|
|
Post by wendy on Mar 14, 2009 19:53:31 GMT
Our saga continues and possibly (hopefully) concludes.....
After much discussion and thought, we decided that the Vodafone dongle really fitted our needs better than any of the others. So John went to talk to them in the shop and they agreed to try and install one for us. The chap stuck the dongle in the slot and bingo - it fired up straightaway with no need to do anything. We've tried it at home and it works there too, so fingers crossed.
IMHO the first one was a 'dodgy dongle' and nothing to do with our laptop or Virginmedia.
We will try it out in the wilds of darkest Lancashire next week and report back - from the campsite if it's working! ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by lunnie on Mar 15, 2009 9:29:47 GMT
Mine does not let me into my yahoo mail! have to phone them for that.
Fingers crossed yours is ok
|
|
|
|
Post by viv on Mar 17, 2009 17:11:55 GMT
My Vodaphone one is still in the box waiting for daughter to get home from San Francisco so she can help me set it up, in case anything goes wrong!
|
|
|
|
Post by wendy on Mar 17, 2009 17:42:43 GMT
We have liftoff!!! We are on a CL overlooking Leighton Moss RSPB reserve and it works a treat.
Our phones are receiving intermittent signals, but the Vodafone one is good (3G). Now convinced that the original one was faulty.
PS Sitting with the door open and still sunny as it has been all day.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pauline on Mar 17, 2009 21:13:08 GMT
*waving* yoohoo Wendy!! Have fun and don't be stuck to that laptop when you could be out in the sun  |
|
|
|
Post by wendy on Mar 19, 2009 19:16:44 GMT
The euphoria didn't last long as the signal went soon after posting  and when we tried the following day we had nothing at all! I suppose that we should not go to out of the way places. Why is it that wherever we go in France we seem to get mobile phone signals even in remote mountain villages, but away from main centres of population here in the UK, there is nothing? |
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Mar 19, 2009 21:42:09 GMT
Hi Wendy
That's interesting because I thought Vodafone was one of the best coverage you can get. My mobile is Virgin which I think uses T-mobile network and Pauline is on T-mobile and there aren't many places we have been where we haven't had some kind of a signal. Probably the worst place was in parts of Wales last year.
|
|
|
|
Post by wendy on Mar 20, 2009 9:19:49 GMT
That's why we persevered with Vodafone - maybe if we had fiddled around we could have found a signal, but we didn't have time or really know what to do. There's only a short distance to move inside a Dimension ;D
Our phones on T-mobile and Virgin had a very weak signal very intermittently.
|
|
|
|
Post by niloc on Mar 22, 2009 21:01:22 GMT
The trouble with campsites is they are often scenic but not on the list of mobile phone companies 'must mast' sites. We spent the weekend at a campsite in Hertfordshire - a home county where I would expect a signal everywhere, but neither the Vodafone or the Orange phone could get more than a small intermittent signal. The Vodafone dongle kept lighting up for a second or two then extinguishing.
I suspect that we could have had a full signal within a mile, but I do remember a campsite in Wales where we drove seven miles before the phone flickered into life. So, don't despair Wendy, it happens to all us intrepid travelers to the wilder places of our diverse island.
Colin
|
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Mar 23, 2009 18:19:20 GMT
Just got back from a weekend away and I will give our T-mobile dongle a bit of a mixed review.
When we got on site we plugged the dongle in and got on line straight away so we had a little browse and all seemed well until nightfall when we lost the signal for some strange reason. Well I say we lost the signal but actually our T-mobile phone had a really strong signal but we couldn't get anything on the lap top or if we did it was labouriously slow and kept timing out.
We had a drive out the next day and tried it again in a car park and it was absolutely brilliant really fast almost like being at home.
As I have said it's £2 per day but the day starts at midnight and finishes at midnight (not when you log on) which is a bit of a swizz.
All in all the jury is still out until we have tried it in a few more places.
Graham
|
|
|
|
Post by Derek on Mar 23, 2009 20:07:38 GMT
Have any of you lot tried using your dongle (its called a modem actually  ) on the end of a USB extension lead? You could move it round for a good signal, even stick it out the roof vent while using the 'puter on your lap |
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Mar 23, 2009 21:36:47 GMT
Nice one Derek, I'll have to give it a try next time I want to use my dongle....sorry modem. ;D
Graham
|
|
|
|
Post by Pauline on Mar 23, 2009 21:53:13 GMT
(its called a modem actually But "playing with my modem" doesn't sounds half as much fun ;D |
|
|
|
Post by glenw on Mar 24, 2009 12:31:07 GMT
(its called a modem actually But "playing with my modem" doesn't sounds half as much fun ;D so at the meet up we're all going to be sitting in our vans with our dongles sticking out of the windows and roof vents!!!  ;D |
|
|
|
Post by viv on Mar 29, 2009 14:29:50 GMT
Well, I have just tried my Vodaphone dongle and it was fine, albeit a bit on the slow side. It speeded up after a short time. Can't wait to see if it works in campsites as we travel around.
