Vodafone PAYG GPRS

[potkettleblack]

Was looking on ebay today for a PCMCIA GPRS card for my laptop so I can surf and pick up emails whilst away from home. Prices don't seem to bad and a lot cheaper than new from Vodafone. Also most are unlocked so you get the option of swapping sim cards/providers. Then a thought occured to me as to whether I need one at all?

I have an unlocked Nokia 6630 which is 3G and has bluetooth and in the past I have had no troubles pairing it with my Acer laptop and synching things like contacts and notes with the Nokia software. So my thoughts are can I just use my Vodafone prepay sim card, pair the Nokia with my laptop and start surfing. Presumably if I can then I just get charged at whatever the going rate is per MB for PAYG? Anyone know roughly how much it would work out at? Doesn't have to be Vodafone of course as I could always get another providers sim card.

Or am I missing something and I need a new sim? I cancelled my phone contract quite a while ago as it was costing me a bomb for nought and really want to stay on PAYG if at all possible. Cheers

[AeroSpark]

Yes its possible. I used to use a Sharp GX25 to connect my laptop via GPRS. A word of warning though, its very sloowwww and the price Vodafone charge for data transfer is outrageous, something like £2.35 per Meg!:uhoh: If you do it I recommend turning off image loading in your browser to save a few bytes!

[Saab Dastard]

You might well find it cheaper to sign up with BT Openzone or BOZII to avail yourself of wifi hotspot access.

SD

[MoateAir]

And if you do get it to work, don't forget to turn off automatic updates for both Windows and whatever anti-virus/spamkiller programme you use. It'll cost a fortune otherwise, and take hours.

[potkettleblack]

Thanks for the advice. I will be back in the UK next week so will give it a try and make sure I only have a fiver or so on my PAYG sim just in case. I am going to be stuck in a B&B in about a months time doing my final brush up (hopefully) for the ATPL's so getting out and finding a wireless hotspot might not always be easy when I am burning the midnight oil but a backup plan nevertheless. Have tried to find a B&B with internet and I can tell you it ain't easy. Cheers.