Cubot One - No internet connectivity

[KennyTempleton]

Recently bought a Cubot One for my daughter to replace a water damaged monthly contract phone. All great with the exception that the phone will NOT connect to the internet (unless on wireless). Have been into the Vodafone shop and they say the settings are correct.

I'm at a bit of a dead end. Any ideas out there?

[hrym]

A SIM only deal just supplies you with the line and some inclusive use.  No network can fully support every device available throughout the world as some/many will be completely incompatible.  There is, as far as I know, no official UK importer of the Cubot range, so it's effectively a "foreign" device.  If you compare the monthly cost of buying a device from Vodafone with the retail SIM free cost, a contract usually works out cheaper - sometimes even before you take the line-rental component into account.  That's hardly over the odds, imho.

When you buy a phone, it comes with warranties from both Vodafone and the manufacturer.  Vodafone will normally offer a repair rather than a replacement, but will normally attempt a fix.   If they refused to replace your device, it would either be down to that policy or because there was damage that precludes their doing work under warranty.  In that case, you can sometimes have more success via the manufacturer as they will take a more pragmatic view and do the work if the damage is clearly unrelated to the fault.

I've always had success with the BT call system, even when I was very angry and shouted art it. :smileymad:

[SidneyBonkers]

Vodafone site still say:

Love your phone? Keep it.

Whether you're switching to our network, visiting the UK with your mobile, or wanting to use your existing phone for a bit longer, a Vodafone SIM only plan gives you everything you need to connect to our products and services. With a SIM only deal, choose from a 30-day rolling plan or a 12-month one, and pick the right SIM for your phone – standard, microSIM or nanoSIM.

I love my Cubot One - nopw on Three. There is no reference to a list of "supported" phones. It can take a long time to go through the procss of discovering that Vodafone does not keep its word - and there will be a cost to Vodafone for this dishonesty as word gets out in forums like this and other blogs. This point has been drawn to their attention for a long time now. Presumably they bvelieve that once they have a custimers on teh hook, then the process of getting off the hook is so tedious and longwinded they will give in and get another handset.

[SidneyBonkers]

My Cubot One works fine on Three - but it exhibited all the issues described herein on the Vodafone network. Someone is either poorly informed or deliberately evading the truth - or simply telling porkies.

[Ben_H]

Hi SidneyBonkers,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

As mentioned, we're unable to support all handsets.

We offer a 14 day cooling off period. That way if anyone who gets a SIM from us finds it's incompatible with their choice of handset, they're welcome to return it. 

Thanks, 

Ben

[SidneyBonkers]

The story of the Cubot one is told at length on a blog that you can search using Google with the phrase "vodafone disgrace cubot one". The Cubot One works perfectly well on the Three network, which does not appear to "shape" 3G data (ie prioritise some users over others). If you are suspicious that a company would not want to support a £100 phone when it can persuade its users into buying a £400 phone that does the same, then I could not possibly comment.

[hrym]

Given that Vodafone will sell you a device costing a lot less than £100, it seems unlikely that they have any preference against the Cubot. They have no interest in what device you use, but they do offer the service they offer and will only guarantee that devices they sell will work. There's no consipracy, just the fact that it's impossible to guarantee to support an unknown device.

[Voxpop13]

I have read this entire thread and it seems to me that there is a lot of DELIBERATE mis-reading of the original post. Under discussion is a DUAL SIM model and not any of Vodafone's 'value phones'. I have a Smart 4 Mini, which is fine but it DOES NOT support dual sim. The fact that Vodafone does not support all models should not mitigate against getting a definitive answer to problems. What has got lost in the discussion is that 3G is needed for data and as someone else rightly pointed out, the frequency for the UK mobile networks begins at 900, so a phone that only has 850 will not work properly. The wi-fi issue is a slight red herring as you are using your ISP's connection to surf the internet. I am in the market for a dual sim phone and accept that it will be largely unsupported by the UK networks. What is unacceptable, though is the absence of the necessary information to allow me to make an informed decision instead of ordering a handset and hoping for the best.

[hrym]

The problem is simply a lack of information.   The market for dual-SIM devices in the UK is small.   Some of the big manufacturers have such devices in their range and I'm sure they'd make them available here if there was a large enough demand.   Because of this (both demand and non-availability), the networks don't include them in their range and therefore don't offer support.  Certainly on this forum, there's no user base of experience that can help you, but there may be manufacturer-based ones that can - except of course, that the number of users in the UK is small.   Yes, you'll find people complaining that they can't use their Cubot (or whatever) on this or that network, but that's not really much help.  Workrounds and positive experiences - I can do this on this network - would be far more helpful, but remember that not all the internet is about mutual help, it's more about venting your frustration, often in a language than only vaguely resembles English!

I was the one who mentioned Vodafone's cheaper offerings and my point was not that these are dual-SIM, simply that, since they'll sell you a device for as little as £10 or so, it would seem that their prime motivation in not selling dual-SIM phones in general, or Cubots on particular, isn't specifically to get pepole to buy expensive premium models.

If you genuinely belive there's a conspiracy among all the UK networks to boycott Cubot devices, you could always start a Downing Street Petition.

[Voxpop13]

Your response is both flippant and dismissive. There is no need to start a Downing petition nor to criticise the written English skills of other people. There is an unmet need for dual sim phones in the UK. For instance, there must be millions of workers who have to carry two handsets because their employer has issued them with a 'work' phone. Here http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2309823/htc-one-with-dual-sim-upgrade-launched-in-uk is a cogent argument for a dual sim phone in such circumstances, together with a beautiful handset in the shape of the HTC One dual sim. Strange that you can only buy the handset on the internet. The networks were clearly not interested. I wonder why?

[hrym]

There may be an unmet need, but that doesn't mean there's a demand.   If there was, as I said, there are devices available from the big manufacturers that they'd be only too happy to sell.  That's what they're in business for, after all.  And, no, my reply wasn't flippant, I merely disagreed with you.