Activating A Sim For Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband

[tface]

I called Vodafone last week and explained that I want to use Vodafone Pas as You Go Mobile Broadband. I did also say that I DON'T need a USB modem as I have a laptop which already takes a sim card.
I was then told that i shall recieve a normal phone pas as u go sim which I need to then change to MOBILE BROADBAND sim by calling 08700700191.
I called that number and I have been transferred form one person to another and different departments. No body has been able to help me.
I ask if you can give me a number to call for this to happen and also tell me what the process is as I can explain to the Vodafone preson to ensure its done correctly.
Any settings/ downloads which need to be done on the laptop?

[Ben_H]

Hi jamesmcbride,

First things first, welcome to the eForum

I'm pretty certain I know where the hiccups lie on this one! The Access Point Name (APN) for the contract sim is different to the one on the topup sim. The inbuilt HSDPA card can have it's settings amended, but to do this I could do with finding out software is being used for the modem access. Is it Vodafone Lite? Also where was the laptop purchased as this will help us find out if it is locked to a specific service.

One way you could get the inner modem working with the PAYU sim is to uninstall the VMC Lite software the dongle used, reinstall and when prompted to search for a modem, select 'inbuilt modem'. You will probably still need the APN settings amended though.

Once we've got some more info we can advise you further

If anyone wants to check out our fantastic modem deals online, visit our store for more info!

Cheers, Ben

eForum Team

[jamesmcbride]

Hi Ben,
thanks for the reply

I have tried changing the APN to the one listed as being for vodafone PAYG as below:
APN: pp.vodafone.co.uk
User: wap
Pass: wap

I'm fairly sure the laptop isn't sim locked as I have used vodafone pay monthly sim's before and my Orange Contract SIM

The laptop is a Dell D820 which I bought about 3 years ago - the card is a Dell Wireless 5505 Mobile Broadband (3G HSDPA) Minicard

Thanks again
James

[Retired-Helen]

Hi James

Thanks for the information in your reply.

If you purchased the PAYG modem from us and have taken the SIM out of this, the APN details you need to enter are as follows;

• APN = pp.internet
  
• Username = web
  
• Password = web
  
• Dial number = *#99#
  

If you were using a standard pre pay SIM out of a phone, the APN details would be a little different;

• APN = pp.vodafone.co.uk
  
• Username = wap
  
• Password = wap
  
• Dial number is *#99#
  

To create the new profile this you can go to Settings> Profile> Create New within the Vodafone Software.

This should get things up and running for you! Once you've sorted this out, come back and have a nosey at all of the brilliant features our website has to offer that can save you time by managing your account online. From changing your address to checking your current usage, it's all available right here!

For anyone else interested in taking advantage of the fabulous offers we have available on Mobile Internet check out our Latest Deals and see how much value for money you get on our USB Broadband packages.

Let us know how you get on,


Helen

eForum Team

[kimptoc]

Hi Helen,

Is there any difference between the performance of the service I'd get on the PAYG sim versus the phone SIM?

The reason I ask is that I am testing both out in an Huawei MIFI dongle and I find the up/down speeds to be much better with the PAYG sim.

I guess it could just be luck of the draw in terms of network usage, but it was tested fairly close together.

Thanks,
Chris

Hi James

Thanks for the information in your reply.

If you purchased the PAYG modem from us and have taken the SIM out of this, the APN details you need to enter are as follows;

• APN = pp.internet
• Username = web
• Password = web
• Dial number = *#99#

If you were using a standard pre pay SIM out of a phone, the APN details would be a little different;

• APN = pp.vodafone.co.uk
• Username = wap
• Password = wap
• Dial number is *#99#

To create the new profile this you can go to Settings> Profile> Create New within the Vodafone Software.

This should get things up and running for you! Once you've sorted this out, come back and have a nosey at all of the brilliant features our website has to offer that can save you time by managing your account online. From changing your address to checking your current usage, it's all available right here!

For anyone else interested in taking advantage of the fabulous offers we have available on Mobile Internet check out our Latest Deals and see how much value for money you get on our USB Broadband packages.

Let us know how you get on,


Helen

eForum Team

[Retired-Jon_V]

Hi Helen,

Is there any difference between the performance of the service I'd get on the PAYG sim versus the phone SIM?

The reason I ask is that I am testing both out in an Huawei MIFI dongle and I find the up/down speeds to be much better with the PAYG sim.

I guess it could just be luck of the draw in terms of network usage, but it was tested fairly close together.

Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,

There is no preference given to connection speeds on our network, so it should not matter what type of account you're using - speeds should be equally comparable in the same location, using the same equipment, regardless of SIM card

I trust this answers your question.

Jon

eForum Team

[BHulme]

Hi there everyone,

Getting back to the original point of this thread, I'd like to add that I also wanted to use a Pay As You Go Mobile broadband SIM card from Vodafone but got told I needed to buy a dongle to throw away.
I completely agree with the original poster on this and would like to add a few points to your reply to him.

Firstly, a SIM card basically contains an electronically encoded ID number and that is used by your billing servers to deduce what and who to charge for any calls, texts or data used (Data also uses an APN to allow and configure routing through the network). There is NO difference between different SIM cards other than the number encoded on them, so to tell people that it's not possible to issue a SIM card to do this is wrong.
I could take the SIM card from a PAYG dongle and put it in my laptop and it'll work, also if I took a contract SIM and put it in a dongle it'd also work. All I need to do is set the APN correctly for the linked account.
So really it'd be very simple for Vodafone to offer this and this brings me to my next point.

You already offer a contract SIM-only mobile broadband service at the same price, thus proving it's technically possible.

Thirdly, Vodafone in Australia, and New Zealand all offer PAYG SIM-only mobile broadband and I believe it's quite lucrative for them.

Finally, a USB HSDPA dongle costs in the order of £200 per unit per buy from the manufacturers at retail. Now I have no doubt that Vodafone has purchased a bulk lot at a discount price but no matter how you look at it, the USB device costs money (that's why they're locked to a specific network so you can recover the costs from the service price). You can't possibly say that the purchase of a dongle helps pay for the setup of the account, as the £5 to £15 you pay for one wouldn't even come close to covering the cost price of the device even at large bulk prices.
Vodafone subsidises each dongle it sells.

So really, if you offered this to customers you'd need to do very little work to set it up, it'd cost you less to run and benefit your end customers. Now that's good business practise. Maybe that's why you already do it elsewhere in the world!?

As you can probably tell, I was quite frustrated by this and it's nice to vent sometimes!

[Retired-Reidar]

Hello Bhulme

A concise post indeed, however I understand the reasoning behind it.

As always we take into consideration customer suggestions, and if the situation changes in the future we'll be sure to make the new tariffs openly available.

Thanks

Reidar

eForum Team