Vodafone to introduce flat rate wireless broadband

Sponge Bob

Blitz wrote:

Tbh i use myne for VPN, if on the unlikely case that 3g isnt working (which it has only done it once in the year ive had it) you connect at 54.0kbps (well i did anyway).

To be honest its perfectly workable you get between 5 and 6k.

Im not sure where the Vodafone mast is in cabinteely but where i sit i get 1/2 bars and it connects at 3g no problem and gives me speeds of around 35-40k per second.

And what 3g speed do you get at 1 or 2 bars on a scale of ???? and guesstimate the mast , say 2km max in cabinteely.

Ok let me tell you where I am coming from.

44-54k is GPRS but its DIAL UP SPEED (I thought 'good' GPRS was 3 x 14.4k slots but Voda allow 4 x 14.4k slots or 57.6k max in 2G areas , green bits on the map and orange bits too I think )

Most of the country by area and population both will get somewhere between 24k and 57.6k on GPRS using a 3G data card. 5Gb download is good going on dial up in a month. Lots of people on 12k or 16k dialup in ruralareas could get 40k - 50k on GPRS. The geopraphic extent of 20k - 50k coverage is probably greater than on eircoms given the pairgain fiasco.

The point I am trying to make is that while I am sceptical about the headline data speeds the Card will do HSDPA and fall back to 3G data and fall back in most cases in ireland to GPRS because the 3g coverage is frankly ****e (thr RED bits on that map I linked above. BUT>

VODAFONE ARE INTRODUCING THE FIRST WIDELY AVAILABLE FRIACO FLAT RATE ALWAYS ON PRODUCT IN IRELAND

With eircom you pay €24 line rental and €30 for 150 hours Dial Up , €54


With BT you pay €24 line rental and €30 for 180 hours Dial Up , €54

With Vodafone you pay €50 for unlimited dialup. Its a good deal in 2g areas never mind 3g areas despite being a 3g product . Thoughtsy poos .

And will someone please answer my questions above, I am very sceptical about Voda HSDPA data coverage, the red spots on that map are max 3g voice coverage but surely data is smaller.

uncle_sam_ie

Sponge Bob wrote:

VODAFONE ARE INTRODUCING THE FIRST WIDELY AVAILABLE FRIACO FLAT RATE ALWAYS ON PRODUCT IN IRELAND

I wonder if this will push eircom into improving it's DSL coverage. Because, I will ditch my ISDN line for Vodafone's 3G. I don't care if I'll be coming down in speed. I'll be connected all the time and I could always take my laptop into a 3G area(5 miles drive)when I need the speed.

jwt

VODAFONE ARE INTRODUCING THE FIRST WIDELY AVAILABLE FRIACO FLAT RATE ALWAYS ON PRODUCT IN IRELAND

That they are IF its unlimited.

And will someone please answer my questions above, I am very sceptical about Voda HSDPA data coverage, the red spots on that map are max 3g voice coverage but surely data is smaller.

I can only comment on my area, but 3g video calls are now possible here, which kinda puts a hole in the "i'm stuck insert_reason_here" excuse while ordering another pint

Because, I will ditch my ISDN line for Vodafone's 3G. I don't care if I'll be coming down in speed. I'll be connected all the time and I could always take my laptop into a 3G area(5 miles drive)when I need the speed.

I've had several customers ask about doing just this in the past week. Wish vodafone would hurry up and put some firm data behind this


John

Blaster99

And then let's see how it pans out in reality. There's been a lot of hype of wireless miracle products in this country and few or none have lived up to it.

Sponge Bob

jwt wrote:

That they are IF its unlimited.

My attitude is that 5Gb caps at 56k connect in a 2g area is EFFECTIVELY unlimited....obviously not at 1024k . You can only download 25Mb an hour at that rate and it would take you over 8 days solid to hit that cap.

8 days is 192 hours, better than any FRIACO package .

jwt

Fair point.

Thinking back, if someone offered that 18 months ago we'd all be going ape

As it is, I'll be giving the vodafone product serious consideration versus my current wireless provider.

Certainly I'll be using it as a back up BB connection, and if it plays well, it'll become my main BB connection.

John

cgarvey

Guys, can we keep this thread on topic. It's about Vodafone's product, not VPN profiling, or 3G cards in the US, ffs!!

If you want to chat about non IoffL stuff, use one of the more appropriate forums please.

