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Next MacBook Air could feature 3G

| Latest News | February 22, 2011

Three SIM Pack: Never thought I'd see one of these again

In a recent survey sent to MacBook Air owners Apple canvassed opinion on the availability of 3G data. Since the latest edition of the MacBook Air, Apple have had a laptop with a similar footprint and ease of portability to it's tablet the iPad. So could Apple be about to give it 3G capability with a Micro SIM slot?

This could be a likely move given that the Air relies on flash based Solid State Drives. Although smaller & faster they do have the downside of also having less storage and costing far more than a traditional mechanical hard drive. The MacBook Air 11.6 inch version comes with a 64GB drive as standard.

So why add 3G? Well it could help facilitate more cloud based computing: syncing Contacts, Notes or even streaming your iTunes rather than storing it locally.

Hopefully this along with the ability to soon create a Wifi hotspot with the iPhone is a sign of Apple being more open minded to giving us useful features as standard. We would also happily ditch needing a USB dongle, which currently steals a valuable USB port from us.

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3 rated as best iPhone network

| Latest News | November 14, 2010

Three SIM Pack: Never thought I'd see one of these again

YouGov have rated 3 as the Number 1 network for iPhone 4 use in the UK.

Clearly maximising their high speed network for data, 3's users are more likely to recommend the network to other friends, according to the polling company.

3 came out as the top network having been rated top in 8 of 15 categories. The YouGov DongleTracker survey polled 4.053 Mobile Broadband users in all. Out of these polled a total of 2,160 used Smartphone's, with 3 coming out as having the 'fastest connection speeds' over rival providers O2, T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone.

This certainly matches our findings so far over on our SIM Only Blog, we loved 3's speed and 3G coverage so much we reluctantly ordered our PAC code to head to our next network T-Mobile. Our speed tests and real world usage showed 3 in a good light and helped to move on from the perception of it being a third rate network.

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iPhone SIM Only Review: T-Mobile is go!

| The UsedMac Blog | October 6, 2010

T-Mobile

Well my number is ported so the T-Mobile iPhone experience starts here. Who would of thought I'd be able to do this back when I first got my iPhone 3G? It was a different landscape then: it seemed it would be exclusive to O2 forever, the App Store was in its infancy, the iPhone still felt a niche buy with many not wanting to give up the ability to forward a text or MMS - how expectations have changed!

As users we have gone from wanting excellent cameras and text forwarding on our phones to the full blown web, apps and games. With it our expectations for 3G coverage and speed have ramped up significantly. That is the point of this special blog series: to try and find the best 3G mobile network in the UK for iPhone users!

As you'll of previously read, Three has surpassed low expectations and delivered a great experience for mobile data, even at time matching there rhetoric. Since moving from O2 to Three I've definitely had a better iPhone experience within the M25 in the capital. O2's network struggled to cope with the demand of all those iPhones from its period of exclusivity meaning even clear phone calls became a struggle. With Three the call quality was far improved with less dropped calls. This was nothing compared to the data though with a blinding N1 speed test effort delivering bandwidth than many people in the UK get on ADSL.

So given the bar Three has set, I'll be judging T-Mobile on the following:

  • Great UK 3G coverage for trips away from home
  • Better 2G/3G handover ability than Three
  • Solid 3G data performance in Central London (The ability to stream live radio uninterrupted when walking around the capital being my favourite test)
  • Value For Money
  • Customer Service

Something else that I'll be considering is the 'iPhone Factor'. O2 scored highly with this: visual voicemail and there own App Store app to check your usage. No such niceties with Three: standard voicemail and no apps. O2 has had a headstart though so perhaps other networks will catch up.

So keep tuned to see how T-Mobile fairs!

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Three frustrations of Three

| The UsedMac Blog | September 5, 2010

Three SIM Pack: Never thought I'd see one of these again

Time for some negatives. Here are things that have got me a little annoyed with Three. Let's push the boat out and use some bullet points:

  1. Walled Garden This isn't another euphemism for your Lady Garden, but it stops you seeing any if you want to. Even when trying to read Holy Moly over there 3G, Three insisted on me paying to watch their own hardcore porn. No, I just want to look at the latest photo of The Hoff drunk in a German airport
  2. Visual Voicemail The problem with Visual Voicemail on Three is simple. There isn't any. Props to O2, when you get used to it, its bloody useful.
  3. Inflexible SIM Only options Let's be honest, 300 minutes, 3000 texts and 1GB of data for £15 quid a month is a bargain. Only problem is what if you run out of minutes? I'll tell you, as I have regularly: they charge you a fortune. I expected 300 to be enough as I barely used 200 a month with O2, well below my limits. Turns out that now I'm on a network where I actually can make calls I do. So I managed to run up £50 quid of call costs on top of my £15. If you want more minutes each month now the only other option is there One Plan. Now this is admittedly brilliant value. The only problem is that even on a SIM only deal, you have to sign up for 12 months. Er, no. Why would I want to do that? I might as well get a new handset as well.

Soon I'll be concluding on Three and throwing the DICE OF 3G! Who will be next?

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Hello 3: Sign up and initial impressions

| The UsedMac Blog | August 17, 2010

Three SIM Pack: Never thought I'd see one of these again

Three SIM Pack: Never thought I'd see one of these again

So my mind was made up. I'd tombstone onto the deadly rocks of Three.

I initially went into a 3 Store to have a look at the tariff options, but being a mobile phone store I had to get out after 30 seconds.

So later at home I decided to order online. I followed the SIM Only link for the iPhone on their website and ordered away. All that was needed was my postal address. That was it. There was no indication that I'd completed the form properly though, so I did it twice. I'll probably end up with 2 SIM packs. Something to sort out there, Three.

