Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 12:42:40AM +1000, Toby Wintermute wrote: > So this time around I thought I should get some local knowledge. Can > you suggest a mobile carrier who has: > * 3G support for prepaid SIMs > * Has reasonably priced data plans > * For bonus points -- will work while roaming in Germany. Although I > suspect I'll just have to buy yet another SIM over there.. three. for a tenner you get some data, for 15 you get actually unlimited. /j
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 12:42:40AM +1000, Toby Wintermute wrote: [...] > So this time around I thought I should get some local knowledge. Can > you suggest a mobile carrier who has: > * 3G support for prepaid SIMs > * Has reasonably priced data plans > * For bonus points -- will work while roaming in Germany. Although I > suspect I'll just have to buy yet another SIM over there.. 3 PAYG. Buy a £15 top-up and immediately convert it into a bundle to give you "unlimited" data[0], 300 minutes and 3,000 texts. [0] The unlimit appears to be of the order of a few gigabytes.
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 04:03:43PM +0100, Peter Corlett wrote: > [0] The unlimit appears to be of the order of a few gigabytes. They're claiming truly unlimited actually. For an extra fiver they even officially permit tethering. /j
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
What they said. 3. All the cool kids in the Apple stores buy their iPhones outright and use 3. On 20 Aug 2012, at 15:42, Toby Wintermute wrote: > Hello all, > I'm making a whirlwind visit to London and bits of Europe soon, > although with awfully poor timing, just missing YAPC:EU :( > Hopefully I'll manage to run into a few of you while I'm in London though. > > The last time I visited, I picked up an Orange SIM that had "Unlimited > data" on the plan.. only to discover they meant "unlimited, but at > <5kb/sec". > > So this time around I thought I should get some local knowledge. Can > you suggest a mobile carrier who has: > * 3G support for prepaid SIMs > * Has reasonably priced data plans > * For bonus points -- will work while roaming in Germany. Although I > suspect I'll just have to buy yet another SIM over there.. > > Alternatively.. I'd be happy to just get a data-only SIM and use Skype > or similar the whole time. > I hope this isn't too off-topic! > > Thanks, > Toby > > -- > Turning and turning in the widening gyre > The falcon cannot hear the falconer > Things fall apart; the center cannot hold > Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
I'm also going to London very soon and I was thinking to order a giffgaff SIM card. They seem to have the best prices. Am I missing something? On Monday, August 20, 2012, David Hodgkinson wrote: > What they said. 3. All the cool kids in the Apple stores buy their > iPhones outright and use 3. > > > On 20 Aug 2012, at 15:42, Toby Wintermute > > wrote: > > > Hello all, > > I'm making a whirlwind visit to London and bits of Europe soon, > > although with awfully poor timing, just missing YAPC:EU :( > > Hopefully I'll manage to run into a few of you while I'm in London > though. > > > > The last time I visited, I picked up an Orange SIM that had "Unlimited > > data" on the plan.. only to discover they meant "unlimited, but at > > <5kb/sec". > > > > So this time around I thought I should get some local knowledge. Can > > you suggest a mobile carrier who has: > > * 3G support for prepaid SIMs > > * Has reasonably priced data plans > > * For bonus points -- will work while roaming in Germany. Although I > > suspect I'll just have to buy yet another SIM over there.. > > > > Alternatively.. I'd be happy to just get a data-only SIM and use Skype > > or similar the whole time. > > I hope this isn't too off-topic! > > > > Thanks, > > Toby > > > > -- > > Turning and turning in the widening gyre > > The falcon cannot hear the falconer > > Things fall apart; the center cannot hold > > Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world > > -- Nuno Jesus
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On 21 August 2012 01:17, James Laver wrote: > On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 04:03:43PM +0100, Peter Corlett wrote: >> [0] The unlimit appears to be of the order of a few gigabytes. > > They're claiming truly unlimited actually. For an extra fiver they even > officially permit tethering. Are they likely to even notice if I'm tethering it, sans that fiver? (I've always wondered how on earth they could tell) (I'm on a Samsung Note w/Cyanogen 9, so there's not going to be any firmware tethering lockout going on here) Cheers for the advice, everyone! Now to see if I can get a 3 SIM dispatched to where I'll be staying first up in London.. :) Toby -- Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer Things fall apart; the center cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Wed, 2012-08-22 at 00:53 +1000, Toby Wintermute wrote: > On 21 August 2012 01:17, James Laver wrote: > > They're claiming truly unlimited actually. For an extra fiver they even > > officially permit tethering. > > Are they likely to even notice if I'm tethering it, sans that fiver? > (I've always wondered how on earth they could tell) User-agent sniffing of HTTP traffic is the usual method, I believe.