See, I can be nice.

jwt

ooops

Other stuff is now in net/comms

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054952908

John

Patrickof

Just got off the phone with Vodafone Business customer care and the flat rate package will be launched Saturday (1st July). It's €40.50 per month ex VAT and requires a new seperate subscription. The person on the phone couldn't tell me what the usage cap will be. It'll be available everywhere, obviously speeds will be higher in 3G areas.

Sponge Bob

Vodafone Unlimited Data is the product name ,
€49 per month including VAT


To find out more about the Built-In 3G Connectivity email channelteam@vodafone.com

Patrickof

Yep, just checked the vodafone web site and the new pricing is now gone up.

Details are at:

http://www.vodafone.ie/sme/price/dataroaming/3ggprsplans/index.jsp

The terms and conditions page tells you how to migrate if you are on one of the older plans

jwt

just rang vodafone

As of 1st July i.e this weekend it is available

Uses the 129 euro connect card

UNLIMITED no cap!

However

T&C state
4. Use of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is not permitted within the Unlimited Data tariff offer and Vodafone reserves the right to impose technological or other constraints on this or related types of application.

and before the whole VPN thing errupts again, using VoIP in any way shape or form breaks the T&Cs.

John

Sponge Bob

And deep within the bowels of 3 (UK) there is a stirring of HSDPA but Voda UK deployed the first commercial ones , last week .

jwt

hmmm from that register link

Usage pricing is never cheap where data cards are concerned, but as the employer usually foots the bill, what the heck. Voda pricing starts from £25 per month , which includes 250 Mb of data - up to £45 per month for an "unlimited usage" plan. This is subject to a fair usage cap of 1Gb a month. The card costs £99 with the Data 250 plan and £49 with the Data Unlimited Plan.

John

Blaster99

I guess I can call Voda myself, but can this not be applied to a phone? If I have a 3G phone with Bluetooth (as I do) and I buy this bundle on my phone account, then I can hook up to the internet over Bluetooth when needed or browse directly on the phone?

Those T&C's are useless without traffic shaping/blocking. What constitutes VoIP? Skype or SIP or both? Any of the other free voice services on the internet?

cgarvey

Unlimited subject to a Fair Use clause. In reality that could very well mean a practical 500MB limit. They give no hint as to the order of magnitude they think is ok, which scares me as a (very) potential early adopter. There's no question of me running 50+ GB every month, but there might be a few occasions where I have to download a 2+ GB DB dump or two in a given month. So 5GB might be fine for now, and I get used to that, since there are much fewer users. However, when the customer base fills up a bit, then they might prefer 500MB which is unusable. I guess I can just bail out of the contract (court if necessary), but it'd be nice to have some idea of ballpark figure they think is "ok". Paragraphs would be nice too, but we can't have it all I guees

cgarvey

Ah, well spotted on the 1GB .. so that's probably still a goer for me then. It just means no DB dumps, unless I really am in remote Clare!

uncle_sam_ie

Blaster99 wrote:

I guess I can call Voda myself, but can this not be applied to a phone? If I have a 3G phone with Bluetooth (as I do) and I buy this bundle on my phone account, then I can hook up to the internet over Bluetooth when needed or browse directly on the phone?

Those T&C's are useless without traffic shaping/blocking. What constitutes VoIP? Skype or SIP or both? Any of the other free voice services on the internet?

But won't bluethooth slow things down? And does the T&C's mean I'm won't be able to use OS X's iChatAV?

Foxwood

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

But won't bluethooth slow things down? And does the T&C's mean I'm won't be able to use OS X's iChatAV?

The T&Cs mean that if (when?) Vodafone block ports that you're trying to use, you don't have any comeback.

I'd guess that the default ports for SIP and Skype will be blocked from day 1.

Patrickof

Just in the local phone shop (not a chain one I think) and the product is available now, at least they were willing to take my details and money - 'cept my passport and driving licence is at home so I need to get those. Even though I am a customer already.

jesus_thats_gre

Patrickof wrote:

Just in the local phone shop (not a chain one I think) and the product is available now, at least they were willing to take my details and money - 'cept my passport and driving licence is at home so I need to get those. Even though I am a customer already.

Should they just assume that you are what you say you are without asking for identification?

jwt

yes, when you answer the questions like date of birth, current tarriff, payment details etc. No?


