How to Use Internet for £ 5.00 a month.....

[Lord Lucan]

...I am sure most people are aware of it but lets repeat it here.
1) Buy a 3 UK PAYG USIM
2) Put it in a compatible handset and purchase £10.00 credit.
3) Once credited go to My 3 using handset and purchase add on for £5.00.
4) You have still £5.00 left for next months add on buy.
5) Now use the phone as modem or put that sim in PCMCIA or USB modem.
6) There is a seller on eBay selling this concept for £7.50 plus postage ang packing. Altogether for £10.
Access to messenger is not always available but very useful for a travelling person and for checking webmail.

[moudy3]

I tried it before but it seem all ports are blocked .cant surf the net on pc only on mobile .so i dont know how you do it .

[Lord Lucan]

When you connect it will open 3uk home page....then click on the top most link which will then take you to your home page.Now as long as you keep that page running you will be able to connect to most sites.If you decide to close browser page than go through cycle again.

[hacksawcats]

Just thought I'd get back to you and thank you for all your help I've successfully connected my mobile to my laptop and am enjoying broadband for a £5 a month! Thanks again for your help. Can I just mither you once more is 240 Kbps about the right speed?

[GSR]

Thanks again for your help. Can I just mither you once more is 240 Kbps about the right speed?

The fastest speed the phone can theoretically act as a modem is 384 Kbps on the 3G network, unless you have a HSDPA phone which should be able to connect at up to the maximum of 2.8 Mbps currently supported by 3.

However if you are using the phone as a modem and connected by USB then you will not be able to get over 984 Kbps due to the restrictions of the USB protocol.

[Lord Lucan]

Just thought I'd get back to you and thank you for all your help I've successfully connected my mobile to my laptop and am enjoying broadband for a £5 a month! Thanks again for your help. Can I just mither you once more is 240 Kbps about the right speed?

You welcome. I am pleased that you are online! The speed is dependent on signal strength,handset etc. I suppose the handset you have may not be HSDPA therefore speed may be restricted but I think it should be little faster to something like 480ish. Can any other users shed any light?

[con1_uk]

Hello,

I have got the £5 add on and the phone is connected to the laptop what do I use to connect to the net please?

[hacksawcats]

I contacted my phone manufacturer (Sony Ericson) who emailed detailed instructions on how to set the phone up as a modem, but as far as I know most phone manufacturers ship a CD the contains the software for connecting your phone to your Laptop, If you haven't got the CD then just check the manufacturers web site & download the software and whilst your there email support and ask the for instructions on how to set the phone up as a modem. I would suggest you do this fairly quickly as the £5.00 add on starts from the day you purchased it! Is the phone a 3G Phone? If you need any help downloading the software or contacting the manufacturer just let me know.

[cmn]

Please bear in mind that using your phone as a tethered device with the £5 Internet add-on is against 3's terms and conditions, and you can get your service suspended or you can get charged extra for this.

However if you are using the phone as a modem and connected by USB then you will not be able to get over 984 Kbps due to the restrictions of the USB protocol

Um...? USB1 has a bandwidth limit of 12Mbps (1.5MBps) (1 and USB2 tops out at 480Mbps (60MBps), which, taking overhead into account goes down to ~1.3 and ~52-54MBps respectively. Dunno where you got the 984Kbps limit from.

You welcome. I am pleased that you are online! The speed is dependent on signal strength,handset etc. I suppose the handset you have may not be HSDPA therefore speed may be restricted but I think it should be little faster to something like 480ish. Can any other users shed any light?

UMTS tops out at 384Kbps, as has already been mentioned in this thread, so 480ish would be a slow HSDPA connection. 240Kbps for a UMTS/W-CDMA handset is pretty good, in my experience.

[con1_uk]

Thanks for your replies.

[GSR]

Um...? USB1 has a bandwidth limit of 12Mbps (1.5MBps) (1 and USB2 tops out at 480Mbps (60MBps), which, taking overhead into account goes down to ~1.3 and ~52-54MBps respectively. Dunno where you got the 984Kbps limit from.

Sorry for my earlier mistake, you are quite right that USB 2 maxes out at 480Mbps - I got confused with what I read on another site about some old USB ports only being able to support up to 984Kbps with Nokia PC Suite! :o

At least I got the part about 3G/UMTS having a max speed of 384Kbps right... :D

[Techno12]

...I am sure most people are aware of it but lets repeat it here.
1) Buy a 3 UK PAYG USIM
2) Put it in a compatible handset and purchase £10.00 credit.
3) Once credited go to My 3 using handset and purchase add on for £5.00.



What add on? I can only see a £2.50 weekly internet add-on.

I'm coming to the end of my 18-month contract with 3, loving the internet on my N73. There are no decent phones out at the moment so I'm thinking of trying pay as you go for a while, but I don't want to lose the net.

Is it really £5 a month on pay-as-you-go?

Thanks!

[Techno12]

What add on? I can only see a £2.50 weekly internet add-on.

