Using A Standard Prepay Sim In A Mobile Connect Device

[orinj]

Hi. I have reached the download limit (1GB) for the Vodafone Mobile Broadband contract this month in my Dell mini 9 netbook.

I would like to temporary swap the contract SIM card over for a Vodafone Prepay SIM which has some credit on it and use the mobile broadband connection through this Prepay SIM until the end of the month. Is this possible or are there some restrictions in place to prevent me using it.

The dashboard has a setting to change the account to Prepay but when I selected it and tried to connect, it failed with an error message. I'm not sure what else to do and don't want to change my contract tariff to a higher limit just yet.

[Retired-Matt_Vo]

Hi Orinj

Is the Pay As You Go SIM you are attempting to use a PAYG mobile broadband SIM or just a normal PAYG SIM?

If it is just a normal PAYG SIM this will not work in a dongle because the SIM has to be setup to be used as a data only SIM card.

Also in the dongle's settings the APN's are only designed to except a pay monthly SIM so when you put a PAYG SIM into the dongle it will not read it.

So unfortunately at the moment you wont be able to use a PAYG SIM in a contract USB dongle.

Thanks
Matthew
eForum Team

[Siddie]

Hi Orinj

Is the Pay As You Go SIM you are attempting to use a PAYG mobile broadband SIM or just a normal PAYG SIM?

If it is just a normal PAYG SIM this will not work in a dongle because the SIM has to be setup to be used as a data only SIM card.

Also in the dongle's settings the APN's are only designed to except a pay monthly SIM so when you put a PAYG SIM into the dongle it will not read it.

So unfortunately at the moment you wont be able to use a PAYG SIM in a contract USB dongle.

Unless of course you unlock it :rolleyes:

[orinj]

I'm trying to use a normal voice based PAYG SIM, not one specifically for mobile broadband.

If I can't use it this is a bit dumb because I can use a normal voice based Contract SIM inside a dongle/connect card. It doesn't have to be a data-only SIM. It sounds like this is not possible on Prepay.

In addition, I can use the normal voice Prepay SIM inside a mobile phone and connect this up to the computer as a modem to connect to the Internet so why not allow it in a mobile connect card or dongle?

[Retired-Matt_Vo]

Hi Orinj

Lets try and clear this up for you

The Vodafone Mobile Connect software the dongle's use the APN's within these for PAYG are not the same when comparing a PAYG voice and a PAYG broadband SIM.

If you do wish to tether your handset to your PC for an internet connection you can use a voice PAYG SIM but not a PAYG broadband SIM.

Thanks
Matthew
eForum Team

[orinj]

Thanks. I guess if those are the restrictions in place for PAYG then that's what I have to adhere to. I'll find a way to make do.