John

cgarvey

Tech conversation about cards/etc. is moved to here

cgarvey

It's not €49 according to Vodafone Business. It's €49 + €12 (or 12.50?) SIM rental. .. but let's not get in to the whole line rental incl/excl debate.

Urban Weigl

cgarvey wrote:

It's not €49 according to Vodafone Business. It's €49 + €12 (or 12.50?) SIM rental. .. but let's not get in to the whole line rental incl/excl debate.

I have been told multiple times by various people in Vodafone that "there is no SIM rental, it's only 49 euros, there's no extra costs involved, etc".

Just confirmed it, there is no SIM rental. The rep you were talking to probably just assumed there was, since with previous data tariffs there usually was.

No ExpressCard solution from Vodafone yet. I asked, and the immediate answer was: "Ah, you have a new Dell!". Seems like all laptops are going ExpressCard now (it's superseded PCMCIA/PC cards). Might be a few months though before there's an official solution from Vodafone, but in the meantime I think Dell themselves and various other companies have already released 3G ExpressCards, usually retailing at about 200 euros. You'd have to source it yourself.

Vodafone also offer a 3G router bundled with a PC card for 299 euros. Seems like that might not be a bad offer.

Here is an example of a 3G ExpressCard that will work with new notebooks, this one is quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G, and will initially support speeds of 3.6mbps, but is software-upgreadable to 7.2mbps: http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/3251.htm
Vodafone 3G router: http://www.vodafone.ie/sme/mailonthemove/laptopconnectivity/3grouter/index.jsp (supposedly 299 euros bundled with a 3G connect card)

cgarvey

Urban Weigl wrote:

I have been told multiple times by various people in Vodafone that "there is no SIM rental, it's only 49 euros, there's no extra costs involved, etc".

Arggghhh, I hate that! When I asked the CSR, she said "ah yeah, one second I have a bulletin about that here...". So I've been told once that cost was €49, and once it was €61.. am ringing again now for the decider ...

EDIT .. been told that it's €7.50 SIM rental + €5 service charge + €49 unlimited data tariff per month! He went off and double checked, after I explained I'd been told the conflicting prices, and he said that was definite. Should I ring again?

Incidentally, there is no requirement to have any account/voice plan with Vodafone to avail of this.

jesus_thats_gre

jwt wrote:

yes, when you answer the questions like date of birth, current tarriff, payment details etc. No?

No tbh.

Urban Weigl

T-Mobile is now offering an "unlimited data" plan (fair usage restrictions apply, i.e. if you continuously upload/download more than 2GB a month for 2 consecutive months during a 6-month period, they reserve the right to contact you and ask you to reduce your usage. If you don't, they may give you notice and limit the speed of your service. This may not really be enforced, and just be a "get out" clause to stop people from running P2P, since bandwidth on a 3G network is quite limited compared to xDSL, etc) in the UK for £19.99 per month (€28.88 at today's exchange rate). The 3G data card is FREE with an 18 months contract.

More information here:
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=ctl_change_state&nextpageid=plans_webnwalk_proplans&chosenPricePlan=pmt&customerCategory=personal&WT.mc_id=QM_Buy.at&PURL=valuemobiles.at/OSD&P36=3V559U&CID=0&CTY=8

cgarvey

So what do Vodafone (who'll be the target of my next ASAI complaint, once Perlico is done) or T-Mobile consider to be "unlimited" in their offering? 5GB or 1GB per month is hardly unlimited. Even for light users 1GB is restrictive. Do they mean you can connect/disconnect as often as you want or something?!

.cg

Urban Weigl

I agree with you about the service not being completely "unlimited". That being said, it is a bit different: whereas Perlico will charge you for going over the "limit", Vodafone (Ireland) and T-Mobile (UK) won't. They may however terminate your contract, for example, or ask you to reduce your usage, which is different than charging you per megabyte (or whatever) after reaching 2GB, 5GB, 10GB (or whatever).

I will withhold judgement until we actually hear about these "fair use" limits being enforced. For example, it is quite possible that T-Mobile is simply protecting their network from 1% of customers who would cause the 3G network to grind to a halt, and any fair use limitations will only be used in extreme cases. Remember that the say "may", not "will". They may not even have decided themselves yet, and put it in there just to cover their asses.

So in other words, I think we should reserve judgement until more is known.