65 replies to this topic

[deadphill]

I found out about this the other day but I have waited to receive mine before posting the deal. It arrived the next day!

Go to http://www.3dongle4free.co.uk and create an "account". It will email you your code you need to add to get a ZTE USB dongle + 3 PrePay SIM FREE. Then all you do is pay the postage - £4.95!

I'm going to see if I can unlock mine, but even so under £5 for a USB dongle as a backup is a very good price. With the Mobile Broadband prepay deal this will get you 1gb of data for £10 to use within 30 days. Not brilliant, but if you get stuck it's a good idea. Even better if you have a data deal with 3 already, just pop your SIM in!

Cheers

Phill

[Edit by Paul: I ordered one too and got it next day! Don't forget you can get 1 month unlimited internet for £5 by clicking this link (you must be logged into 'my 3' first.]

[rameses]

deadphill, on May 18 2009, 10:09, said:

I found out about this the other day but I have waited to receive mine before posting the deal. It arrived the next day!

Go to http://www.3dongle4free.co.uk and create an "account". It will email you your code you need to add to get a ZTE USB dongle + 3 PrePay SIM FREE. Then all you do is pay the postage - £4.95!

I'm going to see if I can unlock mine, but even so under £5 for a USB dongle as a backup is a very good price. With the Mobile Broadband prepay deal this will get you 1gb of data for £10 to use within 30 days. Not brilliant, but if you get stuck it's a good idea. Even better if you have a data deal with 3 already, just pop your SIM in!

Cheers

Phill

[Edit by Paul: I ordered one too and got it next day! Don't forget you can get 1 month unlimited internet for £5 by clicking this link (you must be logged into 'my 3' first.]

£19.95 then £4.95!!  They be giving the things away next    Well worth a purchase (shame I got one last time    )

[touficjohn]

deadphill, on May 18 2009, 10:09, said:

I'm going to see if I can unlock mine, but even so under £5 for a USB dongle as a backup is a very good price.

Let us know if you do and how!

[deadphill]

Well funny enough I think I have just found a solution for my other one which is a Huawei e220 so gonna try that now and see how I get on.

If that works this will just remain as a spare, or Ill give it to me mum or sommit!

Also don't just wait for me to find an unlock, if anyone knows of a free or very cheap one do let us know!

Cheers

Phill

[Shuflie]

deadphill, on May 18 2009, 13:06, said:

Well funny enough I think I have just found a solution for my other one which is a Huawei e220 so gonna try that now and see how I get on.

If that works this will just remain as a spare, or Ill give it to me mum or sommit!

Also don't just wait for me to find an unlock, if anyone knows of a free or very cheap one do let us know!

Cheers

Phill

How about this?

[dgcorp]

Thanks for the tip!

I've just ordered one. It will be perfect for a bit of wireless surfing on my netbook while out and about in the UK.

I wonder if it will work on the 3 network when I'm in Denmark.

Cheers, Derek
-

[mcwarre]

Looks good but be very careful the payment page is not https; it says "This is a secure payment window. For your own assurance, right click on the payment window and click on Properties." Yeah right.  Be very careful - I didn't order it due to this.

Edited by mcwarre, 18 May 2009 - 08:31 PM.

[rav1patel]

Got mine today. Bout to try it now.

[NikLP]

mcwarre, on May 18 2009, 20:31, said:

Looks good but be very careful the payment page is not https; it says "This is a secure payment window. For your own assurance, right click on the payment window and click on Properties." Yeah right.  Be very careful - I didn't order it due to this.

BIG FAT DANGER. This man is correct. This website is COMPLETELY INSECURE. Do not use it.

If your card details are leaked and your insurers find out you haven't taken adequate procedures to protect yourself, you may be LIABLE for any payments made on your card, even if they are FRAUDULENT.

[PaulOBrien]

mcwarre, on May 18 2009, 21:31, said:

Looks good but be very careful the payment page is not https; it says "This is a secure payment window. For your own assurance, right click on the payment window and click on Properties." Yeah right.  Be very careful - I didn't order it due to this.

The payment details are entered into an iFrame which IS SSL.

See below!

P

[PaulOBrien]

NikLP, on May 19 2009, 14:16, said:

BIG FAT DANGER. This man is correct. This website is COMPLETELY INSECURE. Do not use it.

If your card details are leaked and your insurers find out you haven't taken adequate procedures to protect yourself, you may be LIABLE for any payments made on your card, even if they are FRAUDULENT.

See above!

P

[spacerace]

what a spectacularly inelegant way of adding a payment page...

[sjwk]

mcwarre, on May 18 2009, 20:31, said:

Looks good but be very careful the payment page is not https; it says "This is a secure payment window. For your own assurance, right click on the payment window and click on Properties." Yeah right.  Be very careful - I didn't order it due to this.

