Bought a T-mobile Dongle a month ago and generally it is rubbish, speed max 50Kb not 7Mb and disconnects all the time even when showing all 5 bars on the signal strength. But looking on the net I see same complaints against all providers, looks like they are all selling us something that hasn't been tested. What a con.
T-Mobile Mobile Broadband Reviews | Page 5
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I am realy disappointed with them.
No signal and when it does its very slow!! -
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wont let me change my price plan to 30 days for 15 pound, i have tried everything but still nothing
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Report abuseExcellent Dongle, Reliable, Speeds are good, Content lock ain't no problem at all to take off. All in all a good bit of kit.
I would recommend T-Mobile to anyone.
Proxy's are the way to avoid the 4pm to Midnight restrictions when you have used up your 3GB. -
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The T-Mobile internet stick is actually really rubbish. I'm using it right now. It logs me out of msn every 1-3 minutes which is very annoying. Youtube and Twitter wasn't working for like two whole months, it said that you have to type in your debit card details. I didn't...It just started working out of the blue. Now today it won't let me watch youtube videos, I can only go to channels and still the videos don't work. Please DO NOT waste your money on this piece of crap, seriously not worth it...
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very poor service poor customer relations false advertising of speeds and contracts overall just very poor stay away from t-mobile broadband they are nothing short of con men hopefully someone will take them to court very soon
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My dongle was great for about 6 months - reasonable speed, always connected and rarely disconnected. However for about 3 or 4 weeks now it's been awful - takes 3 or 4 tries to connect (sometimes still doesn't), sometimes it connects and says it's working but there is no actual internet connection - no pages can be viewed and email can't be checked. When it does work it's so slow and unresponsive it's like crawling through treacle ! I'm using it to post this and I'm wondering if when I hit send I'l just get a 'server not found' error (copy and paste I think just to be safe).
Another thing is that my ip seems to change all the time, sometimes every few minutes - that can be really annoying as sites tend to log me out if my ip changes. That has just started happening in the last few weeks too.
On the plus side I did find a way to do away with the content lock - I think it's probably not allowed to put links here, but try googling 'no lock solutions' - it'l cost you a fiver but it works (worked for me anyway). I don't want to sound like an ad for them, just that so many people here seem to have the same problem with the content lock so I thought I'd share :)
Just to make the point - my dongle never leaves my bedroom - it's plugged onto a usb hub and has been since I bought it. It has not been dropped, kicked, nocked or talked to in a harsh voice (well, untill recently anyway) - I could put it back in it's box (which I still have) and you'd think it was brand new. I suspect the dongles are just not made that well - after all, reading the comments here it's obvious that a lot of people are experiencing the same issues - would it really hurt them (t-mobile) to have them made a bit better ?
Overall I was happy, but recent events have me worried. I will give it a while though before giving up on it - I suppose it's possible that t-mobile might just be having some technical issues that will get fixed soon.
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Terrible device. Lucky to get 10 mins without it loosing kbps, even though signal is at 4 bar.
Took to t-mobile shop to get tested which they were unnable to do, as they said the internet was down Mmm.Ended up telling me I must have dropped it, even though it is plugged into the laptop all the time.There was also another person in the shop complaining about the same issue,( must have dropped it also ) they were told to uninstal then reinstal which I had been told to do with no effect.
Looking at reviews for other dongles it seems like they are all a waste of money !!! -
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When I was ordering the dongle I asked if there were any restictions on usage I was told NO this is turned out to be untrue because I got a message telling me I had used my fair usage so between the hours of 4pm and midnight I can't download anything or watch tv programmes i've missed or chat on msn. I am not at all happy that I have been mis-sold a product.
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I cant login to my account because t-mobile does not recognise my email.
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Never had a problem untill now, Parent lock is not coming off, and has never been on before, so dont understand whys its decided to put itself on now? Anyone help at all?
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This was the worst choice i could of made, if you live in Eastbourne don't bother with it, it wouldnt connect to the web only local which of course meant we couldnt use it at all, in the end we got a 3mobile dongle which worked alot better than this and we gave this one away, absolute crap.
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Got t-mobile 120 payg dongle. basic email and browsing ok. But it does drop out after a while and my daughter has never been able to msn chat. Been round in circles with their tech people. Any ideas?
