Vodafone Start charging for GPRS

[sirlinux]

it's 2c per kilobyte since today AUG 1st, also they seem to have disabled HSCSD calls to everything but e-merge, even wap which is stupid, time to complain i think.

[DubFit]

i called the helpdesk this morning and they read out the information the were released (no info on the website yet), she said these are the current options:

(she said all prices were inclusive of vat)

the "Pay As You Go" package is available to all users with no monthly subscription charge, and is billed at 2c per 1 Kb

there is a GPRS 1 option available for all post-paid users, with 1MB inclusive data for Eur 11.99

there is a GPRS 5 option available for Sharetime users (only), with 5MB inclusive data for Eur 27.99


compared to O2 their tariffs are:

GPRS 1 tarrif is Eur 7.50 (ex. vat), Eur 9.08 (inc. vat)

GPRS 5 tarrif is Eur 12.50 (ex. vat), Eur 15.16 (inc. vat)

O2 offer a GPRS 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 option, all open to every customer.

Vodafone currently appear to offer a GPRS 1 option, and a GPRS 5 option to Sharetime users only. I asked if there was a GPRS 15 tariff (as with Vodafone UK) and they said not currently...

So on first looks for Consumer GPRS Vodafone have priced themselves higher than O2 and with less options...


anyone get any different info?

Brian G

[DubFit]

i did a bit of maths on this, and I 'm wondering what's up...

customer support only quote a GPRS 1 option available for all Pay Monthly users, with 1 MB inclusive data for Eur 11.99 (inc. vat)

the usage charge they quoted after the inclusive MB was used was 2c per 1 KB. assuming they use 1024 KB = 1 MB then:

2c x 1024KB = Eur 20.48 per additional MB

Have I missed something, 20.48 Euro for each additional MB?

I got an O2 SIM for data, on O2 GPRS 10 (for use with a PDA) which costs me Eur 24.20 (with each additional MB costing Eur 2.42).

For an equivalent on Vodafone, with GPRS 1 being the only option I can sign up to at Eur 12 for 1 MB inclusive, the additional 9MB would cost me Eur 187.56, giving me a total of Eur 199.56 for 10 MB with Vodafone.

does anyone else know of any more options being made available is this it?

how can 1MB of additional data on O2 only cost Eur 2.42 and on Vodafone it costs Eur 20.46, have my maths functions gone AWOL?

Brian G

[DubFit]

Ok someone on the open@webnet.ie said they were quoted .68 of a cent for each additional KB of data (rather than the 2 cent I was) when using the GPRS 1 subscription package

that's still Eur 6.96 for each additional MB....

reworking the O2 comparison above:
For an equivalent on Vodafone, with GPRS 1 being the only option I can sign up to at Eur 12 for 1 MB inclusive, the additional 9MB would cost me Eur 62.64, giving me a total of Eur 74.63 for 10 MB with Vodafone.

Brian G

[Mr E]

I was tempted to sign up for GPRS, just to have a play about with it.

I'm not going to now - those prices are prohibitive.

- Dave.

[bkehoe]

I'm going to be going to the first O2 dealer I see the next time I'm in town. Pity, thought Vodafone would be going to launch cheaper than O2. Suppose I could find a carphone antenna or something to plug into my T39 when I'm at home (bad coverage in my area). Any suggestions for something cheap, so I can switch to O2 knowing I wont have to stand up beside the window every time I want to call someone?

Brendan

[bkehoe]

Just wasted almost €2 testing the thing out. Seem to get 3 up to 5KB/sec on my limited test. Lag around 800ms. APN is isp.vodafone.ie. No username or password needed. Automatically gets IP and DNS servers.

[Canadian]

Just got my 6310i & pocket PC working on GPRS.

This is what I did:

Connected.
Checked my email (I had none)
Disconnected.

Total bytes = 2124


Then I did the same thing but went to Yahoo, signed on to MSN Instant messenger, went to BBC news home page, did NOT read any stories, checked email, and logged off. Total time was about 3 minutes....

Total bytes = 108,000 (€1.05 holy crap!...)

Checking email is cheap, anything else is too expensive for what it's worth.

[sirlinux]

HSCSD is faster and cheaper especially with a 6310, you can get 42 kbps connection, at 15cent a minute it is much cheaper than using GPRS, if your call type is ISDN connection is pretty fast to nearly as fast as gprs.

[Canadian]

I've done all the thing Vodaphone tells me to do to get 43.2 Kbps, but how can I tell that it's working???

Also, you are correct - much better deal than GPRS.... especially if you get a certain number of minutes included each month....