I like Derek's idea of 'dangling the dongle' if signal is not too good.
|
|
|
|
Post by wendy on Mar 31, 2009 18:17:59 GMT
Well our Vodafone one worked at Newark and also at the CL that we stayed at in Lincolnshire. We're glad that we tried again and feel sure that the first one we had was faulty.
|
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Mar 31, 2009 21:08:19 GMT
Well our Vodafone one worked at Newark and also at the CL that we stayed at in Lincolnshire. We're glad that we tried again and feel sure that the first one we had was faulty. Sounds like you had a duff dongle last time. Did you go to the CL at Friskney, if so what did you think? |
|
|
|
Post by wendy on Apr 1, 2009 12:08:07 GMT
We phoned the CL at Friskney about 3 times and had no reply, so as they were not officially open we decided to go elsewhere. Review pending ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Apr 1, 2009 21:06:03 GMT
Yes, sorry Wendy I read your email just after posting this. Shame you couldn't get on at Friskney, hopefully there'll be another chance.
|
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Apr 19, 2009 14:44:54 GMT
So here we are on a campsite using our dongle (and we haven't had to stick it out of the roof vent ;D). It's working fine, very fast on browsing the web at this particular site but can any techie out there tell me why it is I can receive emails but when I want to reply they just sit in my outbox and won't send?
Graham
|
|
|
|
Post by wendy on Apr 19, 2009 18:09:48 GMT
We couldn't send emails from our ntl address with the dongle, only from the web-based address. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it is all to do with pop3 and smtp settings. Don't ask me what they are.  Sorry that I am not the technie expert that you asked for. |
|
|
|
Post by niloc on Apr 19, 2009 18:37:01 GMT
If you are on Vodafone you have to send messages via your Vodafone 'name' not your usual 'send' name, if that makes sense. It should appear in the Accounts box at the top if you use Outlook. Incoming messages do not need any special handling.
Hope this helps.
Colin
|
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Apr 19, 2009 20:39:20 GMT
Hi Wendy - Yes I am vaguely familiar with SMTP and POP but can't understand why we can receive them into our ntl inbox just as we do at home without changing any settings but can't send them.  Surely the POP and STMP are the same for sending as for receiving. Hi Niloc - We are on a T-Mobile Dongle not vodafone, I've looked in the accounts and there are only the usual accounts that we have at home. |
|
|
|
Post by niloc on Apr 19, 2009 20:56:03 GMT
Hi Graham
Looking at the Vodafone properties it has the normal POP3 incoming but the SMTP is now send.vodafone.net It may be that all the providers insist on the outgoing messages going through their system. Certainly if I try to send a message any other way it just gets stuck in the Outbox, like yours.
|
|
|
|
Post by Graham on Apr 19, 2009 21:58:06 GMT
Hi Graham Looking at the Vodafone properties it has the normal POP3 incoming but the SMTP is now send.vodafone.net It may be that all the providers insist on the outgoing messages going through their system. Certainly if I try to send a message any other way it just gets stuck in the Outbox, like yours. Yes it certainly seems that way, I'll have to use webmail as Wendy suggested, strangely enough I never thought of that! I'm just used to replying via outlook. Graham |
|
|
|
Post by viv on Apr 21, 2009 19:58:07 GMT
Whoa! all sounds a bit scary to me. Pops and thingies. I think I will just use mine for browsing. No email sending just reading, suits me!
I do know POP stands for Post Office Protocol, I learnt this when I was doing my ECDL but have well forgotten what it actually means if you know what I mean!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by viv on Apr 29, 2009 10:48:15 GMT
Vodaphone dongle worked fine in deepest Vale of Evesham. Good fast connection and saved us a journey when we checked the opening times for one of the National Trust sites whilst sitting in the car park of Sudeley Castle.
E mail worked fine as well with no problem, just replied as normal. The connection was actually better than when I used it at home. i am amazed at how little of the balance has gone.
|
|
|
|
Post by wendy on Apr 29, 2009 18:09:44 GMT
Ours worked fine for the web based email, but the ntl one didn't. We are also amazed at how economical it is.
|
|
|
|
Post by Graham on May 1, 2009 7:30:29 GMT
Well we are thinking of getting one of these Vodafone dongles now, it sounds like they are very economical and we'd save our £39 outlay after a while, we could also use it when we can't get a signal with the T-mobile one and vice-versa. The trouble with the T-mobile one is we could start surfing then lose the signal and we've spent £2 just for a few minutes surfing.  Am I right in saying that you just pay the £39 with Vodafone and then you can start surfing until you use your free 1 gig? Has anyone used up their free 1 gig that was pre-loaded yet? Graham |
|
|
|
Post by wendy on May 1, 2009 7:42:13 GMT
That's right, Graham - as long as you get one that works ;D So far we have used less than £1. When you need another 1gig it costs £15.
It will connect using 3G but if that is not available it uses GPRS. Most of the places that we have been have only had a GPRS signal but we're not wanting to do anything much (e-mails and a bit of web browsing) so speed doesn't really matter.
PS You could always try selling your T-mobile one on e-bay and recoup some of your money.
|
|
and when we tried the following day we had nothing at all! I suppose that we should not go to out of the way places.
) on the end of a USB extension lead? You could move it round for a good signal, even stick it out the roof vent while using the 'puter on your lap
;D 
Surely the POP and STMP are the same for sending as for receiving.