Originally Posted by AlandEve (Post 7863327)

Hi all,

I have internet access in the apartment via a HSPDA dongle I purchased in the TMN shop in VRS....
AlandEve

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 7866173)

That sounds like a good eal - where is the TMN shop?
I get a wireless signal in our place - must be a neighbour with a wifi router - unfortunately it's secure :( Anyone any good at hacking :)
(only joking I hasten to add before someone take me seriously)

Originally Posted by John and Lynn (Post 7866211)

Why not find out who they are and offer them a few euros towards there bill for the code. A friend of mine has a wireless router package which costs £10 per month and he charges 3 of his neighbours £5 each per month for the usage of it. He now has broadband for -£5 per month:thumbup:

Originally Posted by John and Lynn (Post 7866211)

Why not find out who they are and offer them a few euros towards there bill for the code. A friend of mine has a wireless router package which costs £10 per month and he charges 3 of his neighbours £5 each per month for the usage of it. He now has broadband for -£5 per month:thumbup:

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 7866224)

Thats a good idea, but do you know who it is that charges only 10 per month, this is a great deal.

Also Alandeve really interesting about this dongle, although I dont know about the technology. Please can you post model numbers or some details that I can print out and take to the shop, so that I surely get the right thing...

And yes please, where is the TMN shop.

Thanks + very interesting

PS probably the signal is strong from Portugal as many of the towns on the eastern side have free internet wifi access eg VRSA, Altura etc...

Jon

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 7866515)

Hi Jon,

Bought the vodaphone version of the same thing lastweek and the GSM and 3G signal are full strength at our place on vodaphone Portugal

Originally Posted by AlandEve (Post 7866481)

There are two TMN shops in VRS-A ...

The official shop can be found by walking through the main square with the river at your back... walk to the end of the pedestrian area, and you will see a roundabout with a stone structure like an obelisk .. TMN shop is very close.

Also there is a TMN distributor which is just off the road that runs parallel to the river, just before the ferry dock ..

I purchased a USB WiFi pen banda larga 7.2 .. it looks like a plug-in memory stick (it does have 2Gb that you can use as a mem stick), supports GPRS, 3G, HSPDA etc...

Very easy to set-up, If you are not that techncial ask the shop to do it for you .. simply plug it in, the software installs from the stick, enter your PIN and go .... when you need a top up, simply take along the card that is supplied to TMN or any newstand, and they will "charge up" your account by how many hours you need ....

AlandEve

Originally Posted by jdr (Post 7866999)

Don`t you get a roaming charge being in Spain though ?

Originally Posted by jdr (Post 7866471)

I hope he is saving up for the fine if he gets caught as a reseller with no licence etc.

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 7866224)

Thats a good idea, but do you know who it is that charges only 10 per month, this is a great deal.

Originally Posted by John and Lynn (Post 7869180)

You sure you are not ex-police. How can they catch him, its just like having 3or 4 laptops in the same house using the same connection. Anyway, not my problem, I got my own.

Originally Posted by jdr (Post 7869496)

In the same house is fine, reselling is naughty it`s fraud, if they check they can tell where it is being used.
Lots of Sky resellers and their clients are being arrested in Spain at the moment too

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 7868165)

Hi JDR+John

Im guessing John got a local contract as he already has a local phone... but John if you went with vodaphone Portugal, how do the prices compare with Alandeve's solution, please?

Thanks
Jon

PS John sent you email.....

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 7870028)

Hi Jon have not seen the email yet Kath picked it up on the PC at home so cant get it on my lappy.

Went with vodaphone cos it only cost €40 including the 1st €10 for 10hrs use. Shop just by the Spanish Consulate in VRSO and you can top up online and it does not expire. Read all about it on the Portugal thread.

No JDR I do not get caught for roaming since the VP signal is very good at our place.

I have tried to get the same thing in Spain but they are all on contract.