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 12:53:36AM +1000, Toby Wintermute wrote: [...] > Now to see if I can get a 3 SIM dispatched to where I'll be staying first up > in London.. :) There's no need. You can't throw a stone in London without hitting at least three shops that will sell you SIMs and top-up vouchers.
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 3:48 PM, Nuno Jesus wrote: > I'm also going to London very soon and I was thinking to order a giffgaff > SIM card. They seem to have the best prices. Am I missing something? I use giffgaff and they're absolutely fine, even great, for phone and mobile data service, but I use a 3 mifi for general data tethering applications when the need arises (rather than turn my phone into a battery-sucking hot brick). They're much more set up for this sort of thing than giffgaff are too (e.g. being able to buy a "daily pass" 500Mb for £2.99 -- which actually lasts for up to 48 hours if you get your timings right). Also, being able to buy SIMs/top-up vouchers pretty much anywhere is a boon, too.
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Wed, 2012-08-22 at 00:53 +1000, Toby Wintermute wrote: > Are they likely to even notice if I'm tethering it, sans that fiver? They *can* detect what you are doing based upon user agent detection and other traffic signatures if they want to. My experience is that they cannot be bothered and I suspect they wont be for anyone who isn't considered to be taking the piss. > Now to see if I can get a 3 SIM dispatched to where I'll be staying > first up in London.. :) Pop into a 3 shop and pick one up. Simples
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
3 can be quite good with the traffic detection if it's obvious. In my experience, 5 or so hours of usage (unauthorised tethering) and they're on to you. Pop it back in your phone, reboot or lose the tower, and you're back in business as far as internet access on the phone, but you're now on some kind of watch-list and they're a lot faster to catch on the second time. -- Anthony Lucas Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig) On Tuesday, 21 August 2012 at 16:38, Jason Clifford wrote: > On Wed, 2012-08-22 at 00:53 +1000, Toby Wintermute wrote: > > Are they likely to even notice if I'm tethering it, sans that fiver? > > > They *can* detect what you are doing based upon user agent detection and > other traffic signatures if they want to. > > My experience is that they cannot be bothered and I suspect they wont be > for anyone who isn't considered to be taking the piss. > > > Now to see if I can get a 3 SIM dispatched to where I'll be staying > > first up in London.. :) > > > > > Pop into a 3 shop and pick one up. Simples
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Tue, 2012-08-21 at 17:15 +0100, Anthony Lucas wrote: > 3 can be quite good with the traffic detection if it's obvious. > > In my experience, 5 or so hours of usage (unauthorised tethering) and they're > on to you. > Pop it back in your phone, reboot or lose the tower, and you're back in > business as far as internet access on the phone, but you're now on some kind > of watch-list and they're a lot faster to catch on the second time. There are many ways to do this. If your phone/device supports it I suspect using the device as a wifi hotspot is among the safest but it's true that they are perfectly well able to detect it.
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On 22 August 2012 02:15, Anthony Lucas wrote: > 3 can be quite good with the traffic detection if it's obvious. > > In my experience, 5 or so hours of usage (unauthorised tethering) and they're > on to you. > Pop it back in your phone, reboot or lose the tower, and you're back in > business as far as internet access on the phone, > but you're now on some kind of watch-list and they're a lot faster to catch > on the second time. Ah, really? That's irritating that they bother.. I mean, I'm just using the same bandwidth quota regardless of method :/ Do Three block outbound ports? (ie. Can I just tunnel everything through an ssh or openvpn tunnel so that no traffic inspection can be done..) Toby
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
Just fyi, EU Data prices on my O2 phone dropped between may and July from £2.55+ vat per meg to £0.58+vat. £100 cap and 300MB max. Outside Europe it's still £6/mb. I tore through £50 between the airport and hotel in Delhi last week while checking the taxi driver was taking me the right way! Capped at £102.13 (??) but for 200MB. On 20 Aug 2012, at 22:47, "Toby Wintermute" wrote: > Hello all, > I'm making a whirlwind visit to London and bits of Europe soon, > although with awfully poor timing, just missing YAPC:EU :( > Hopefully I'll manage to run into a few of you while I'm in London though. > > The last time I visited, I picked up an Orange SIM that had "Unlimited > data" on the plan.. only to discover they meant "unlimited, but at > <5kb/sec". > > So this time around I thought I should get some local knowledge. Can > you suggest a mobile carrier who has: > * 3G support for prepaid SIMs > * Has reasonably priced data plans > * For bonus points -- will work while roaming in Germany. Although I > suspect I'll just have to buy yet another SIM over there.. > > Alternatively.. I'd be happy to just