3 Dongle v PC linked to HTC Desire-advice requested

Tidewaiter2

Tidewaiter2

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 Feb 2008
Messages
3,962
Location
Turning Left this season?-Nach Friesians?
Visit site
Thanks to the Forum, we have successfully had a 3 Dongle for 2/3 years now, for Internet on board in UK.
Have just got an upgrade on my contract to the Desire- android with O2.
The manual says it can be used with our PC for Internet access thru O2 or Wifi hotspots networks.

So we could save the 3 monthly fee, as my contract gives us a lot of data GBs.
Has anyone experience of connectivity\coverage\speeds\low water LOS issues as betwen 3 and O2 in the Solent and West Country?

I accept that using internet in France will mean using Netabord bought time, or Port/Club WiFi hotspots, as 3 and O2 hit you with quite penal rates, even for e-mail and quick weather checks.

Any help or advice much appreciated.
DickT
 
Got a pal who uses his phone for weather and links to the lappy. Seems to work OK but is cumbersome. I would suggest you have both because data coverage is variable. For example, 3.com is very patchy in Salcombe or down the west country
 
HTC with PC

The desire should support operation with pc, "tethering" as it is known but your internet allowance on your phone contract may not cover this use so you may be charged seperatly for it.

My wife has a Desire and I have a 3 dongle for the laptop on the boat. We hardly used the laptop since she got the phone. Only issue using the phone we had was registering for the free wifi but we got round that using the pc so didnt investigate.

I still find my skyphone s2 has better data reception that the dongle or the desire.
 
O2 is OK around the Solent, T-Mobile seems to be faster though.

As a side comment, the HTC allows you to locate your 3G device much higher up to get a good reception and then routing that down to your laptop using it's wifi router software. For me, that made a bigger difference than the actual networks themselves.
 
Thanks for all the info

Many Thanks for all the responses.
Sorry I haven't responded earlier-doing our Fascias and soffits, then went down with this summer virus going around, while out on the boat.
Will run the 3 dongle a bit longer while we trials the Desire with the ideas provided.
 
Marine Broadband.

The best 3G coastal coverage in the UK is by far Hutchison 3 Network.
For GPRS fall back at greater Distances then it has to be Vodafone or possibly Orange in Wales and West Country.

Check out the Coverage maps on the Three and Voda Broadband Websites and at Ofcom

Here:

http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/spectrum/mobile-wireless-broadband/cellular/coverage_maps.pdf

These Ofcom maps only count outdoor 3G coverage but are a useful guide.
For Standard services 2G/EDGE/GPRS then Voda has the beat of all the others, being the largest and longest established network.

Hope this helps

Steve
 
best adviced I can give you is buy a vodafone net sim card and put it in your dongle you will be able to open the dongle if is isit by downlanding a prog off the net .
I have done this all the way down from the UK to where I am now in Spain , it the best way i have found unless any one say tell different .

www.bluewatersailor.webs
 
Bosun Higgs said:
I thought Hutchinson were 3.com ?
Click to expand...

They are but have rebranded to just "Three" or "3UK" about 18 months ago.
The comany is called Hutchsion Whampoa Telecommunications and is Incorporated in Macau, with corporate offices in Honk Kong.
The problem with 3UK is that they only do 3G....not GPRS, but they and T-Mobile signed a mast sharing agreement last year enabling 3 to expand very rapidly. I dont know whether this agreement extended to GPRS fall back using T-mobile, but I can find out. T-mobile is the only company operating in the UK that wont publish their Offshore Coverage maps, and wont cooperate with Ofcom at all. They are German, Wholly owned by Deutsche Telekom, thus the lack of cooperation, but they are generally thought to have the worst offshore coverage.
 
Last edited:
nigelmercier said:
Why not ask 3 to unlock your dongle, and get a French SIM for France?
Click to expand...

You can get your dongle unlocked on the internet for little money here:

http://www.unlocked-dongle.co.uk/ They are reliable.

Or I can put you in touch with someone who does it cheaper.

It depends on how long the Modem has been tied to that provider as to whether it can be done or not, for instance one of mine the Voda K3565 couldnt be done 'cos I'd had it over six months. If its a Huawei Modem it's a good idea to get it de-branded as well and flashed with the latest firmware and Mobile Partner version. If its a ZTE dunno dont know much about them but they can be done.
 
Last edited:
The advantage I found of internet on a pc via a mobile was tucked up in Beaulieu where the signal is **** I could hoist the mobile on a halyard to get a signal whilst still attached to the laptop via bluetooth - not particularly fast, but at least it worked. The problem arose when the phone started ringing :o

3 - when it's good, it's good. But when it's bad .... try not to throw it overboard!
 
Masthead repeater...

The new Android release (version 2.2, "Froyo") will allow Wi-Fi hotspot tethering. It should be available for the Desire in the next few weeks, depending upon network.

With this you can hoist your mobile to the masthead to get a decent mobile signal, and have it set up to share that connection as a wireless network access point for use by your laptop or other device.

Should be much faster than bluetooth, though solving the 'what happens when it rings' part may still be a problem. There are applications which allow you to use the PC as a handsfree set with a bluetooth phone, so one of those might help...

Regards,

Mike
 
Many Thanks for all this info.

Again, Many Thanks to you all, we are going to follow up all the suggestions this summer cruise(when we can get away :(, finally).

Hope it's helpful to other Forumites too, the knowledge base and sharing is really great and tremendously helpful in keeping up with the relentless progress in communications.

A ringing Phone on Blue tooth at the top of our 50ft mast could be funny, esp if the burgee halliard jams :)
Wonder if it will still be in range?

Wish I was as good as our two sons at all this IT/technie linking bit tho'.
Trouble is I started sailing off shore when you counted all your franc and centime coins out so one of you could phone from a call box by the Customs house in dark, wet and windy Dunkerque to say you'd arrived ok, and tell the other wives!

Now you just txt everyone, have another beer and turn in!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top