You can change the URL to be https.  However, the browser will likely moan because the certificate is for the parent company, and doesn't match this promotional domain name.  The certificate appears to be valid though apart from this.  I guess it's a technical limitation - you can't have (with Apache anyway, not sure about IIS) different certificates for virtual hosts if they resolve to the same IP address.

I wasn't convinced that the site wasn't a scam, but I did find an article on MoneySavingExpert that referred to it as 'dubiously named but legit': http://www.moneysavi...-broadband#payg

[J273]

deadphill, on May 18 2009, 12:06, said:

Well funny enough I think I have just found a solution for my other one which is a Huawei e220 so gonna try that now and see how I get on.

If that works this will just remain as a spare, or Ill give it to me mum or sommit!

Also don't just wait for me to find an unlock, if anyone knows of a free or very cheap one do let us know!

Cheers

Phill

This is what i used with my e220 http://www.dc-unlocker.com/

Worls fine....you need to use a unbranded dashboard as the default network dashboard wont work with any other provider.

Also the dialers windows only if your using mac...so ive unlocked and unbranded mine and put the default 3.dmg dashboard for mac on a 2gig sd.

[Shuflie]

J273, on May 19 2009, 15:10, said:

Also the dialers windows only if your using mac...so ive unlocked and unbranded mine and put the default 3.dmg dashboard for mac on a 2gig sd.

Be interested in finding out how you went about this. Thinking of unlocking a 3 ZTE dongle to give to my sister-in-law, but she would be using it with T-mobile on an iBook. Are the branded diallers compatible with different modem manufacturers, i.e. could I get the MAC dialler from her T-Mobile stick which I think is a HUAWEI E160 and use it with the ZTE MF627?

[PaulOBrien]

I used dc-unlocker with my Hauwei previously too, no issues.

P

[NikLP]

Couple of questions which will also hopefully be useful to casual onlookers, as I have tweeted about this post recently.

1. Is the sole purpose of unlocking the device to use it across various networks, and is there any potential advantage to that in terms of the level of service from providers other than 3?
2. Is there software/drivers available for the linux operating system?
3. What's the current state of play with "that" 3 offer for 5 quid a month? If it's "gone", are there similar alternatives?
4. What the hell is a dashboard and what's it for?

Thanks as always

Edited by NikLP, 20 May 2009 - 02:51 PM.

[PaulOBrien]

1. Yes, I use my unlocked one with local SIMs when abroad.
2. ZTE, not sure, my Huawei worked great under linux tho! Not that helpful I know...
3. It's still active for me!
4. The dashboard lets you send receive SMS, see connection status, signal strength etc.

P

[deadphill]

NikLP, on May 20 2009, 15:40, said:

Couple of questions which will also hopefully be useful to casual onlookers, as I have tweeted about this post recently.

1. Is the sole purpose of unlocking the device to use it across various networks, and is there any potential advantage to that in terms of the level of service from providers other than 3?

Correct, however the potential advantage is open to debate. Its up to you to look around and see what the deals are for sim only data. In my instance I want to be able to take the sim out of my phone and use it as and when I need it or give it to the missus and she can put her work sim in there.

2. Is there software/drivers available for the linux operating system?

I believe so but I am not sure if these are only for the 3 dashboard, as 3 make their own software AFAIK

3. What's the current state of play with "that" 3 offer for 5 quid a month? If it's "gone", are there similar alternatives?

There is one in the UK where if you have BB from Virgin Media you can get a dongle for £5 a month but thats 1gb limit and a 12mth contract. As this has only just come in Ive not had it too bad...

4. What the hell is a dashboard and what's it for?

The dashboard is the area within a car which houses certain instruments essential for the use of the car . Oh if you mean the dash for the usb stick, its the special software required to dial and run the usb stick to connect to the network!

Thanks as always

Cheers

Phill

[pjam001]

Using mine as we speak.  Thought it was a simple way of testing whether we could get away with a dongle in our household rather than normal broadband. (Hate paying line rental just to get BB).

Speedtest.net shows about 0.5 Mbps which isn't that fast despite the dashboard suggesting hsdpa but acceptable for browsing.

Used the £5 link; thanks Paul.  Can this be used time and again or is it a one shot deal?  A 50% discount is certainly not to be sniffed at.

Cheers for the heads up on this dongle.

Could be handy whilst away in the caravan.    (I know, I'm getting old)

pjam

Edit: Just started to download Media Player 11 (my usual speed test). This was typically 100 KB/s.  (approx 0.8 Mbps)

Edited by pjam001, 20 May 2009 - 03:18 PM.