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Report abuseMy story with T-Mobile started way back Novemeber 2008, i signed up for a 2 year contract at £10 for first 3 months then £15 for the rest. at the start i was a little annoyed by slow speeds (around 300KBps down, and 35KBps Up), but im a bit of a techie, and started working at getting my speeds better. of course it works off a phone network so i need to go to the top floor of my house to get a better signal, i tried a few rooms with no results, i then placed it in my room next to a window, all of a sudden i had 4 Bars signal and 700KBps download speed, i was delighted, but then i started to get annoyed at this, so i jostiled my room around a bit and found a great spot to get 5 Bars, all of a sudden i have a strict 5 Bar signal never goes up or down, and depending on the day, good day (1.9MBps down, 350KBps Up), bad day (1MBps down, 120KBps Up), so im delighted with this.
over the last few months i have started to do more heavy duty (bandwith) stuff, like watching videos, which perfectly stream, dont usually have to buffer, but maybe during peak hours it does take a few stops for a 15 minute video, but i can overcome this by not going on it during peak hours (i dont usually get to sleep till late). With this new found speed, i have began to go over my bandwith a few time, and im sorry for this to T-Mobile because they supply me with good speeds, but still my contract is coming to an end soon, and i am looking to stick up a phone line and go onto high speed broadband, but i will be more then willing to recommend to anyone in my area for people that cant get high speed broadband.
By the way, i did see a post talking about a few things
1) the image quality can be changed in the software main menu, you just need to tinker with it.
2) if you are getting poor speeds, i suggest you (i) check the coverage in your area on the t-mobile area, they may let you at the contract if your getting redicilous service but no guarantees they are a company and you signed a contract so they have all right to say no, but the good thing would be to allow you. (ii) move it around your house, if you have a laptop, this is easy to do. best places are upstairs near a window (obviously dont place your laptop on display for thieves thats just stupid).
sorry about the rant
but cheers T-Mobile, im a happy customer, i will try to stop going over my bandwith, i have a measurer now, that reminds me, also download the TbbMeter, its a good piece of software to monitor your bandiwith, its a free download and only a small file.
rant over. -
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Load of crap. I used this for 3 moths and then all of a sudden i have a child lock on it. What a load of rubbish. Also keeps signing me out of msn.
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Ok so I've been reading these posts and have now decided it's worth me saying something about T-mobile and the mobile broadband stick PAYG. I've been a user of the t-mobile dongle for nigh on 2 yrs now and I've had NO real problems with them at all and I've been with both 3 and orange and with those I couldn't wait to get back to CPW to get them changed to another provider once I'd used them both for a month each. My partner uses O2 and it is appalling to me to see someone who uses a dongle so carefully to have it run out after 15-22 days when she pays for 30 days. However like I said I use t-mobile and I have realised that changing to t-mobile is the best thing I've ever done. I bought my usb stick and first thing I done was change settings so that my images were displayed properly and before I left the store I had content lock removed I mean come on people if you are t-mnobile users anyway then you should know about content lock I did. As for the "FUP" you can get around that. You see when the banner page comes on screen explaining about it DO NOT click on anything other than the address bar and type google website or whatever page you want in the address bar it bypasses it and if you download do what most people do LEAVE YOUR PC/LAPTOP on OVERNIGHT with the download running then and as for the 4pm rule start downloading 5mins before hand and it carries through.
"Oh my gosh Susan are you really that far behind everyone else how the hell do manage to even get dressed in the morning!!!!"
I mean seriously now though always look at the settings on thing and google anything that you buy and if you still ain't happy then get in touch with the network company and query it with them I did.
My only problem is yes the dongles do break easy but as I learnt and my sister also learnt the hard way do not put the dongle in the front of a desktopthat is on the mount on your desk but in the back and if your's are breaking and they're in a laptop/netbook what the hell are you doing with them? Throwing them from one end of the room to another? Or are you using your netbooks as frisbees and laptops as dinner trays? WTF?? Seriously I mean come on you wouldn't stick your phone in a glass of water so some common sense is needed.
As for area coverage check before you buy the product that you can recieve the signal you need for it.
Common sense thats all it takes i think you can buy it in WALMART (UK - ASDA) therefore that anyone without it nedds to do that or you can get prescription filled from yur doctor for a dose of commmon sense but when it runs out you need to get it re-administered. -
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I don't know where all these negative comments are coming from!! I've had t-mobile mobile broadband for 3 months now and I can only say what a great piece of kit it is. No connection problems, relatively fast and half decent customer service by telephone, excellent instore help. I can't believe I'm alone here?!
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Generally the impression I'm left with is not a good one. It says that you're still able to check e-mails and catch the news on BBC when your data allowance is used up, but don't they realise that BBC is mostly about video coverage? And can you play videos on it between four and midnight? Can you as heck. T-mobile suck monkey's gonads. And what's the big deal with MSN? It keeps cutting me off every three bloody minutes. What kind of nonsense is that? It's not like it's biting away at extra resources is it? I could understand it if it was something like a proper chat room or something, but for it to cut out a one to one discussion with a family relative (as in my case) it's really annoying, and very disappointing.