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 7870028)

Hi Jon have not seen the email yet Kath picked it up on the PC at home so cant get it on my lappy.

Went with vodaphone cos it only cost €40 including the 1st €10 for 10hrs use. Shop just by the Spanish Consulate in VRSO and you can top up online and it does not expire. Read all about it on the Portugal thread.

No JDR I do not get caught for roaming since the VP signal is very good at our place.

I have tried to get the same thing in Spain but they are all on contract.

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 7869506)

it's also not very sensible to let other people onto your network - no matter how much you think you can trust them. It's extremely easy to find out all sorts of useful (to a fraudster) data like your passwords, bank account details, paypal account, etc etc and then to impersonate you.

Originally Posted by tednsharon (Post 7870141)

This is really good news - I only wish I had known about it before the summer! I too had tried in the shops in Spain, but was only offered contract and if you can get at good VP signal I know I'll be able to too :thumbsup:
Sharon

Question for John - have just read the stuff in the Portugal forum - did you buy VitaNetLite or VitaNetPlus in the end (or neither because Vodafone have a different option?)
thanks - Sharon

Originally Posted by tednsharon (Post 7870141)

This is really good news - I only wish I had known about it before the summer! I too had tried in the shops in Spain, but was only offered contract and if you can get at good VP signal I know I'll be able to too :thumbsup:
Sharon

Question for John - have just read the stuff in the Portugal forum - did you buy VitaNetLite or VitaNetPlus in the end (or neither because Vodafone have a different option?)
thanks - Sharon

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 7870202)

And another question..... for John, dos the initial 40E include the HSDPA dongle.... and are you also getting near ADSL speeds, please.

Thanks
Jon

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 7872867)

Vitanetlite to test the system out I can upgrade later to Plus but it has downsides as well. We tested out the signal before we bought went to Manta Rota where we had lost the Movistar signal on my Spanish Sim. My phone is set to manual so that I dont get caught for roaming. I then retuned to Vodaphone Portugal and then when we got back sat on the terrace and looked at the the signal strength. Max coverage! not suprising really there is a socking great phone mast on the top of a hillock on Castro Marim Golf that you can see plain as day.

PS. There is a thread on here on SIMYO (I think thats the name) where if if you unlock the dongle and get one of their sims the price of time is less but of course I do not know what signal strenght we would get on SIMYO on Esuri. So more expirments for the future!

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 7868163)

Hi Alandeve

Great, thanks.

I also did a bit of research and came across these products

The new skypephone with it built in, a bit more expensive, but if I understand it right (and I probably dont) you can have the PC at home and sit on the terrace blabbing away - without having to have a headset plugged into the PC - when making Skype calls... and when not just surf away on the net using the dongle

http://www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk/2...pa-dongle.html

Also this looks interesting - unblocked

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3G-HSDPA-USB-M...QQcmdZViewItem

Although rather than trying to be 'clever' I think I'll go with the product that works i.e yours!

But if anyone has any comment on the 2 products please let me know.

Also since the new EU laws came into play for international roaming, bringing the price down, I made a big change on my cellphone contract - I switched to pay-and-go.. as all international calls are the same price for us. I've already saved.

The great thing also is that I can reload on the internet, without having to go to shops to get cards etc.

Alandeve does your system also alow you this to save having to go to the shop?

Thanks again for the information...
Jon

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 7872867)

Vitanetlite to test the system out I can upgrade later to Plus but it has downsides as well. We tested out the signal before we bought went to Manta Rota where we had lost the Movistar signal on my Spanish Sim. My phone is set to manual so that I dont get caught for roaming. I then retuned to Vodaphone Portugal and then when we got back sat on the terrace and looked at the the signal strength. Max coverage! not suprising really there is a socking great phone mast on the top of a hillock on Castro Marim Golf that you can see plain as day.

PS. There is a thread on here on SIMYO (I think thats the name) where if if you unlock the dongle and get one of their sims the price of time is less but of course I do not know what signal strenght we would get on SIMYO on Esuri. So more expirments for the future!

