How to use PAYG queries.

[aviator]

I have a K3765 dongle which I used on a contact basis but stopped the contract when my useage was very intermittant.

At the time Vodafone advised that I could use the same dongle on PAYG and the time has come to spend some money and get PAYG mobile working.

Searching for information is not that easy but it seems that I have to register for an account, but I already have one for my other contract phone which is a long time account.

There is an 'add device' option in the account but it seems to be tied to that mobile number which is not what I want.

How do I activate a PAYG dongle with a SIM that I already have?

Second question is that there seems to be two types of account. 1. £15 for 2GB 2. £15 for 1GB!!!

Oh the confusion really gets wild!!!

Help would be appreciated.

[Retired-Trev]

Hi aviator

I’m confident I can answer the questions you’ve posed here concerning PAYG (Pay as You Go) Mobile Broadband.

The account is relevant to the number used in the USB Modem. As the old one is a contract account, of which there was a contract number attached, this cannot be used for your PAYG account. Once you have a PAYG SIM, and you’re aware of the number attached to it, you can register, either online or by calling the PAYG Customer Services.

The dongle you have will work with a PAYG data SIM, however, these SIMs are not supplied separately. They can only be obtained when buying a specific PAYG dongle. They cost a one off fee of £25, but also come with 2GB data allowance which lasts 30 days (this normally costs £15), so the cost of the dongle is £10 in real terms. A standard voice PAYG SIM cannot be converted to a PAYG Mobile Broadband SIM.

Your final question concerning the two types of account is easy to explain. The old PAYG Mobile Broadband SIMs had unexpiring data allowances of 1GB. So this could be used at anytime until 1GB was used up, then further credit would need to be added. It cost £15 for this 1GB allowance. These are no longer sold, but there are some in circulation and been used. The current PAYG Mobile Broadband deals give you 2GB of data for £15, but after a 30 day period (or if all data is used, whichever is soonest) any remaining allowance would expire if not used.

I trust this answers your questions concerning this service, but let me know if you’ve any further questions.

Regards

Trev

eForum Team

[aviator]

Thanks for that info which does sound correct. Sadly though it is contrary to what sales told me when I gave up the contract.

They said the dongle, SIM and number would be the same.

FWIW I found the info on the Vodafone website terribly confusing, often difficult to find information such as - advice on how to change.

from contract to PAYG. Vodafone may not want this but in my case I only use a dongle very occassionally so PAYG is perfect.

So no where that I could find did it say you must uninstall the software completely and then re-install to get the PAYG selection.

I also found that as I have been a Vodafone customer so long there were many bits and pieces of old software installed and much had to be removed manually including reg stuff.

I the end I will consider what to do and compare coverage since in many places I want to use the dongle Vodafone coverage is terrible and in some places not even GPRS works.

Thanks again for the reply

[aviator]

And one more thing. Why, with the EU trying to get us rightly to re-cycle, must I buy yet another modem to add to the collection? Will Vodafone pay for the recycling as per other electronics?

The wireless service is the same so it is only Vodafone being daft that insists on this IMHO.

[Retired-Trev]

Hi aviator

In theory they were advising you correctly. You can use a standard PAYG SIM in the dongle, and pay standard data charges. All you would need to do is change to the correct APN (Access Point Name) in the VMC (Vodafone Mobile Connect) dashboard. What you cannot do is convert that SIM to a PAYG data SIM and use the designated data packs associated with that.

The difference is:

• The dedicated data pack is £15, and gives you 2 GB of data for a 30 day period.

• If used as standard PAYG SIM, data is charged at a pay as you use rate as follows: £1 charge for up to 25Mb used in a 24 hour period. If you go over 25Mb you’re charged £1 for up to another 25Mb or part of in that period. There are data packs available for this, at a cost of £5 for 250Mb of data with a 30 day time limit.

So, it’s not that it cannot be used in your dongle; it’s the dedicated data services you cannot get.

I trust this explains your options to you, but let me know if you’ve any further questions.

Regards

Trev

eForum Team