The image quality is another thing. If you're lucky, the images will turn out okay, but generally they are pretty poor. They aren't blurred, they're just poor quality. This isn't what you get with a proper wireless dongle connection involving a wireless router in the hallway or something.
As for the unlimited concept. Well, Canadian Girl probably really doesn't get it. As Brits, we've always been ripped off left right and centre. There is no such thing as a free lunch, free doesn't actually mean without cost, without tax, without any kind of catch, it's just a consumer grabber, people see the word 'free' and they take it literally. It's wrong, it's out of order, and it's a complete lie, and there should be laws to prevent false advertising when people say unlimited when there clearly is a limit on something. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not impressed with T-mobile at all. If you want some good advice, I've got two words for you...."Stay Away!" -
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Good news on the over the limit restriction front ! There are holes in their system that stops you from streaming or downloading , you can actually watch vids on you tube for instance at peak times . Not every video will play but i am having about a 60-70 % success rate and i am currently trying other social /viral sites to see if they will slip thru the net and will report back ;).
If a video does'nt play try refreshing your browser a few times and it might just come thru ,
The way i see it T-mobile owe me peak time vids as compensation for their abismal service and the absolutely ridiculous content lock !
fight the power people :D -
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T-Mobile is probably the worst Broadband providers in the country. The internet connection is extremely poor, it disconnects automatically every 2-3 minutes, its very slow, the USB Stick itself malfunctions after 2-3 months of usage. It's not worth the money.
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i recently got a t mobile dongle because the vodafone one i had was a piece of crap ! I was told it was the latest design with an excellent signal ! Lies ! Lies ! Lies ! What a complete and utter pile of crap it is ! It is 10 times worse than the vodafone one ! There is no signal ! Dont bother with this absolute crap !
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As someone who just arrived into the UK from Canada... I am absolutly appalled by what T-mobile has been able to get away with here! Coming from a country where it is illegal to call something UNLIMITED when it is NOT, I was very shocked to find that three days after I got my mobile internet stick, I got a lovely message saying I had used up all my data. Funny, I had always thought unlimited meant unlimited. Clearly not. Upon heading down to the store, they informed me that unlimited=3g. WHY is T-mobile allowed to say you get an unlimited 30 days?! They should LEGALLY only be allowed to say you get 3GB for thirty days. Where is the consumer protection act in the UK? Is false advertising allowed here?! And yes, in the fine print it does state "subject to the fair use policy". And yes, I did read that before I bought it. I assumed "fair use policy" would mean, you couldn't run up 20,000GB on it, out of fairness to the company. I did NOT assume that it meant they were allowed to call 3GB unlimited. 3GB isn't even the largest data package they offer. 10GB is. But somehow they have been allowed to call 3GB unlimited. I don't know how consumers can put up with that! I'm not even sure how that can be legal! I am appalled that consumers in the UK have no seen how misleading and wrong this is!
Now, apart from that, the stick comes with a default content lock on it. First of all, I believe content locks are a great idea for parents and public computers etc. However, the sites this content block is blocking are ridiculous. Youtube for example?!?! If T-mobile had EVER bothered to read youtube's terms of service they would see that any content inappropiate for younger audiences is strictly forbidden. So, to remove this content lock they want you to put a credit card. After trying all of my credit cards (it would not accept any) I asked to try my friends since hers were actually UK cards. Hers was not accepted either. So I pick up my phone and call the number they offer. Guess what, you have to have a T-mobile phone for that to work. If T-mobile had any consideration for their customers they would explain this content lock while they were activating the damn thing, and offer the option to leave it on or remove it for the customer. Oh well, down to the store again.
Another thing. T-mobile has this setting where it automatically BLURS every single internet image/icon. It is a setting that is automatic. They DO NOT ask if you want this setting. It saves you data when surfing, which in theory is great, but it is not optional. If you work in a business where you need access to high quality images you are simply out of luck. Not to mention that this setting is not explained anywhere. Upon booting up in the UK suddenly all of my internet images were blurry. Imagine my distress trying to find out what setting I had accidentally changed to make this happen. The hours upon fiddling with graphic settings, internet options and googling. Try googling "blurry internet images" if you want to see what I had to shift through. I eventually found a site that explained that it is a setting on the T-mobile internet stick. Thanks a lot for installing software into your mobile broadband stick that physically changes the way internet websites look, without explaining this to me T-mobile. Time to visit the store again.
