Payg On Apple Os X

[euanross]

I was excited to read about the PAYG mobile broadband which very much interests me.

However, very disappointed to read that Vodafone have not yet been able to get it working on Apple's OS X operating system.

Do you have any timescales for getting this working?

[rhutchi2]

Hi rhutchi2,

We don't have any news on the official support yet - however, as I'm sure you're aware, it is possible to get these modems working on Macs "as is" with a little tweaking

We're not allowed to tell you how, strictly speaking, but I'm sure one of our other eForum Faithful can write a short guide to the process if you're interested

Jon

eForum Team

Jon, thanks. I bought one today. Tried it on my Windows XP machine and it worked like dream. Followed some instructions for getting it to work on a Mac and I'm using my Mac with the wifi turned off to post this. All seems well as long as I don't use the VMC App to make the connection. Thanks - I'm really happy.

[Guest23]

Dear Mac OS users,

Having just bought a PAYG dongle and only running OS 10.4.11 the following info provided by Wilx elsewhere on the forum got things up and running:

Download and install the mac software from here
http://www.business.vodafone.com/site/bus/.../p_software.jsp

Go find the file on your main mac drive "\Library\Modem Scripts\MMHS Modem" and edit in a text editor (go open, and when it asks which app, tell it to use TextEdit)
1) change line
write "AT+CGDCONT=1,\34IP\34,\34internet\34,,0,0\13"
to
write "AT+CGDCONT=1,\34IP\34,\34pp.internet\34,,0,0\13"
2) Save the file and exit
3) Connect as usual


For those running (Leopard) OS 10.5 and above this more straight forward method may help (from Jan's blog):

Get the latest Mobile Connect software for Mac OS X available from here: http://www.business.vodafone.com/site/bus/.../p_software.jsp

Install the software available from the link on your Mac.

Plug in your modem.

Run the installed software and click the Activate button. This will install an interface in your currently selected network location profile. By location profile, I mean the currently selected profile in the locations feature on the Mac.

Go to System Preferences > Network, select the newly created network interface (Vodafone K3565 for me) and click advanced.

Set Vendor: Generic, Model: GSM/3G and set APN: pp.internet.

Click OK, and then hit connect.


P.S. To register with the online top up service - only managed this by placing sim card in unlocked or Vodafone mobile (*#100# will give you sim card mobile number - Vodafone code is then sent via SMS)

Hope it helps some people... G23

[tuxmac]

Hmm... It has absolutely nothing to do with device firmware at all; billing and topping up is done at account level, within the network. My understanding was that you just registered an online account, entered the dongle as a device, and could manage it from there- nothing to do with the dongle, firmware, OS, or client software version...

yup thats true , but mac users have two problems connected with this , firstly we don't have the software so we can't do that (top up) on the "dash-bord" and secondly to register the dongle via an online account , you recive a valadation pin number sent to your dash-board" catch 22 .

[horseman]

yup thats true , but mac users have two problems connected with this , firstly we don't have the software so we can't do that (top up) on the "dash-bord" and secondly to register the dongle via an online account , you recive a valadation pin number sent to your dash-board" catch 22 .

FWIW I also can at least confirm that VMC-Lite will also work on XP Pro (guest VM) running on OSX Tiger (host) enabling registration/SMS receipt.....




Macbook C2D 2.1 (late 2006)
OSX 10.4.11 (Tiger)
VMFusion 2.04
XP Pro SP3
VMC-lite 9.3.5.11690

[Laurens]

yup thats true , but mac users have two problems connected with this , firstly we don't have the software so we can't do that (top up) on the "dash-bord" and secondly to register the dongle via an online account , you recive a valadation pin number sent to your dash-board" catch 22 .

But you can retrieve the validation code by popping the dongle's SIM into a Vodafone or unlocked phone. Worked for me.

LCT

[horseman]

But you can retrieve the validation code by popping the dongle's SIM into a Vodafone or unlocked phone. Worked for me.

LCT

Of course it'll work but I would respectfully suggest it's a tad presumptous to currently expect MAC users to always have convenient access to Voda/unlocked phone, "emulation" software, Windows PC or potentially lengthy/costly 0870 calls when the Wintel VMC-lite invariably works out of the box?

The MAC VMC-lite ub port was anticipated back in March 09 so perhaps the perceived "delay" is due to requirement to provide same functionality as the wintel version to avoid these "work-arounds". There's also a possibility there may be unforeseen difficulties in making it work on all Tiger, Snow/Leopard versions perhaps?

[Neil_Brown]

Of course it'll work but I would respectfully suggest it's a tad presumptous to currently expect MAC users to always have convenient access to Voda/unlocked phone, "emulation" software, Windows PC or potentially lengthy/costly 0870 calls when the Wintel VMC-lite invariably works out of the box?

It probably is presumptuous - but, as an unofficial solution, doesn't sound like a bad option to me?

[Laurens]

Of course it'll work but I would respectfully suggest it's a tad presumptous to currently expect MAC users to always have convenient access to Voda/unlocked phone, "emulation" software, Windows PC or potentially lengthy/costly 0870 calls when the Wintel VMC-lite invariably works out of the box?

I wouldn't dream of presuming any such thing. I'm merely suggesting that if a Mac user does happen to have a VF/unlocked handset, there's a fairly painless way of completing the online account registration process.

Several other mobile broadband providers support PAYG on Macs and supply the appropriate OSX software but Vodafone's TU&G has the best pricing structure for my particular mobile needs and I was quite happy to jump through a couple of hoops to take advantage of it on an 'unsupported' system.

lct

[colinr]

Several other mobile broadband providers support PAYG on Macs and supply the appropriate OSX software but Vodafone's TU&G has the best pricing structure for my particular mobile needs and I was quite happy to jump through a couple of hoops to take advantage of it on an 'unsupported' system.

I'm in the same position, the pricing structure is far better than other providers for what I want. However, I mainly want to set this up for family members and jumping through hoops on their behalf will end up as a technical support nightmare for me.

Would be nice just to have it out of the box, hopefully it'll support PPC Macs on 10.4 otherwise my wait is in vain.

[Laurens]

I mainly want to set this up for family members and jumping through hoops on their behalf will end up as a technical support nightmare for me.

I take your point. I've inadvertently dropped into the unofficial techsupport role before now - not an experience I'd care to repeat

Would be nice just to have it out of the box, hopefully it'll support PPC Macs on 10.4 otherwise my wait is in vain.

Given that there are thousands of PPC/Tiger Macs out there (I'm using one now), I'd be surprised if Vodafone were to ignore a source of revenue and launch an Intel/Leopard-only TopUp&Go package.