Samba Mobile Internet (Reposted from uk.telecom.mobile)

The latest email from the Money Saving Expert contains some information
about free mobile internet access using Samba. The deal apparently is
that you buy a Samba dongle and SIM - or just a SIM if you have a
suitable device in which to use it - and that you 'earn' bandwidth by
watching adverts which they carry - 3.5MB for each advert. [You can
watch (or ignore while doing something else) the adverts whilst
connected to your wired broadband if you wish - and build up a lot of
credit for when you travel (UK only)]

Samba apparently uses 3's 3G network. By quoting a code given by
MoneySavingExpert, you can buy a SIM for £1 instead of £5.

So the question is "What constitutes a 'suitable device'?"

As mentioned in my recent post [1]"Problem with my '3' S2 Skypephone" I
have an S2 and also a '3' Huawei dongle - both of which have SIMs which
appear to have been cancelled through inactivity.

What are the chances that a Samba SIM would work in either or both of
these, bearing in mind that Samba uses the '3' network?

Is there any chance at all that a Samba SIM would get the Skype bit of
the Skypephone working again?


[1] In uk.telecom.mobile
--
Cheers,
Roger
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Can you still log on to My3, using the phone number and the correct
password? If so, it must still be ok.

When I tried to do that, it said invalid number or password. I was
pretty sure that I was using the correct password but - just in case - I
went through the password reminder procedure. This requires the phone
number plus the last 6 digits of the SIM number. When I did this, it
said invalid number - so the number appears to have been cancelled.
There are NO signal strength bars showing on the phone. If I ring the
number from another phone, I get unobtainable.

The documents which came with the phone did indeed say free Skype
FOREVER without any need to top up.

HOWEVER, the phone has a PAYG SIM - whose T&Cs give '3' the right to
cancel the number if there's no chargeable activity for 6 months.

There is clearly an inconsistency here - because you can't use the phone
for Skype unless you can connect it to 3's network, which requires a
working SIM!

I've sent an online enquiry to '3' to ask them to explain how I am meant
to have free Skype forever if they cancel the SIM. I haven't yet had a
reply!
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Cheers,
Roger
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If you do, it will be to deny all responsibility, as they
won't accept anything to do with the third-party: Skype. It will be up
to the customer to keep his SIM active.
Simple: It's your problem, not theirs, as far as they are
concerned.
I've seen many similar conditions in Specifications, viz:
"In case of a conflict between two sets of conditions, the one that is
the least useful to the customer, and least work for the supplier, will
be the one that holds". Or words to that effect.

 

A few years ago a virtual network (I forget the name) tried adverts
for calls, they folded up after about a year.

Steve Terry

 

Indeed, i make a call at least every 5 months to keep my ringfenced
3pay sims active (£5pm for 2gb d/l) that i use on my pair of Skype S2.

I'd also be interested if Samba mobile can make use of 3's free Skype
server. I'd be surprised if it did.

Steve Terry

 

To answer my own questions, in case it's of interest to others:

The Samba SIM arrived a few days ago, and I tried it in both devices.

It works fine in the '3' Huawei dongle and provides free internet access
until all the credit earned by 'watching' their adverts has been used
up. I have accrued about 120MB of credit for when I'm next unable to use
WiFi.

When the SIM is put into the S2 Skypephone, it connects to the '3'
network - which is more than the cancelled SIM did. However, it still
doesn't connect to Skype.

*But* following a link which someone kindly posted in one of these NGs,
I have acquired a couple of free '3' PAYG SIMS and have put one of them
into the S2 - whereupon Skype now works again without having bought any
topups.

How long this will last, I don't know. I need to bottom it out with '3'.
I sent them a complaint by email a while ago, asking them how they
proposed to honour their "free Skype forever" promise. They have now
replied, saying that they need to talk to me - but that hasn't happened
yet!
--
Cheers,
Roger
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This isn't surprising. The 3 Skype system makes an HTTP request to
http://mobile.three.co.uk/ to find out which internal number to call. Both
are on 3's private network. A 3 MVNO won't have access to the web server,
and the internal number may not work or not be free. So probably 3 Skype
won't work from a MVNO.

Theo

 

That makes sense (now that I've worked out what an MVNO is!)
--
Cheers,
Roger
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Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
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