Vodafone PAYG Mobile Broadband

[amaharaj]

On the 21st December 2021, I purchased a £45 24gb data bundle for my PAYG mobile broadband sim. 

On the 23rd December 2021, I had to contact customer service as I could not use the internet. The bundle was refreshed and I could then access the internet. 

Today (28th Dec 2021), I am unable to connect to the internet again. I contacted customer services and spent 30 mins changing the settings on my device and performing several restarts before being told they could not help me and I need to go to the vodafone shop for assistance.

There is sufficient data left on the bundle, so there is no valid reason as to why I should not be able to access the internet. I have other Vodafone PAYG devices in my household and they can all connect to the internet with no issues. 

Is there another way to resolve this issue without taking time off from work to go to the vodafone shop?

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @amaharaj 

Assuming your dongle takes a sim card can you as a process of elimination try that sim card in one of your Vodafone Payg phones to see if the internet connects.

This would help to see if this is a dongle,  sim, or account issue. ( as your internet worked after a refresh I'm leaning towards an account issue  )

There shouldn't be a need to adjust your Apn settings if you've had connection recently as this would suggest to me your Apn settings are fine or it wouldn't have connect at all previously. 

The Vodafone Social Media Teams have the exact same access to your account as customer services but I'm not sure what they'll be able to do.

I'm wondering if there is some kind of factory reset on your dongle however again I'm not sure if that would help.

This sounds like some kind of block between your dongle and Vodafone's mobile data connection so also could be hardware related.

I'm afraid it's a case of troubleshooting everything possibly including using another dongle.

I wish you all the best with this situation. 

[amaharaj]

Thanks for the response.

I am currently using the sim in an iPad. 

I have eliminated the iPad as the issue since,

• I used another vodafone PAYG sim in the iPad and had no issues with connecting to the internet.
• I have also tried the PAYG mobile broadband sim in a phone and there is still no connection to the internet. The phone that I used, was previously using a vodafone PAYG sim.

I am confident that all my settings on the iPad are correct otherwise I would not be able to connect to the internet with the alternative PAYG sim. I have also checked that there no bars or limits on the sim using the vodafone app/website. 

[BandOfBrothers]

Thank you for going through those troubleshooting self help tips @amaharaj 

Much appreciated.

I find it always a good idea to do as much as one can at their own end to rule out as much as possible.

This isn't guess work in my opinion but good sound self help troubleshooting steps.

These are pretty much the same steps customer services and the Vodafone Social Media Team's might ask.

Sometimes it can be that the customer service agent you spoke to didn't grasp the issue or didn't know enough to resolve it, which is why it can sometimes be beneficial to connect again to a different agent.

Them refreshing the account at first helped which shows to me it's possibly an account issue as I mentioned earlier.

Or possibly the sim is at fault to which any Vodafone Highstreet Store can replace via a sim swap if you take some photo ID. 

Both customer services on 191 , Live Chat and the Vodafone Social Media Team's all have the exact same access to your account.

However you contact them I'm sure they'll all be wanting to help the same.

Would you let us know how you get on please @amaharaj 

[Peter_IsleOfMan]

I have the same problem.  I can't get an internet connection with my mobile internet USB dongle plus Vodafone data SIM card. I am probably going to have to contact the Vodafone Social Media Team, but having read the instructions for that, they prefer people to have posted on the forum first, so that's what I am doing.

I bought a Vodafone data SIM card with no data on it, and loaded it with a £20 PAYG mobile broadband bundle. I registered the account with Vodaphone, logged into it, and it is showing as being in credit by £20. So far so good.

However, when I put the SIM card into my dongle and plug the dongle into my Macbook, I cannot get an internet connection. Here are some of the things I have tried, from the Vodafone website and this forum:

Swapped SIM cards between the dongle and my mobile phone. The SIM card from my mobile phone works in both my mobile phone and the dongle. The SIM card from the dongle does not work in either my mobile phone or the dongle. In the network information on my laptop, the dongle is shown as "connected" (to the Vodafone network, presumably). So that probably rules out a physical problem with the SIM card or the dongle.

I have tried shutting down and restarting my laptop and unplugging and replugging the dongle. No difference.

I have tried manually adjusting the APN settings for the dongle, and in particular, I have tried changing from wap.vodafone.co.uk to pp.vodafone.co.uk and back again. No difference.

I have tried leaving it overnight in case there was a delay in the network recognising the new account. It was no different the next morning.

I have not tried phoning Vodafone Customer Service because people on this forum generally do not seem to find them helpful. If they are just reading from a script which says "check this, check that, try this, try that" I have probably checked and tried all those things already.

So by a process of elimination, I am wondering if this is a problem with my account which only Vodafone can fix?

If anyone has any other ideas I would be happy to try them; otherwise I will try contacting the Vodafone Social Media Team for an individual reply.

Technical details:

MacBook is a 2014 model running High Sierra OS, not the latest OS, but that shouldn't make any difference

Dongle is Vodafone's own model K5161h

Many thanks!

[Gemma]

@Peter_IsleOfMan - Thanks for posting what’s happening and the tests you’ve already done. With the dongle SIM now working in your phone either, we’d like to check a few things on your account. Please contact us through Social Media. To save repeating this information again, you could include a link to this post 😊

[AnnS]

Hi @Peter_IsleOfMan 

Before you can access the internet, you need to convert the credit balance into a data pack by following this link: Topping up your mobile broadband you should be able to queue up to 6 packs, each one will automatically start when the previous allowance has been used.  Also see here: Top Up 

I notice you have the Isle of Man in your user name, if you are connecting  in the Isle of Man, you would roaming on Manx Telecom.

[Peter_IsleOfMan]

AnnS, you are a genius.  I think that's my problem - I thought I had bought a data pack when all I had done was top up my credit balance.  But unfortunately I'm not there yet because I still have a problem.  When I follow those links, I get this page here:

"Buy a data pack with credit

If you have existing credit on your Mobile Broadband account, you can buy a data pack by logging into My Vodafone.

Once logged in:

1. Choose 'Top up now'
2. Confirm your Mobile Broadband number
3. Choose the data pack you'd like
4. When prompted, choose to pay using your credit balance"

but when I follow those links, I just get led back to the original page which invites me to top up my credit balance.  There appears to be no option to buy a data pack.

I wondered whether maybe all the data packs cost more than £20, so maybe because there is only £20 in my account it is not showing me any options because it thinks I can't afford to buy anything?  So I topped up my credit balance by another £20, so now I have a credit balance of £40, which surely should be enough to buy something?  But it's still not showing me any options for any data packs I can buy.  

Any more assistance would be gratefully appreciated.

BTW, you are right about Manx Telecom on the Isle of Man, and I have a Manx Telecom SIM card for use on the island, but when I travel on the UK mainland (where I am at the moment) I swap that out for a Vodafone SIM card because the coverage is better (and probably cheaper).

[AnnS]

Not having much luck here @Peter_IsleOfMan 

Although there shouldn't be I would be surprised if there is a delay at Vodafone's end adding the credit to your account and it's still in a queue to be completed. 

You need the data quickly, don't try and call Vodafone you will never get to speak to anyone, give live chat a try and it should be possible for them to convert your credit to a data pack or possibly even two or three packs.   

There is also the offer from @Gemma to speak to the Social Team.

[Peter_IsleOfMan]

I tried the live chat as you suggested and got:

We’re currently experiencing issues with our Digital services

Thank you for your patience, we’re working hard to fix the issues. We’ll be back shortly.

If you need immediate assistance, try the solutions below or give us a call on 191

Hey ho...