your vodafone dongle unlocked, as you would a mobile phone. I’ve heard rumours on the net that you can do this for free; but I haven’t looked into it any further yet. Obviously this would completely void your vodafone warranty (whatever that means to a PAYG customer), and I cannot vouch for how reliable this is. There are pretty good data sim deals on Ebay and Amazon, etcetera. Which may get you started with another operator on the cheap... Anyway, hope this helps.
