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i've just bought a sim from freedom talk from eBay. they run on the 3 network and perform the same as any sim on 3.

It's a 6 month sim that gives you 3gb a month. It cost £28.

Pretty happy with that as 3 have been the best for me with my Ipad 2.

Didn't know about this - thanks for the heads up.
 
Three.

Sim Only PAYG +12 - 12GB for 12 months. £70.49.

Firstly, it works out at only £5.87 per month without the need for a contract. Secondly, it's 12GB for 12 months so you can have one month where you use it mostly at home and hardly use it and then the next month hammer the data while you're away somewhere. Far more flexible. Thirdly, you can get £12.50 cash back through Quidco which brings the equivalent monthly cost down to £4.83.

Downside is you need to trim the SIM down to a microsim but you can get a cutter for about £4.
 
I didn't realise. So for the initial £10 top up, I automatically get 500mb per month? Very good deal and suits me perfect, thanks for the heads up!

It does say -

Please note that the 12 months free internet is for the iPhone 4 only and is not available for the iPad or any other device.

But I assume they have no way of knowing whether its being used in an iPhone or iPad?

They say that but it doesn't stop it from working.

I put mine in my unlocked iPhone and made a call before putting it in my iPad, just to be on the safe side, but from what I understand others haven't put theirs in a phone and have been fine.

I also didn't need to text or call T-Mobile or anything - my free data was applied automatically after a couple of days. A message popped up on the iPad to confirm it.
 
Wow, it turns out, if I am to believe this article, that I was wrong about everything. Apparently, Vodafone will theoretically be the fastest with 28.8 Mbps, with all the others (Three, O2 and Everything Everywhere) second equal on 21.1 Mbps.

That being said, Vodafone's data plans are the most expensive (£15 a month for 2GB), and I emphasised the 'theoretically' as it really depends on where you live for what speeds you'll get. So no guarantee Vodafone is fastest in your neck of the woods.

I have to say that this does change things for me a bit: now I know this, I have just ordered a free pay as you go micro sim from Vodafone, in addition to the one from O2, so I should be able to compare speeds when I receive them. However when the time comes for me in may to get a monthly contract data plan in May/June, I'll probably still go for Three with the slightly lower speed as you really can't beat 10GB a month for £15. The best deal by a mile, even when you consider the slightly lower speed than Vodafone.

so if I read that right, if I buy a 4G version of the new iPad, and take my old 3G contract sim with vodafone out of my old iPad 1, and put it in my shiny new iPad on the 16th March - I can get speeds up to 28Mbps in some places?

or have i missed something?
 
so if I read that right, if I buy a 4G version of the new iPad, and take my old 3G contract sim with vodafone out of my old iPad 1, and put it in my shiny new iPad on the 16th March - I can get speeds up to 28Mbps in some places?

or have i missed something?

Bear in mind Three is now rolling out 42mb/s DC HSPDA
 
Bear in mind Three is now rolling out 42mb/s DC HSPDA

ok, thanks - long story, but I get an incredible discount with vodafone through my firm, so I have a contract with them already that I would like to keep, and 28MBps would be more than sufficient for my needs - so would my existing sim work okay in the new iPad is my question?
 
You realise that the T-Mobile offer is £10 for the year - not per month, right? It works out at 80p per month and you get more data than the giffgaff deal.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/micro-sim/

Around me (London) t-mobile has much better coverage - 3G everywhere because it shares the network with orange. The giffgaff network uses O2, which I use for my iPhone, and the coverage is poor by comparison. There are lots of places where you don't get 3G, and even when you do it can be very slow.

T-Mobile shares their radio network with 3. Orange and T-Mobile can roam onto each other's networks, but they have yet to integrate them.

Should have said, I'll be sticking with 3. Have them on my iPhone 4S as well as my iPad 2 and have no complaints.
 
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Three have been fantastic for me, and have even trumped wi-fi in places where the router signal is low or I'm on an over-burdened network. And because the allowances are so good, I never worry about going over my limit.

That said, woe betide anybody that needs to speak to their customer services department!
 
T-Mobile shares their radio network with 3. Orange and T-Mobile can roam onto each other's networks, but they have yet to integrate them.

Um, thanks? While Orange and T-Mobile still exist as separate brands, the experience is essentially the same as a user of either network. Everything Everywhere customers' devices automatically switch between the two networks as needed; they are, for all intents and purposes, integrated...

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/share/
http://www.orange.co.uk/share/

3 has a network sharing agreement with T-Mobile (but not Orange, as the current arrangement predates EE), although I believe it is only for 2G networks - as was the case when they shared with O2, however that fact was never in dispute.
 
ok, thanks - long story, but I get an incredible discount with vodafone through my firm, so I have a contract with them already that I would like to keep, and 28MBps would be more than sufficient for my needs - so would my existing sim work okay in the new iPad is my question?

Yes the sim will work just fine.

----------

Um, thanks? While Orange and T-Mobile still exist as separate brands, the experience is essentially the same as a user of either network. Everything Everywhere customers' devices automatically switch between the two networks as needed; they are, for all intents and purposes, integrated...

