3 Mobile Broadband - New HSDPA USB Modem
I received a very exciting new gadget through the post on Saturday - a brand new 3 HSDPA Mobile Broadband dongle.
I have been toying with the idea of getting a Mobile Broadband Dongle from 3 for some months now (as I am already a mobile subscriber). One of my main concerns was tying myself into something that I really didn’t know much about. It’s easy with mobiles, you know what you get and how it works.. Mobile Broadband, is it really as simple as it sounds? Would I be more connected if I got one? Are the speeds good enough? What download limit should I get?
Thanks to the lovely guys at 3 - who really must have been reading my mind, they kindly offered me one of their spangly new USB Stick Modems to trial for 3 months (thanks guys!).
Over the course of the next few months I will be putting the 3 USB Dongle & laptop to the test to check out first hand the wonderful-world of Mobile Broadband.
So lets start and see what you get in the kit:
The USB Modem comes in a slightly thicker than usual DVD-style case titled Mobile Broadband with the 3 logo and Huawei E169G USB Modem in the bottom left. As you can see from the picture on the case, the USB modem has been slimmed down a little from previous versions of the dongle.
On opening the pack you are greeted with the shiny white USB Modem at the top, USB extending cable below and on the left hand-side you’ll find all the usual leaflets and instructions. One thing to note that there isn’t an install CD anywhere to be found!
Here you have it - the brand new and very shiny 3 USB Stick Modem in my hand…
You can see how small the 3 Dongle is compared to an SD Card Reader (on the left) and a 1GB Memory Stick (on the right).
Also in the pack, and most importantly is the 3 SIM Card that enables you to access the 3 Mobile Broadband Network. Installation was a breeze, just remove the lid of the dongle and at the top there is a ridge to put your finger nail, to pull out the SIM card holder. Insert said SIM card and slip it back into the USB Stick. Easy!
Next onto the part of getting the thing up and running.. Again this was a breeze as well.. As I mentioned earlier there is no CD in the pack, Well how do I get the necessary drivers installed on my computer for this to work I hear you ask? Well they are already on the USB Stick - just plug in the device and your computer will find the necessary drivers and install the 3 Mobile Broadband Manager to your task tray (PC). This is just as well really, as my laptop is an EEE PC and it doesn’t come with a CD drive!
Once all the drivers were installed I was connected to the 3 Mobile Broadband Network in moments.. all-in-all I have to say that the whole process took me less than 5 minutes.
So far so good… The device looks great, the install was painless and I was connected in no time.. Will my experiences actually using the thing still be as good? Come back to iGadgetLife over the next few months to see what I really have to say about 3’s Mobile Broadband.
hi, how do i get a 3 month trial of the 3 mobile broadband service please?
One question that I have been looking for and I have yet to find an answer. Can the SIM Card be used with other devices. For example, I want a data only plan for using on my Pocket PC. Can I simply pop in the SIM Card in place of the normal pay as you go voice/data sim card, and will it work?
I need driver for huawei E169G(white) for windows vista.how do I can get it?
I’ve just received my new Huawei black modem stick to use with my Apple Mac. Initially had a few connection problems but was able to resolve these easily, however I now find that ever time I plug in to a USB port, my Applebook crashes. Does anyone know why?
@Johnny
You can download from Huawei site. I have some Huawei drivers for vista as rar files.
I will try to look for the links where I got them from.
[...] connection interface has been vastly improved from the interface I found with the dedicated 3 Mobile Broadband Dongle, which to be honest, I found [...]
I live a few doors down from the carphonewarehouse and they sold my friend one of these, I thought it was great … but … there is no reception in my area, their CRM people have totally given me the run around and now I cannot get out of their contract, I strongly recommended that you DO NOT get one of these, because if you get any problems they will not move an inch.
do i need drivers for this device?
Using 3 broadband SIM in a phone (tried in MDA Vario II and Nokia E71), drains the battery in hours even though the data connection is not active. Found it to be really strange. Don’t know why!
It doesn’t happen with T-Mobile 3G SIM in any of these phones.. Battery life lasts a couple of days..
Any idea if its the SIM thats faulty or the network?
set up a new OS to try out this broadband. The OS lasted two days. It never started up again. Tried the 3 Broadband on my main pc which hasn’t crashed since I set it up a year ago. Lasted a day ad a half. Now it won’t start. Set up a new OS on a third computer. It lasted three days using this broadband. Now it will not start. 3 are a buch of M***** f******.