The next day the SIM pack arrived. Time for the first test: 3's Customer Service. This was famous when they started for being exclusively based in Indian call centres. It was far from good at the time, so had they improved?

I'm pleased to say they have. It was efficient, friendly (perhaps a little too friendly in that staged sort of way) and the staff were helpful and well informed. I had to go through the process of registering my details and setting up for payment.

At the end I choose the £15 per month package with a 30 day minimum term. That gets you the following:

  • 300 Any Network Minutes
  • 3000 3 to 3 Minutes (unlikely to use many of them)
  • 3000 Texts (With my addiction to texting I'm quite likely to hammer this)
  • and 1GB of Data (quite generous seeing as other networks give you 500 or 750mb)

So I have to say in terms of the Customer Service and the normally dreaded Offshore Call Centre: not bad. Not bad at all.

Videocalling: No one ever bothered did they?

Videocall anyone?

When Three launched they only really had one use for all that bandwidth: videocalling. It never really took off though for some reason even though it was touted as the future. Luckily for them though all that investment in the network has paid off now the mobile web is upon us and we want to consume more and more data on our phones.

It took a while for the initial SIM to get activated. For a while I wondered if 3G was ever going to work as it was just stuck on 2G. I suspect it activated on Orange's network first (Three use Orange as a fallback for voice and texts when your out of their own 3G network) sometime before it did on their own network. Eventually it did though later in the day.

At first though I seemed to get little connectivity. This got me worried. Had I not been given the correct package? They had barely started to offer the iPhone after all. Luckily though when I plugged the iPhone back into iTunes it asked me if I wanted to Update Carrier settings. Clearly this was a good sign and it knew I needed new settings in order to use 3. Lovely.

Once this was applied all seemed well and data worked as expected. In fact it worked very well. Instantly seeming nippier compared to O2's clogged up network. For the first time I managed to walk home from work (an hour long stroll from Central to North London) and stream radio over 3G with little at all in the way of interruption bar the odd bit of buffering. Previously on O2 I'd bizarrely lose all signal altogether walking up the hill on the Pentonville Road.

So so far, so good in terms of their network. I can actually dial a number on the iPhone and it rings! Straight away!

Fancy that.

Useful Links:
Three Sim Only Package

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Goodbye O2: Finding the Best iPhone Network

| The UsedMac Blog | August 11, 2010

GOne2: Like a cat in a sack of bricks thrown in a canal

In my last post I pondered what to do now my mobile contract was up.

A new iPhone 4? A Nexus One?

Or rather than dive in to a new network blind for 24 months why not try ALL the UK's networks that carry the iPhone to find the best? Lovely!

So its a great opportunity to take advantage of SIM Only deals and try out all the UK networks one by one in order to find the best UK network for your iPhone.

Life on O2 in London with an iPhone has been a frustrating affair over the past year or so. Signal level itself has never seemed to be an issue, more the actual Quality of Service.

At home in North London (hardly the sticks) I'd always have full 3G signal. Great stuff. Until I'd try to make something as old fashioned as a phone call:

Commence call.
Put phone to head.
Wait for ringing tone.
Carry on waiting for the ringing tone.
Consider writing my Will in case of death by natural causes prior to the phone call actually taking place.
Give up altogether.

You can imagine how frustrating this would get. Not just once, but whenever trying to place a call in Central London.

Sadly this wasn't all; often despite full signal I'd miss not just calls but voice mails entirely, as well as texts. It got to the point where at home and work I'd just switch 3G off to stay in touch.

I never had a beef with O2's network pre iPhone. It has mighty old school GSM coverage. It seems though that they've simply sold too many iPhone's during their period of exclusivity in the UK without the 3G capacity to back it up.

Therefore it's clear that my demands for a network have changed dramatically since having my iPhone. So I thinked (sic) the unthinkable. I want a 3G network. So I need a network called 3?

Next: Goodbye O2, Hello 3 - I go back to a network I once vowed never to use again.

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iOS4 on the iPhone 3G

| Uncategorized | July 28, 2010

Can someone send me an iPhone 3GS please? Or make my 3G run slightly thicker than treacle?

I'm now beginning to seriously wonder if this slowness was really worth being able to have some apps in a Folder? Still yet to see any other advantages.

Now if only I could roll back to iOS 2. Obviously I can't. It'd be easier to go out and get hold of a White iPhone 4. It's as if that's what Steve wants! Oh...

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Ridin’ Solo, I’m Ridin’ Solo – Part 1

| The UsedMac Blog | July 24, 2010

Ah Jason Derulo. To some a purveyor of fine bright sunny Pop. To others: The Gimp that keeps singing 'Beluga Heights' on the intro to all his weak tracks. I'm feeling somewhat inspired by his most recent big hit though.

I've just come to the end of my 18 month contract with O2 UK. That means my trusty stead, the 16gb iPhone 3G, is mine to do with as I wish. This means a few options:

  • Send it to Envirofone and get some cash to spend on Take That tickets....
  • Carry on as I am with O2 on Simplicity (£15 a month isn't to be sniffed at)
  • Get the hell off O2's overloaded network See how life is on Vodafone, Orange and even T-Mobile.
  • Get an Android

Clearly the latter isn't going to happen (not with this sort of attention to detail)

So rather than sign straight up to the lovely new iPhone 4 I thought it would be a great opportunity to Road Test some other networks.

First of all I made sure O2 unlocked my iPhone before getting my PAC code. If you want to, O2's Online Unlocking form is here

And then I made a visit to the Devil.

After vowing never to give them a penny of money again. I walked into a 3 Store. Hold on tight for my next post.

The iPhone SIM Only Network World (ok that bit is a lie) Tour starts here!

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