get a data-only SIM and use Skype > or similar the whole time. > I hope this isn't too off-topic! > > Thanks, > Toby > > -- > Turning and turning in the widening gyre > The falcon cannot hear the falconer > Things fall apart; the center cannot hold > Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 10:57:53PM +0800, Paul Weaver wrote: > Just fyi, EU Data prices on my O2 phone dropped between may and July from > £2.55+ vat per meg to £0.58+vat. £100 cap and 300MB max. Then you need to change your tariff. O2 charge me 8p per MB on the mainland, 2 quid cap per day unless I authorise another 2 quid (and another, and another, ...). It covers Switzerland too, despite that not being in the EU. I expect it would also cover Norway. -- David Cantrell | Hero of the Information Age Vegetarian: n: a person who, due to malnutrition caused by poor lifestyle choices, is eight times more likely to catch TB than a normal person
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
The joys of corporate deals :) I think I (or my employer) was charged £1.80 a minute while i was in Pakistan last year. I dread to think how much it cost! On 22 Aug 2012, at 19:51, "David Cantrell" wrote: > On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 10:57:53PM +0800, Paul Weaver wrote: >> Just fyi, EU Data prices on my O2 phone dropped between may and July from >> £2.55+ vat per meg to £0.58+vat. £100 cap and 300MB max. > > Then you need to change your tariff. O2 charge me 8p per MB on the > mainland, 2 quid cap per day unless I authorise another 2 quid (and > another, and another, ...). > > It covers Switzerland too, despite that not being in the EU. I expect > it would also cover Norway. > > -- > David Cantrell | Hero of the Information Age > >Vegetarian: n: a person who, due to malnutrition caused by > poor lifestyle choices, is eight times more likely to > catch TB than a normal person
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
They just want you to buy their tethering add-on and mifi products. I got through a gig of data before they caught on last time, in a fairly short space of time (as in hours, using it as a hotspot for my laptop, streaming, you name it) and put the temporary block and redirect page up. They probably block some ports, but I haven't noticed any. Most ports seemed fine the last time I was stuck without internet. -- Anthony Lucas Sent with Sparrow (http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig) On Wednesday, 22 August 2012 at 06:52, Toby Wintermute wrote: > On 22 August 2012 02:15, Anthony Lucas (mailto:anthonyjlu...@gmail.com)> wrote: > > 3 can be quite good with the traffic detection if it's obvious. > > > > In my experience, 5 or so hours of usage (unauthorised tethering) and > > they're on to you. > > Pop it back in your phone, reboot or lose the tower, and you're back in > > business as far as internet access on the phone, > > but you're now on some kind of watch-list and they're a lot faster to catch > > on the second time. > > > > > > Ah, really? That's irritating that they bother.. I mean, I'm just > using the same bandwidth quota regardless of method :/ > > Do Three block outbound ports? > (ie. Can I just tunnel everything through an ssh or openvpn tunnel so > that no traffic inspection can be done..) > > > Toby
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On 23 August 2012 00:41, Anthony Lucas wrote: > They just want you to buy their tethering add-on and mifi products. It's probably simpler for me to just pay for the damn tethering add-on, but part of me is annoyed at the restriction and wishes to try to bypass it :) I'll try VPNing back to my shell account and see what happens.. can't be any slower than 3G already is.. TC
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
The charge is to attempt to mitigate the Tragedy of the Commons which would affect everyone else so just fork over the cash already ;) In practice that all said I've never run into any restrictions with T Mobile but I also don't take the piss so who knows... Written on my phone On Aug 22, 2012 11:29 PM, "Toby Wintermute" wrote: > On 23 August 2012 00:41, Anthony Lucas wrote: > > They just want you to buy their tethering add-on and mifi products. > > It's probably simpler for me to just pay for the damn tethering > add-on, but part of me is annoyed at the restriction and wishes to try > to bypass it :) > > I'll try VPNing back to my shell account and see what happens.. can't > be any slower than 3G already is.. > > TC >
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
Chris Carline writes: > On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 3:48 PM, Nuno Jesus > wrote: > > > I'm also going to London very soon and I was thinking to order a > > giffgaff SIM card. If you're going to do that, order via a referral link from somebody already on Giffgaff and each of you get £5 credit. > I use giffgaff and they're absolutely fine, even great, for phone and > mobile data service, but I use a 3 mifi for general data tethering > applications when the need arises ... Also, being able to buy > SIMs/top-up vouchers pretty much anywhere is a boon, too. O2 top-up vouchers work with Giffgaff, and are available as widely as any other brand. Smylers -- http://twitter.com/Smylers2
