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All iPads Three UK enforcing no SIM swap rule on iPad

D

dchao

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 20, 2008
527
3
I am on "The One Plan" (all-you-can-eat data) with Three UK network.

I used to be able to take my SIM card out of my iPhone and put it into the iPad, and it will continue to work.

Now all I get is a message that says "Your SIM will only work in your phone" and then I get re-directed to their standard portal page, which tell you how to buy one of their iPad SIM's. :mad:

I have an unlimited data phone plan, why should they care which device I use my SIM card in? I can simply tether my iPad to the iPhone to achieve the same thing, and overcome the ban. (A little bit inconvenient because it uses more battery). If I want to tether to my PC, the iPhone 5 is just as fast as the iPad3, but tethering is allowed on iPhone, not on iPad. This ban is ridiculous. :mad:

I think the UK operators are getting smarter like their US counterparts, and are now trying to stop SIM swapping. Bad news for the UK users.
 
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Once you remember that all telephony companies are scum it all slots into place. What they do in trying to ban tethering or SIM swapping just wouldn't fly with any other service (assuming a cap or usage policy).

e.g...

Me: "I'd like to buy my electric from you."

Electric company: "Ok, you understand we have a policy that we don't allow fridges to be run off our electricity, also under no circumstances should you cook chicken in your oven, we don't like chicken."

Why should they care if I burn through a cap in a day tethering a laptop or a month on my phone. Thieving fascists, that's what.

/rant
 
m00min said:
Once you remember that all telephony companies are scum it all slots into place. What they do in trying to ban tethering or SIM swapping just wouldn't fly with any other service (assuming a cap or usage policy).

e.g...

Me: "I'd like to buy my electric from you."

Electric company: "Ok, you understand we have a policy that we don't allow fridges to be run off our electricity, also under no circumstances should you cook chicken in your oven, we don't like chicken."
Click to expand...

That's a terrible analogy; if anything it's more like owning two homes and asking to use the electricity contract for home 1 to power home 2 on the assumption you wouldn't use them at the same time.
 
Welcome to our world. It was shocking that you'll could do that. Of course it makes no sense. It's not like you are going to consume more data as actually you would consume less. If you move the sim out of the phone and into the iPad nobody can tether to the iPad or iPhone while it is there so it can only be consumed off the iPad. If you do it their way data can be consumed by the iPhone and all those tethered to it.

Silly rule...
 
Pinksteady said:
Interesting to know. So your Three package includes tethering for no extra charge?
Click to expand...

Normally, there is an additional charge like £5 per month. But since it's the "The One Ultimate Plan", tethering and unlimited data are all included in the plan.

The situation reminds me of the AT&T grandfathered unlimited plan.
 
Pinksteady said:
That's a terrible analogy; if anything it's more like owning two homes and asking to use the electricity contract for home 1 to power home 2 on the assumption you wouldn't use them at the same time.
Click to expand...

If you're paying for your usage then they shouldn't care what device the SIM is in. They add artificial blocks to usage so they can gauge their customers.
 
Pinksteady said:
That's a terrible analogy; if anything it's more like owning two homes and asking to use the electricity contract for home 1 to power home 2 on the assumption you wouldn't use them at the same time.
Click to expand...

At least, in the US, you have these ultra expensive shared family data plans. In the UK, they are little bit behind on that. The only shared data plan is the SIM-swapping plan, and now I can't do that anymore. :(
 
Have you contacted them about this? It would worth finding out their official line 'from the horse's mouth', but bear in mind you'll probably get a different answer for each call centre operative you ask!

Depending on how long you've been with them and when your contract term is due to expire, this could be something you could haggle with them to give you?
 
Risco said:
Yup, it is a pretty awesome plan, not only that but their 3g speeds are much better than the rest. I have seen people get speeds of 20mbps.
Click to expand...

I can disagree on the speeds on my Three connection (MIFI Dongle) .

Im lucky if i hit 0.07kB/s during most afternoons when im at work. At home the speeds are normally ok (1-2 mb/s) .

I think there is some serious contention issues where I work and it gets very frustrating at times.
Of course, calling them is useless because they dont know what an Apple Mac is and keep going on about restoring windows settings etc and reading off of a script. Waste of time..
 
Dyno-Mike said:
I can disagree on the speeds on my Three connection (MIFI Dongle) .

Im lucky if i hit 0.07kB/s during most afternoons when im at work. At home the speeds are normally ok (1-2 mb/s) .

I think there is some serious contention issues where I work and it gets very frustrating at times.
Of course, calling them is useless because they dont know what an Apple Mac is and keep going on about restoring windows settings etc and reading off of a script. Waste of time..
Click to expand...

I was having that up until about 2 weeks ago. I reset my network settings and everything dramatically improved. Have you tried that?
 
Yep, Ive tried that a few times. No Joy. The speeds I mentioned are like that until around 5pm then it picks up to above 1mb/s but by then my shift is almost done. lol.
 
I'm on the same Three plan, that's a bummer, although I dont bother sim swapping.

I buy Three 3gb 3 month data sims off Amazon for £10. It expires after 3 months, but 3gb is easily enough for normal browsing. I tether whenever I know I'll be consuming serious data (and also with my laptop). If I didn't tether with my laptop a lot, I'd probably go for a cheaper plan - tethering is a ballache and a battery killer if you use your iPad outside a lot, inbuilt is vastly superior IF you use it.

Re: speed, I get great speeds nearly everywhere here in the Northwest. Three is like that it seems, it does seem hit and miss for some people.
 
I had this with a payg Orange micro sim that came pre loaded with 12 months free internet. When sim was in the iphone 4 it would give me free internet. As soon as i placed in my ipad it would say buy a data pack.

Solution: I went to unlockit.net.nz and downloaded the Orange APN settings, once the profile was installed the problem was solved and internet started working on iPad
 
With Some Companies i Denmark you Can get up to three sim cards on The same data plan... So you Can have on in your phone, on in The Ipad and one in The laptop... Works like a charm...
 
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