I'm coming to the end of my 18-month contract with 3, loving the internet on my N73. There are no decent phones out at the moment so I'm thinking of trying pay as you go for a while, but I don't want to lose the net.

Is it really £5 a month on pay-as-you-go?

Thanks!


Ah, found it here

http://www.three.co.uk/personal/price_plans_/pay_as_you_go_/what_it_costs.omp

So, I may well go with that, though I've always been put off by pay-as-you-go as it requires more man-management (plus it used to be taht you'd get cut off if you didn't top up every so often?)

[Lord Lucan]

Not usable with P2P but fine otherwise. There is nothing similar offered by competition.
Vodafone and O2 (BT cellnet) should be ahsamed of themselves for not matching what 3 as a young company offeres.

[e-dard]

Hi all,

can someone please tell me which ports are open with this £5 month deal.


I need:

Web (80)
ssh (22)
smtp (25)
IMAP (143)
instant messaging (msn: not sure on port)
cheers,

Edd

[treetops]

Hi all,

can someone please tell me which ports are open with this £5 month deal.


I need:

Web (80)
ssh (22)
smtp (25)
IMAP (143)
instant messaging (msn: not sure on port)
cheers,

Edd

I've been using the prepay internet for a few months now. Initially only the web ports were open (80/443) and I ran my ssh server on 443 to get around this with port-forwarding :)

However sometime late last year the port blocking seemed to be lifted. I've not tested too much but certainly SSH, IMAP now work. IRC too. I use palringo for IM on the phone, which worked with just 80, so I don't know about MSN.

All in all a very good deal although this sounds slightly worrying:
http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/531
UPDATE: Adding the £5 add-on worked for me yesterday, so worry over!

[e-dard]

Hi,

do you know if 3 have an smtp server so that you can send emails while using this internet addon?


thanks,

Edd

[genaveve]

If you use three's email servers, you'll get charged twenty five pence each time.

[ronsterchan]

I'm trying this from my nokia e61i, it is connecting to the internet but with a couple of problems

1. the e16i displays an icon of "E" instead of "3G" when connected, I've checked and I should be in a 3G area, so it seems to be connecting in EDGE only not 3G. I see people selling 3g broadband sims on ebay, is this the reason?

2. using the Nokia browser it always gives me a screen telling me I'm about to be charged first, I agree and go pass that screen, but so far (4 days) I have not been added any extra charge beyond the original £5.

apart from that, web browsing works and I can use my own email server (smtp/imap) from the phone, I have not tried from a laptop yet.

Ron

[culabula]

I'm trying this from my nokia e61i, it is connecting to the internet but with a couple of problems

1. the e16i displays an icon of "E" instead of "3G" when connected, I've checked and I should be in a 3G area, so it seems to be connecting in EDGE only not 3G. I see people selling 3g broadband sims on ebay, is this the reason?

2. using the Nokia browser it always gives me a screen telling me I'm about to be charged first, I agree and go pass that screen, but so far (4 days) I have not been added any extra charge beyond the original £5.

apart from that, web browsing works and I can use my own email server (smtp/imap) from the phone, I have not tried from a laptop yet.

Ron

Check under phone->network. Your settings may be set to GSM or dual mode. Change to UMTS only and see how you get on.

[ronsterchan]

thanks, that worked
I'm now on 3G!

[3fruits]

ok, I got it working on my xda exec using windows mobile 6, however what do I do on my laptop to get the xda working as modem, usually there are connections to create in using xp

[unknownx]

On three's website it tell you that its unlimited internet but it says "fair use policy" so whats the internet limited to (bandwidth usage)?

[Muteman]

2GB, spoke to customer services today.

[E61DRC]

I tried this in November of last year, but found that I could not use IMAP/SSL on port 993 so could not use GoogleMail so I cancelled and stayed with T-Mobile Web-n-Walk. Do Three still block ports or is it now possible to use GoogleMail (IMAP/SSL on port 993 and SMTP/TLS on port 587)?
Also does anybody know if TomTom Traffic works with Three?

[Morgan]

Can anyone who has done this confirm which add on to purchase to do this ?

Is it the Add Internet Max or the X-Series Silver ?


Many thanks

:)

[Steve_R]

I've had this running on my N95 for a while, and it works fine.

However, I've tried using Joikuspot which turns the N95 into a wireless router in effect, but it keeps binning out because of that crappy Three warning page that you have to click through on your first access of the day. Seems it has problems resolving the internet address or something.

Anyone got any suggestions as to any ways of bypassing that warning screen?

Thanks

[Morgan]

Can anyone who has done this confirm which add on to purchase to do this ?

Is it the Add Internet Max or the X-Series Silver ?


Many thanks

:)



Anyone know the correct answer to this ?


:)

[Lord Lucan]

Hi Morgan,
When I started this thread it was for £5.00 add on available on PAYG. But you can use either of the options mentioned.Regards.
Are you a contract user or PAYG. For PAYG look here (http://www.three.co.uk/personal/price_plans_/pay_as_you_go_/what_it_costs.omp)and scroll down to Add-ons

[Morgan]

Well i'm a contract user but i've got a PAYG as well, i was going to use it with Joikuspot software to create a wifi connection for an iPod Touch.