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On 21 Aug 2012, at 15:48, Nuno Jesus wrote: > > I'm also going to London very soon and I was thinking to order a giffgaff > SIM card. They seem to have the best prices. Am I missing something? I *have* a giffgaff SIM going spare (they send you one after a while if you're a customer to give to a friend). Let me know when/where you are in London and I can post it to you, assuming my wife hasn't tidied it up :D
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
"The charge is to attempt to mitigate the Tragedy of the Commons which would affect everyone else" Um, but the people who watch hours of videos on their telephones are the cause of bandwidth problems, not the people who tether their laptops so they can open attachments more easily or run git push once an hour. You're arguing for usage caps, bandwidth controls, or metering and charging, not for tethering charges. But those things are not popular with the people who use lots of data, and they might switch. Whereas people who want tethering are more likely to have a job with good pay and their hassle/expense tradeoff is different so they just fork over the cash. Daniel On 23 August 2012 09:55, Smylers wrote: > Chris Carline writes: > >> On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 3:48 PM, Nuno Jesus >> wrote: >> >> > I'm also going to London very soon and I was thinking to order a >> > giffgaff SIM card. > > If you're going to do that, order via a referral link from somebody > already on Giffgaff and each of you get £5 credit. > >> I use giffgaff and they're absolutely fine, even great, for phone and >> mobile data service, but I use a 3 mifi for general data tethering >> applications when the need arises ... Also, being able to buy >> SIMs/top-up vouchers pretty much anywhere is a boon, too. > > O2 top-up vouchers work with Giffgaff, and are available as widely as > any other brand. > > Smylers > -- > http://twitter.com/Smylers2 >
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Mike Whitaker wrote: > On 21 Aug 2012, at 15:48, Nuno Jesus wrote: > > > > I'm also going to London very soon and I was thinking to order a giffgaff > > SIM card. They seem to have the best prices. Am I missing something? > > I *have* a giffgaff SIM going spare (they send you one after a while if > you're a customer to give to a friend). Let me know when/where you are in > London and I can post it to you, assuming my wife hasn't tidied it up :D > Assuming the SIM works this is a good idea, if you're going with giffgaff. A colleague just bought a one from them to go with a new S3 and it took about 2 weeks to get various issues with it resolved, using their email only support. Matt
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On 23 Aug 2012, at 07:22, Toby Wintermute wrote: [...] > I'll try VPNing back to my shell account and see what happens.. can't > be any slower than 3G already is.. IME, this will make HTTP *faster* because it bypasses the bloody awful transparent proxies that mobile telcos insist on using to mangle web traffic. It'll also stop said proxies from popping up the "we think you're trying to visit a porn site, so we've blocked it as an excuse to try and sell you our own soft porn service" page when you're visiting vile corrupting sites such as camra.org.uk.
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On Tue, 21 Aug 2012, Anthony Lucas wrote: 3 can be quite good with the traffic detection if it's obvious. I've used all the other real networks over the last many years - from my current t-mobile contract and my orange PAYG with 1ukp/day data addon, think my previous payg option was vodafone and I've used voda, orange and o2 previously as contract sims. All have been used to tether my phone, none (at least since the invention of on-phone data) have had any tethering specified in the contract or payg deal, just standard voice and data-on-phone. I don't torrent, but I've done long backups, vaguely large single file transfer (cd and dvd ISOs), and have a fair amount of background chatter. Never heard a peep from any of the networks about my tethering. So I wonder, aside from 3 customers, who has tethered without asking, and had their network care ? the hatter
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
On 23 August 2012 19:43, Peter Corlett wrote: > On 23 Aug 2012, at 07:22, Toby Wintermute wrote: > [...] >> I'll try VPNing back to my shell account and see what happens.. can't >> be any slower than 3G already is.. > > IME, this will make HTTP *faster* because it bypasses the bloody awful > transparent proxies that mobile telcos insist on using to mangle web traffic. > > It'll also stop said proxies from popping up the "we think you're trying to > visit a porn site, so we've blocked it as an excuse to try and sell you our > own soft porn service" page when you're visiting vile corrupting sites such > as camra.org.uk. Sounds like it's worth setting up OpenVPN on my mobile as well then! (I was thinking "tether mobile, then run vpn from laptop" but maybe I should go "openvpn from mobile, then tether it") Thanks for the all the advice so far :)
Re: [OT] Prepaid mobile plans with data, possibly roaming
http://prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/UK is probably relevant (no idea how up to date it is though). N -- http://try-dot-ch.blogspot.com/
