It’s been almost a month since I got my Skypephone and it’s been working perfectly. That being the case I thought it was high time I read the manual, and enclosed in the box was a CD with software to connect the phone to my computer. Now I know what you’re thinking… surely I should have read the manual way before now, but who needs one for a device which is so intuitive anyway?
Well I couldn’t resist sticking the CD into my drive and up popped the software for possibly the biggest benefit of the Skypephone yet. It can be used as a modem for my laptop! Install the software, connect the phone via USB and you get a 115k connection to the Internet, from anywhere in the country that you can get a 3G mobile phone signal.
That to me will save the cost of the Skypephone many times over. I’ve lost count of the number of hotels I’ve stayed in where Internet access was promised, just to find it either to be extortionately priced or non-existent. A case in point is the Copthorne Hotel in Manchester, where Sue and I stayed for the recent eBay University and TameBay birthday party. £20 per 24 hours for Wi-Fi Internet access (but only in the bar area!). So that was a grand total of £80 for two days Internet usage as we both had laptops and needed to check email. I swear I’ll never stay in another Copthorne again!
Well there’ll be no more silly Internet charges for me from now on, with 3 you have an option to pay £1 per megabyte of data with no contract, or even on Pay As You Go you can purchase Internet Add Ons for your Skypephone. The Internet Add On prices are so low as to be almost unbelievable, £5.00 for a month, £2.50 for a week, or just £0.50 per day. Don’t forget that gets you 4,000 free Skype minutes from your Skypephone too.
Yes that’s right, buy a PAYG Skypephone for £49.99, add a £10 top up for 12p/min calls and 12p/text, and use just 50p of your top up on the days you want to use the Internet from your laptop or direct on the Skypephone.
This has to be one of the most cost effective methods available for accessing the Internet when you’re mobile. 50p per day from almost anywhere in the country, like the comfort of my hotel bedroom compared to £20 for Wi-Fi access from a noisy crowded bar in the Copthorne Hotel. There really is no contest and the Skypephone wins hands down.
The one disappointment is that during the installation the software wasn’t XP approved, that might deter some users from installing it. Apart from that it’s a fantastic, extremely cost effective way to access the Internet from a laptop when you’re on the move.
18 Responses
So… if you only wanted to use the connectivity for say half a dozen long weekends a year, the £1 per meg deal would do that, would it?
Cheaper to pay 50p per day as you could easily go over a meg, or to be honest I’d pay a fiver a month and have done with it!
The thing is you’re not on a contract so you only buy an add on when you need it. It’s then valid for one day, one week or one month from when you activate the add on!
How cool is that? 😀
Chris, how about going BT Broadband, thats FREE wifi in all hotspots for X mins per month every month.
Now i think is 240……per month.
I know its not in a comfy hotel room with a mini bar but its very useful!
I have a new wi-fi fone HTC TyTn, well not new but quite virginal in age and anytime i want internet i switch on the wifi detector and drive about for a bit.
I set it up to only show unprotected networks. Wait for the signal to be good and strong, and log in.
Of course this isnt secure. So banking etc NOT a good idea but email i have set up with SSL on the device so its all 128 bit encrypted between fone and server.
However Maccy Donalds etc you can get a secure connection 🙂
But 50p for the day is ruddy good value have to say! If only i had 3 coverage within 15 miles of me 🙁
Hey Nick, BT broadband is over priced and doesn’t give me what I need. Even just at home I have 8 static IP addresses and unlimited (that’s not fair use, that’s for real unlimited!) downloads. BT can’t give me that without some daft buiness package costing hundreds of pounds per month.
Then again for mobile I’ve got a Wi-Fi card in my laptop, but when I’m staying away in a hotel for instance, or visiting my mother (who doesn’t even have a computer let alone an Internet connection), Wi-Fi paid or otherwise is useless. With the Skypephone all I need is a phone signal and I’m up and running so long as I put 50p in the meter.
try finding a Macdonalds or a Bt hot spot
in the Scottish highlands,
apart from lots of grave stones etc with various members of the Clan Macdonald under them, who are long past being interested in the internet.
I am really looking forward to my skype phones purchased yesterday
Ah, thanks honey. I didn’t realise the 50p a day thing would be available as PAYG. That really is a remarkably good deal 😀
I have just ordered my skypephone didn’t know that was a feature it gets even better, Chris are you on commission
If I was on commission I’d be a rich man, sadly I’m not, but I do like the Skypephone enough to write about it. I expect I’ll stop when the novelty wears off (that is until they bring in some new features next year 🙂 )
You bloody are on commission!!! There’s a link in the right hand sidebar 😀
Chris,
Is it really so simple? Do you have to set up a dial-up connection (with the Skypephone as a modem) or how does it work?
It’s very simple, load the software, connect the phone with the USB cable supplied, and then start the software you installed (WP-S1 Mobile Modem) and click connect.
It does put a modem into dial up connections, but only use that if you want to dial a specific remote location, for the Internet on 3 use the software provided 🙂
I’m pretty sure I’m going to bury my hatchet with 3 (hopefully I wont want to be burying it in them after this) simply because I am so attracted to the skype service that 3 offer.
I was just wondering if anyone had any comments about if the actual dedicated 3 Skypephone is better suited to using the skype functionality than any of the other 3 phones available that also offer skype as part of 3’s service? As far as I can work out all handsets on 3 have the free skype minutes (but I stand to be corrected if I’m wrong) and for similar money on a contract I could get a sony ericcson K800i or pretty much any phone available on the 3 network.
Would people say that the skypephone itself is the best phone to go for on 3? Are there features that would sway me towards any other phones, I’m going to be ordering 2 one for me and one for the wife and I want to be able to use them for ebay buyers to contact us.
I realised that my comment above was probably better off in the forums https://www.tamebaynew.wpengine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4309#4309 sorry for posting this twice Chris 🙂
skypephones are good, 3s reception in and around edinburgh is useless, so phones were sent back
can not seem to get the modem function working on vista. I get a 623 error “”The system could not find the phone book entry for this connection.error code is: 623”
Any thoughts?
I couldn’t get it working on vista either. I have to switch over to xp (dual boot) in order to use the wireless modem. I have yet to find a fix.
I’m having the same error message as Joel. Any suggestions?
Is my only option is to switch to xp?? that would be a pain..
LOL.listening to u go on about a phone before u bought it LOFL its incredible.
basically i felt the same way when i bought this phone like 2 weeks ago and i loved it ome shop assistent told me that its free to use skype. im on contract and it isnt u pay 5pound for the unlimited skype service or u sign up to internet broadband (me 3gb) and u can use skype at the cost of the bandwidth. i have a freaky suspician the VOP will be data hungry! and damn vista with the error msg. “The system could not find the phone book entry for this connection.error code is: 623” eghhhhhh let me online. xp of course is bliss with this. if anyone knows any fixes patches or walkarounds for this error do tell me. thanks yall!