Oh, and if you thought it couldn't get any worse... The website where you can go to check how much data you've used has been down for about ohhhh 4 days now. Great T-mobile, way to be on top of that one. The staff at the stores are not forthcoming about any of T-mobiles shady little policies. Unless you want to build a very close relationship with the T-mobile employees in your neighbourhood, I would stay away from this company. I have a friend on O2 and she says they are very open about how much data you get, their "features" and policies and they have better reception than my T-mobile piece of ....
Stay away if you value your sanity. -
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I bought a T-Mobile 120 mobile broadband PAYG dongle for occasional use when away from home. OK, so the speed in nothing like I get at home (20Mb fibre) but for mail and general browsing it is fine. It streams radio stations no problems, don't know about iPlayer or good video as I have not tried that. You-Tube (i.e. low quality) video seems OK, but I do not have a lot of interest in video. The content lock was a bit of a pain as it blocked access to a couple of the discussion forums I use, called them chat rooms, a 2 minute phone call to T-mobile and the block was removed. I also like the fact I can pay for a single day, or a week or a month. Perhaps as the only broadband connection it may not be the best, I don't think any mobile is going to be great, but for me the T-Mobile system works.
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I bought a Pay and Go dongle for occasional use when away from home, but have not been impressed. The main problem is that the software compresses *all* images, so web sites look terrible and as a photographer this is a big problem for me. I'm surprised this is legal since their software is modifying the contents of websites, against the wishes of the author. The second problem is that T-mobile block certain websites (e.g. flickr.com) and you have to turn off this filter you have to pay them again, via a credit card.
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I took out an 18 month contract for Mobile Broadband, after being with t mobile for years for my mobile phone. I had some initial problems which turned out to be a faulty dongle, which took me three months to sort out with them. They did reimburse me and it did work but was never very fast and a bit temperamental. About 2 months ago it just stopped working. I rang several times and was told various reasons why it wasn't working, including the problem being my house! I told them I had lived in this house the entire time of the contract and it hadn't been a problem before. They told me to terminate my contract early because I couldn't use it at all, but when I tried to do that I was told they could only reduce my bill by £10.00 a month, which means I'm still paying £5.00 a month for absolutely no service at all. When I check the coverage on their website with my postcode, it now says, 'No coverage in this area YET!!!'
I think it's something to do with the T-mobile/Orange merger, but they deny this.
Anyway, anyone else out there having problems, I'd love to hear from you. -
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I have used this stuff for the past three years, it has never failed. It has speed and others things such as fair usage policy. Compared to the rest, I think this is a champion.
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I agree with all comments posted. I would not recommend to ANYONE to buy this. It doesn't work. We should not pay for things that don't work. I have tried to visit my local store on a number of occasions to speak to staff (all staff of course under the age of 18 with gel in hair). The queue was too long and I did not have the time to wait. I guess it's just everyone complaining!!!
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just got a free laptop and free one years t-mobiles dongle, to be really honest its part of the new schools inititive to get most young familys on-line. Go on Gorden Brown a say and it's 180 quid for a years dogle as e got 528 we got an Asus mid-rage wire-less 2 gi mem,160 gig h/drve, and a nice new mouse that lights up red + red underneath, a think this total great as i myself have a vodaphone dongle running my p.c and now we are in heavan. its for SINGLE MUMS with kid/s in years 3--9 then look up access grants for schools. wow......
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Brilliant... I have bought a second on of these dongles. One for my travel bag and one for my flat. Highly recommended, its never failed me and I have been able to get the HSDPA speed most of the time. You have to unlock for some content but you can do it at a T-Mobile shop, online or make a call....
Great dongle and a great service... 10 out of 10! -
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To people complaining, I say: first you should read the user guide. It's written in it that there is a content locked. Easyl removed with a simple call. I don't understand people complaining about that.
So I write this article because I'm fed up to see so many comments of unsatisfied people.
I'm extremely satisfied with the T-Mobile mobile broadband. Got the PAYG with USB Stick 150.
Tested in 3 different locations and quality is excellent: NEVER experienced any disconnection, connection always succesfull at the first time, signal excellent (always 98%) and practical bandwith of 1.8 Mb/s almost all the time, even in the evening.
So my hat off, T-Mobile.
Just that NO mobile broadband can replace, at the moment, a "normal" broadband, in term of speed and reliability of bandwidth.
People who expect the same level really make me laugh and shows that they did not understand anything.
My hat off, T-Mobile.
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