Not only is the 3 Skypephone S2 a neat phone in a compact form, it also doubles up as a Mobile Broadband Dongle allowing you to surf the internet on your laptop via your mobile.
Getting started
Set-up was a breeze, well for PC users (more on that later), as all you need to do is plug the supplied USB data cable into the bottom of your phone and the other end into your computer.
You computer will detect the ‘CD partition’ on the phone, and just as auto-play works on a standard CD, the installation program instantly starts installing the software and drivers needed to get you up and running.
There were a couple of things to select, one is the country that you are in, from a choice of:
- Australia
- Austria
- Denmark
- Hong Kong
- Ireland
- Italy
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
Also within the application you can set:
- Start when handset is connected to PC
- Reconnect to Internet if connection is lost
- Only connect when 3G is available
After a moment or two, you will be presented with a window with a large green button in the middle prompting you to connect to the mobile network*.
The connection interface has been vastly improved from the interface I found with the dedicated 3 Mobile Broadband Dongle, which to be honest, I found ghastly.
One connected, the application worked like a dream. Simple. Shame that the same couldn’t be said for Mac users.
Connecting to a Mac
Plugging the 3 Skypephone S2 into a Mac works pretty much the same as a PC, this time a CD icon appears on the desktop:
Clicking the Disc presents you with a Package to install, so far so good:
The wizard runs through the install, and completes and it’s at this point that it starts to come unstuck..
What has it installed exactly? There was no additional software in my Applications Folder. I eventually checked the Network settings within Preferences and found the following:
There are 4 new network types installed that start with S2 - all of which their settings appeared to be empty and neither of which I could get to work!
Maybe I missed something, or maybe as the handset was a pre-sales trial from the guys at 3 the Mac software hadn’t quite been finished?
Conclusion
Apart from the Mac issue, getting the thing up and running was painless and works really, really well. I think its a great combination, of a great mobile phone, that allows you to make free Skype calls, plus you can plug it into you laptop and bam you can surf the web! Neat! You can even do this wirelessly via Bluetooth if that’s your thing!
For the price - I really cant fault it, Why get a Mobile Broadband Dongle, when you can have this AND make calls?
* You will need to have the appropriate 3 Mobile Data access on your taffif.
Hi,
Could you please help me to understand few things about this phone…
Will Skype work on Skypephone when used with Three’s broadband SIM in the phone?
I already have a Three broadband USB dongle. Planning to get this phone if Skype works on this SIM so that it will serve the purpose of being connected on Skype and use it as a modem when needed.
Also, is it possible to log onto any VoIP services other than Skype on this phone?
Thanks
James
Hi,
I know you replied before saying you don’t think it supports SyncML - I can tell you how to check? On a Mac connect to it via bluetooth. Then, in bluetooth preferences, select the phone, click the cog icon, and choose “Show More Info”. If you could post the list of Services it supports I would be ridiculously grateful
A
Hi,
I was wondering does anybody know the speeds you can get when you use the S2 as a Mobile Broadband Dongle for your pc? I had the old S1
skypephone and speeds was very slow when used as a Mobile Dongle.
thanks
Dermo - the S2 is a HSDPA mobile, so you will get fast internet access.
The Mac interface works fine you just have not completed the set up. If you select the interface you show in the screen above the “S2 Proprietary USB Modem” interface. Enter “*99#” as the phone number, “guest” as Account Name and “guest” as Password. Click the “Advanced” button and in the “Modem” tab select Vendor “Other” and Model “S2 USB Modem” (this is modem driver installed by the S2 USB driver package). In Dial Mode select “Ignore Dial Tone when Dialing”. Click OK which will return to the screen above. Press “Connect” to connect to 3. It works well, good speeds, as good as my 3 Huweii E220. Also works well with a a Bluetooth connection.
