Bruce Beardall wrote: > Vodafone is planning to offer the Dell Mini 9 for free with a mobile > broadband contract. > > You can pre-register your interest here: > > http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/mobile-phones/pre-register/&model=Netbook&manufacturer=Dell&type=handset > > <http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/mobile-phones/pre-register/&model=Netbook&manufacturer=Dell&type=handset> >
Is that running Ubuntu or Windows XP though? You might find that some of these newer sticks aren't supported by Linux. > While on the subject - does anyone have any feedback on mobile broadband > in the UK? We're moving in November and I'd like to get rid of my > landline altogether, replacing it with mobile broadband. Currently, I'm > thinking of 3 since they offer 7Gb for £25 per month without a contract. > However, if Vodafone's mobile broadband is really that good, I might > consider the above offer (since I also want to get a netbook). > > Any ideas? > > I would seriously check coverage before you ditch the broadband. If you get good coverage then great, if you don't, well it'll be as much use at home as a chocolate teapot (as a friend of mine found out, he got a 3 mobile broadband modem on contract at £35 a month with a seriously underspec'd HP laptop running Vista and found he couldn't get any 3G reception at home and he's stuck now for 18 months). When I have used 3's mobile broadband I found it to be average. You'd probably be hard pushed to get over 3Mbit/sec unless you live in a really good coverage area and it's usually large cities and towns which get the better coverage. Personally I now wouldn't touch Three with a 10 foot barge pole. I've found their customer service to be very poor. I purchased a Skype phone last week and it died after 3 days. They refused to give me a refund or direct replacement until I reminded them that the phone wasn't fit for it's purpose (it wouldn't turn on!). I eventually got a refund from them and decided to change networks (they said the repair would take 5 days). You might want to have a look at T-Mobile. I believe they have a deal for about £20 a month which gives unlimited usage (3GB fair usage contract, but as far as I know it's not set in stone). What I will do when I do get a 3 broadband modem is get one of the cheap 3 modems from eBay and get it unlocked and use a different network (T-Mobile again have a £2 a day service, just pay the £2 when you want to use it which for me would be ideal is I wouldn't use the service when I'm at home). You can get instructions on how to unlock the E220 modems (the £50 soap on a rope looking 3 modem) here: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/27/avoid-roaming-disasters Rob -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