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/share/
http://www.orange.co.uk/share/

3 has a network sharing agreement with T-Mobile (but not Orange, as the current arrangement predates EE), although I believe it is only for 2G networks - as was the case when they shared with O2, however that fact was never in dispute.

Three has a 3G mast sharing a agreement. Most Rural 3G masts are T-Mobile and Orange masts. Just share the masts though. Backhaul is different. Orange are now also part of this agreement and will be giving 2000 more 3G masts.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

An interesting blog from 3 here: http://blog.three.co.uk/2012/02/29/leading-edge-3g-service/
 
Three has a 3G mast sharing a agreement. Most Rural 3G masts are T-Mobile and Orange masts. Just share the masts though. Backhaul is different. Orange are now also part of this agreement and will be giving 2000 more 3G masts.

It goes far beyond simple mast sharing agreement. It is physically the same radio network so T-Mobile and 3 have identical coverage.

http://www.mbnl.co.uk/about.htm
 
I am still a little confused about one point. I understand that the iPad 3 will not support European 4G networks in Europe whenever those are launched, but that users will be able to access HSPA+ speeds on certain networks and in certain locations. What I am unsure about, however, is whether those HSPA+ speeds will be faster than the HSPA+ support already offered by the iPhone 4S or iPad 2. Can anyone shed any light?
 
Um, thanks? While Orange and T-Mobile still exist as separate brands, the experience is essentially the same as a user of either network. Everything Everywhere customers' devices automatically switch between the two networks as needed; they are, for all intents and purposes, integrated...

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/share/
http://www.orange.co.uk/share/

3 has a network sharing agreement with T-Mobile (but not Orange, as the current arrangement predates EE), although I believe it is only for 2G networks - as was the case when they shared with O2, however that fact was never in dispute.

No, T-Mobile and Orange have not fully integrated their networks. You do not seamlessly switch between the two, the signal needs to drop on one network before it will switch to the other. If this occurs during a call, it will result in a dropped call. 3's network sharing agreement for 2G is with Orange, not T-Mobile (previously it was with O2).

If you look at the link I posted before, you will see that 3 and T-Mobile share the same radio network. http://www.mbnl.co.uk/about.htm. Mobile Broadband Network Limited owns and operates the 3G networks for 3 and T-Mobile and is jointly owned by Everything Everywhere and 3.

FYI, I've worked in the mobile industry in the UK for over 13 years, including 7 at Orange and I work for one of Everything Everywhere's suppliers.
 
Bear in mind Three is now rolling out 42mb/s DC HSPDA

Seriously? The guy in the Three store said it was only HSPA+ for now.:confused:

----------

I am still a little confused about one point. I understand that the iPad 3 will not support European 4G networks in Europe whenever those are launched, but that users will be able to access HSPA+ speeds on certain networks and in certain locations. What I am unsure about, however, is whether those HSPA+ speeds will be faster than the HSPA+ support already offered by the iPhone 4S or iPad 2. Can anyone shed any light?

HSPA+ is HSPA+. The iPad 2 does not support HSPA+. Don't know where you got your info from on that one. The only Apple devices capable of HSPA+ are the iPhone 4S and the new iPad. The speed you can get on the iPhone 4S with HSPA+ will be the same speed you'll get on your iPad. Of course, the exact speed depends on the carrier.
 
Got the t-mobile micro sim through the post and 3 long phone calls later they finally activated the credit and the 500mb per month for the next 12 months.

Now just need to wait for the iPad to arrive and hopefully it will be as easy as popping the sim into the slot and hey presto 3g internet access.
 
Three UK are the best in my opinion, always seem to have HSPA+ signal pulling around 9mb to 6mb down and 2mb up in my area, a bit lower in built up areas but still much better.
 
This thread is like a big 3 love-in.

I've got a mobile broadband sim contract with them at the moment, 15GB a month for £20. I haven't been using it since I sold my iPad in November last year, so I'm looking forward to being able to crack it out again.

I'm hoping to notice a slight bump in cellular speed from the new 'Pad.
 
a few years down the line, it will all come down pretty much to customer service and pricing. Orange, T-Mo and 3 will all have the same coverage. O2 and Vodafone currently don't share their networks (other than phyical infrastructure), so you'll choose between 3 sets of network coverage and 5 sets of tariff/customer service.
 
I have an existing mifi dongle on a 3 contract, it is £7.80 for 3Gb/month. I have had the contract for several years but it seems I still can't beat it so I will trim it down and use that.
 
Looks good to me, I'm paying £7.50 per month for 1GB through Three.

But I'm lucky that the business pays for it, but would rather have your deal :D

I looked it up on line as I couldn't remember the exact amount - the plan is actually called Broadband 5GB (so it is 5GB), and the prices is listed as 14.99 with a 6.99 loyalty bonus (although it wasn't loyalty, it was a special deal on quidco in 2008!).

I am however wondering if I contacted them, would they replace my normal sim with a microsim, so do I just shut up about it and trim it down myself!
 
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