[DubFit]

Canadian
Checking email is cheap, anything else is too expensive for what it's worth.

that would depend on how much email you downloaded!! but seriously your are right the current Vodafone tariffs are very expensive (compared to the O2 GPRS tariffs launched in Q1 this year).

the demand for PDA friendly sites will grow, some examples are given in this thread:
Do you GPRS too?

also if you are going to use Vodafone GPRS for anything more than WAP access, you need to subscribe to their GPRS inclusive tariff GPRS1 (sharetime users can use GPRS5), however it is still hugely more expensive than O2's comparable offerings.

sirlinux
HSCSD is faster and cheaper

GPRS in perfect conditions will get you 40.2kbits/s with the current O2 and Voda set-up and supported handsets.

HSCSD (Voda only) you get 42.2kbits/s if you connect using V.120, otherwise for Analogue and V.110 the max you can receive is 38.4kbits/s on Nokia. For [Sony]Ericsson the max you can receive with HSCSD is 28.8kbits/s.

Canadian
I've done all the thing Vodaphone tells me to do to get 43.2 Kbps, but how can I tell that it's working???

If you are using a Pocket PC to connect there is no built-in connection monitor (to display the connected speed and data transferred). If you connect fine you should be surfing at what ever speed has been set-up with the string. If you try and stream some Video www.windowsmeida.com (on the Pocket PC) you will soon know if you are on HSCSD connection or not!

You can also try the PDAWin Connection Monitor, it will graph your data volume in and out, so you can tell rather than trying to judge if a page is downloading faster!
http://www.pdawin.com/InternetMonitor.html


HTH,
Brian G

[yankinlk]

Originally posted by Canadian
I've done all the thing Vodaphone tells me to do to get 43.2 Kbps, but how can I tell that it's working???

Also, you are correct - much better deal than GPRS.... especially if you get a certain number of minutes included each month....

ive been meaning to ask the same question canadian. I have setup the "high speed" mobile connection under windows 2000 for several peoples laptops. the connected speed showing on desktop is around 28kbps not the 43 that they advertise.

a call to customer support tells me that its a problem in windows, and that it always shows 28.8 ...not sure how true it is...

[Tom Dunne]

Originally posted by yankinlk


a call to customer support tells me that its a problem in windows, and that it always shows 28.8 ...not sure how true it is...

Rubbish.

If you have the 6310, then you should have an icon in control panel called Nokia Modem options. Open this up, and click on the modem name (should be Nokia 6310 Irda). The GSM connection speed should 'un-grey' so you can change it. Move the slider over to 43.2 and change the connection method to ISDN (I can only get V.110 working). This got me 38kbps, I haven't had a chance to play around much to get the speed any higher.

TD.

[Canadian]

A guy here at work is having problems with the Nokia 6310i and Windows XP on his laptop.

Using the Vodaphone or Nokia software, Windows can't see the Nokia 6310 modem. On the Modem control in the control panel, everything is greyed out. The Vodafone Connect Me software can't find the modem either.

He is able to connect using the 'generic IRDA' modem but he only gets 9600 baud.

Any experience with this?

Also, I have absolutely no trouble with the Pocket PC version of Vodafone Connect me. Is there ANY reason to go thru the traditional method of connecting to the interet? or should I stick with the Vodafone software?

Many thanks-

[DubFit]

Originally posted by Canadian
A guy here at work is having problems with the Nokia 6310i and Windows XP on his laptop.

Using the Vodaphone or Nokia software, Windows can't see the Nokia 6310 modem. On the Modem control in the control panel, everything is greyed out. The Vodafone Connect Me software can't find the modem either.

when running the Modem Setup application on the CD ROM was there a successful IrDA conneciton established in the set-up process?

is there an 6310i (IrDA) modem now installed?

check the Control Panel 'Modem Properties' to make sure it's installed and pointing at the laptop's 'virtual infrared com port', or the COM port associated with the Infrared Port (you can check this from the 'Infrared' control in the Control Panel)

if not try getting him to un-install/re-install the Modem Setup and try to make sure an IR connection is made

for some reason the 6310i set-up took a few attempts than a 6310 set-up

He is able to connect using the 'generic IRDA' modem but he only gets 9600 baud.

you could try and use this modem by inserting the INIT string into it's properties to set up the conection for HSCSD or GPRS

Also, I have absolutely no trouble with the Pocket PC version of Vodafone Connect me. Is there ANY reason to go thru the traditional method of connecting to the interet? or should I stick with the Vodafone software?

if you are happy with it and it works for you then no reason not to use it i prefer to have one less app, and using several connection profiles on the PDA I go with a manual option