Maybe not quite as straightforward as Windows but we should be grateful for the Mac support
I wonder if you could tell me if the S2 has a useful “to-do list” feature. I have a nokia 6280 and use that feature all the time (enter a one line note, add an alarm time to it to remind me), and it’s the one feature missing from the original skypephone that stopped me buying it. Or do you know of a java one I could download on to the phone? I’ve had a look but haven’t been able to find one.
All the other reviewers seem to be reading from the brochure, where you seem to be the only one using one for real.
thanks in advance.
To get it to work on the Mac…
> Open System Preferences > Network
> Select S2 Pro… Modem
> Click on Advanced
> Change vendor to “amoi (AMOI)”
> Change model to “S2″
> Change APN to “three.co.uk” > click OK
> Change telephone number to ” *99# ”
> Force the system to save the settings
{ Easy way is to click Show All, Apply settings when asked, click Network to come back }
> You can now click the Connect button and >BING< it works…
Now if only I could get it to sync….
Joe
Any idea if it can be used as bluethooth modem?
Is the internet connection on this phone fast enough to play my xbox 360 over it.
Also what broadband limitations does 3 have, are you allowed unlimited downloads like most internet providers.
Having real problems with this one. Have followed the instructions Joe and Brian D kindly provided but neither work. Are you using Tiger or Leopard? I am using Leopard. All my S2 wants to do when connected to my Mac is recharge itself or sync. I have managed to connect it via Bluetooth but it keeps disconnecting.
Also I cannot get Skype. I have found the so-called “help” three.co.uk provides by phone is abysmal (the bonus is you cannot cancel the contract because of it, so I am stuck with this mobile and Hutchison for 18 months). I am glad I did not buy one of the £30+ a month contracts.
Three does not seem to think that the S2 has a modem function. Yesterday its website was displaying a special offer for the S2 plus a mobile broadband dongle at a reduced price, but I cannot find the web page today. And I could not convince the person who sold me the S2 on the phone two days ago that it had a modem included. Maybe someone has managed to do so.
I am letting off steam here, but also could do with some help on getting my S2 working correctly, if anyone can.
Solved: The problem was that I had the wrong sim card in my Skypephone. It belonged to the Mobile Broadband, which I was mis-sold and am now returning it to Three once I receive the returns envelope. The envelopes for the sim cards for phone and broadband are identical.
Am sending this via my Skypephone - easy to set up if you follow Joe’s advice above and is on p.2.9 of the Skypephone instructions.
It is a lot slower than my mainline broadband, more like the old dial connections, but it will do when I am out and about. Not sure about downloading any apps with it - and how much Three will charge per Mb.
After all this fuss, the modem part of the S2 is hardly worth it. I wrote my last message using it, was online for around 20 mins and I have been charged £4.56! Difficult to discuss modem usage cost with a salesperson who denied the modem facility existed.
Does anyone have a contract with built-in costing for S2 modem usage?
The deal I got for the 3 Mobile Broadband is £5 per month unlimited web usage with a max of 4Gb of downloads in the UK, so it works out much better than simply using the S2 as a mobile.
Anyone who has used the S2 as a modem with the same deal as I have (£12 a month, with 100 mins free phone calls) should maybe check out how much it has cost them so far. You can do that by going into My3 on your S2.
Hi - I’ve documented the steps required to get this working on a Mac with screenshots at http://web.me.com/actuality/Rambling/Items/Entries/2008/9/6_3_Skypephone_S2.html
Hi , im not sure if this sounds a bit weird , but whenever i connect my s2 to my PC i can’t seem to upload pictures because of the modem malarky that automatically pops up :S
can anyone help ?
I had an S2 working as a modem with my macbook via bluetooth for a while, however recently when I try to connect I get an error claiming that the phone has unexpectedly hung up. I wonder if anyone else has started to have issues? Maybe 3 have started to block this??
i live in egypt. i have amoi s2 skypephone with vodafone egypt.
how i can use s2 modem here in egypt it’s not membered in country list.
thanks
The S2 Skypephone is designed to only work on the ‘3 Network’ (www.three.com).