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 7870028)

Hi Jon have not seen the email yet Kath picked it up on the PC at home so cant get it on my lappy.

Went with vodaphone cos it only cost €40 including the 1st €10 for 10hrs use. Shop just by the Spanish Consulate in VRSO and you can top up online and it does not expire. Read all about it on the Portugal thread.

No JDR I do not get caught for roaming since the VP signal is very good at our place.

I have tried to get the same thing in Spain but they are all on contract.

Originally Posted by AndyS (Post 8019451)

Anyone able to give me directions to the Vodafone shop please as I don't know where the Spanish Consulate is.
Thanks

Originally Posted by Jur (Post 8019695)

This is what a google search came up with: http://www.google.es/search?hl=es&rl...G=Buscar&meta=

Originally Posted by Jur (Post 8021344)

Pfff, you got me there, try posting in the Portugal forum.....

Originally Posted by AlandEve (Post 7863327)

Hi all,

I have internet access in the apartment via a HSPDA dongle I purchased in the TMN shop in VRS....

The dongle cost 60 Euro's (one-off cost), and you can buy hours of internet access at 10 Euro's for 10 hours. Unlimited data xfer during this time.

I pick up a strong UMTS signal from Portugal (dont buy the dongle from Spain, the portugal signal is much stronger).

The sim card expires after 3 months of no usage, but a new card costs 14 euro's (and you get 10 euors of free credit)..

Speed download 1536Kbps, upload is 404Kbps which is roughly what I get on ADSL at home ...

Browser speed is excellent also SKYPE, email working just fine ....

This is a cheap way of having internet access in the apartment

AlandEve

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 8023487)

I got the TMN dongle works fine Thanks AlanandEve

... a couple of points though

DONT use disconnect from the start menu...network centre. Connect and disconect from the little software ap that they gave. The system doesnt like it and you have to reload the s/w to enable the device.

It took me quite a while at first to get it up and running, so give yourself time.

The shop told me that the only way to charge the card was to return there or go to Multibank... I asked if I could go to a kiosk, and she said no.

I bought an extra 10 hrs to make 20 in all and I get that for a full 6 months. We goto VRSA often enough for me to recharge... with this method. Just take the card with you to recharge, no need to bring the dongle.

To get to the shop, walk up the pedestrian section with Marina behind you, to the end. Here you meet a road, turn left and its 20 yards there. If you are at the roundabout with the garage, market and the statue on it, youve gone a block to far.

Its not lightning quick, but works well. But I do work off line and then go on and send/receive. I'm doing this in Notepad, and will - open internet + cut'n'paste it into the reply box + close - and so not waste the minutes

Very handy.

Thanks again :thumbsup:

Jon

Ps if you go with Vodaphones offer, DONT upgrade the software, my friend has lost access as a result.

Originally Posted by John & Kath (Post 8025981)

Originally Posted by Jon-Bxl (Post 8030254)

I dont think John is calling ME names here..... he has vodaphone and the upgrade!! and thats the bugger, no internet and resumed trips to the club!


AlanandEve thanks for the update on the reloads - good to know that it is more widely available.

Sending email from home... this is a great system, thanks again AlanandEve for opening this thread, made a good differnece to me. IOU a drink at the club (or elsewhere) :drinkwine::drinkwine:

All the best

Jon

Originally Posted by AlandEve (Post 8025822)

re buying credit ...
I have purchased credit in 2 different newspaper shops in VRS .. (kiosk near the ferry terminal, and one just off the square), both worked fine ..



I'm glad it worked out..

AlandEve

Originally Posted by MikeJ (Post 8033034)

Although I haven't yet been in - there is a TMN store in the Algarve Forum in Faro.
The address in VRSA is DTMF - VRSA
Rua Ministro Duarte Pacheco, 58
8900 000 Vila Real Sto. Antonio