But as mentioned above it's not working at the moment, but i'm told that the problem is one thats known and will be sorted out in the final release.


Thanks for your quick reply anyway Mr.Lucan

[peterc2609]

Hi I got a sim and added the £15 add on for 3 gb...

What is the difference in this £5 add on... apart from the obvious being £10.

Also, Its in my Dell XPS M1330 internal 3g modem and I'm only getting a LOW signal on 3G... even though the website says it should be fine!?!?

[genaveve]

BEWARE: Three UK are starting to get wise to these sorts of tricks...
Until today, i used to use a PAYG three sim with a one day internet add on for any occasional heavy downloading i needed to do (to avoid maxing out my contract phone's mobile broadband monthly allowance.)
The usage allowance for the daily, weekly or monthly PAYG internet use used to be fair use, with no apparent enforced hard limit.
That appears to have changed. Although the data usage page lists no usage, and just mentions fair-use, there is now a behind the scenes limit... and if you go over it you get warning texts and your PAYG balance drops as you begin paying for data use at the pricey per megabyte rates, until you either stop using data or your credits are emptied!
I planned for this eventuality by leaving only a tiny balance on the mobile, in case three ever got wise - but if you're doing the same thing, keep your eyes open and don't keep your phone too full of credits in case you fall into the same trap. The download speed is such that, by the time you're recieved and read the texts, you'll already have spent a few pounds at least.

[Smurf3G]

Is it still possible to get this £5 internet feature?

Thinking of buying myself a 3 PAYG Sim for occasional web usage away from the office and just want to be sure i'm not wasting my time.

[kazan77]

Yes, it's still possible. I'm using it since last Monday and works fine.
Some sites are blocked :-/ like www.rlslog.net

[pauldh18]

Hello,

I have recently got my hands on a USB Huawei Mobile Dongel. Anyway, I am using the PAYG 3 sim in this with the £5 option and am finding that I am getting 70K/sec download and 10K/sec upload. I have around 50% signal bars on the system. My question is, if you go for the £10 per month service with 1GB limit do you get more bandwidth?

I am happy with the 70K/sec download but I can't live with 5 - 10K/sec upload. This device supports up the 3.5Mb/sec down and 385K/sec up.

Also with regards to ports I have not had one yet locked down on me and I have ran email (pop and imap), ssh, msn, remote desktop etc.. nothing blocked yet.

Paul ****

[Kam.Samji]

I hope someone can help me with this... I have a Nokia N95 on Three with X-series Silver. I can happily surf the net with the phone, that's excellent.

However, I also have a Palm TX and I would like to be able to connect to the net on the Palm via the N95. Can someone help with the settings I need to enter on the Palm please?

A step by step would be very helpful.

Thanks

Kam

[Lord Lucan]

Hello, It may be possible same way as WM5/6 handsets via bluetooth.

[Lord Lucan]

Hello,

I have recently got my hands on a USB Huawei Mobile Dongel. Anyway, I am using the PAYG 3 sim in this with the £5 option and am finding that I am getting 70K/sec download and 10K/sec upload. I have around 50% signal bars on the system. My question is, if you go for the £10 per month service with 1GB limit do you get more bandwidth?

I am happy with the 70K/sec download but I can't live with 5 - 10K/sec upload. This device supports up the 3.5Mb/sec down and 385K/sec up.

Also with regards to ports I have not had one yet locked down on me and I have ran email (pop and imap), ssh, msn, remote desktop etc.. nothing blocked yet.

Paul ****
Hello Paul, No it will not make any difference to the bandwidth. Indeed 3 network is generous in allowing most if not all communication ports. Port 5060(UDP) is not blocked for sure like Voda has.

[Kam.Samji]

Hello, It may be possible same way as WM5/6 handsets via bluetooth.

Can you explain this a bit more please? I am not sure what you mean...

thanks

Kam

[Lord Lucan]

Hello Sam, Your phone's bluetooth will act as an acess point but not shown as acess point like WiFi AP. After pairing it you will be prompted to go thorugh steps on your Palm.No passwords or user names.
Modern laptop with blutooth are much easier.
At the time of writing this post,there have been over 4500 visitors to this thread and I am please to assume that many will have taken the benifits of the advice given in this thread.
OK friends, I am going to start another exciting thread similar to this but about utilising the available mobile data broadband package. Hold your breath! I am preparing it to simplify for readers not too techy so everybody will understand it.Give me some time!

[Lord Lucan]

Furthermore, try to make your handset as a wifi acess point by installing free version of JoikuSpot. I dont know if your hansdet is compatible but you can check it out.
By doing so, you are transforming your handset as a wireless acess point and if your Palm is also wifi capable,you can acess internet.
Just a word: Make sure to secure it or else it will be an open acess point.