USB 3G Data Card in SA?

H

Hotentott

Active Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
35
Reaction score
0
Hello everyone, im new to this forum, but have been reading a number of threads, and hope someone can assist.

My mum lives out in Cape Town, and is looking for a USB 3G modem (her laptop doesnt have a PCMCIA Slot) she almost went and signed up for a contract with Vodacom to get one of the new E220 (i think they are) but i have told her to hold on 2 secs as it would be a waste for her to spend ZAR350 per month on something she will only use for half of the year (she travels a lot)

I have suggested that she uses a Voda pre-pay SIM and purchases a 2nd hand USB modem, i use Voda Pre-Pay with my Option Quad card when im over there, and @ ZAR2.00 p Mb, you cant argue. But where can she find a 2nd hand USB 3G modem from? i have looked high and low for her, including eBay, but have yet to find one out in SA, does anyone know where i can look?

Many thanks in advance
 
Don't think the E220's are available second-hand, they're still relatively new. You can get them new for about R2500 but rather get one from MTN on the MyChoice contract @ R75 per month, works out to about R1800 over 24 months and I think that R75 will accumulate while she's away and not expire but not sure. Either way its still cheaper than the retail price.
 
Thanks for the speedy reply Syndyre, im an ex-PE boy myself :) how is that Windy (Dusty) city?

Do you know how much data that MTN deal includes?

thanks again
 
Hotentot_UK said:
Thanks for the speedy reply Syndyre, im an ex-PE boy myself :) how is that Windy (Dusty) city?

Do you know how much data that MTN deal includes?

thanks again
Click to expand...

Still windy otherwise not much has changed. :) It includes R75's worth of airtime /value which @ R2/MB will be just over 30MB's so not much but you can add data bundles on top of that, 100Mb for R100, 350MB for R220 which she could then cancel for the months she was travelling.
 
thanks mate, im looking on the mtn site now, bit confusing and doesnt give details of how much the card costs with that specific package, but i'll tell her to visit her local mtn shop to find out more.......cheers
 
Hotentot_UK said:
thanks mate, im looking on the mtn site now, bit confusing and doesnt give details of how much the card costs with that specific package, but i'll tell her to visit her local mtn shop to find out more.......cheers
Click to expand...

I've just taken out that contract now actually, R75 per month and the card is free, you just pay about R220 initially for sim, connection etc.
 
The specs according to the packaging require Win 2000 or XP but it has some sort of embedded flash drive with drivers on that autoloads so I'm not sure if it requires 2000/XP to do all that, you might be able to get it working manually on another OS, I've only tried it on XP. Not sure about the sims, only used it with a 3G MTN sim, think it should work with the std Vodacom one too though, its only Virgin that has problems I think.
 
sky.akash said:
Hi:) What's the minimum OS requirements for the E220?
Click to expand...
Syndyre said:
The specs according to the packaging require Win 2000 or XP but it has some sort of embedded flash drive with drivers on that autoloads so I'm not sure if it requires 2000/XP to do all that, you might be able to get it working manually on another OS, I've only tried it on XP. Not sure about the sims, only used it with a 3G MTN sim, think it should work with the std Vodacom one too though, its only Virgin that has problems I think.
Click to expand...
I'm sure it must work in W2K[P], but my E220 didn't want to know about W2KP, works nicely in Windoze heXPee except that the Huawei Mobile Connect exe [not the shortcuts to the exe] sometimes mysteriously disappears and I have to re-install the s/w...:confused:

I have tried getting my E220 working in Ubuntu Linux following Tazz_Tux's How2, but kept getting 'modem not responding', I haven't had time to try with Tazz_Tux's newer wvdial.conf file, will get to that - others have managed to get the E220 going in Linux so it obviously does work in Linux.

@sky.akash, I seriously doubt that the E220 would work in Win98.
sky.akash said:
Would I require a 128K Virgin sim to use this modem on Virgin? Does the standard 32K Vodacom sim work in this modem? Thanks :)
Click to expand...
A standard 32k Vodacom sim card works fine in my E220.
 
Maybe that pc upgrade should come sooner rather than later:D The only snag being re-installing all the software:(

By the way, is there anywhere I can order the E220 online (MTN - Mychoice75) ?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X