Apple iPad's Micro SIM versus Mini SIM card: build your own
02/02/10 19:42
If you haven’t lived under a rock for the past week you have probably been unable to avoid reading about Apple’s iPad, the latest mobile device to come out of Cupertino. Since the online and offline media has been writing about it at length, I won’t bore you with the details of what it does or how it will change the world we live in. One interesting revelation has been that Apple’s iPad will be sold completely unlocked, meaning you will be able to use it on virtually any mobile phone network worldwide, as long as they use the GSM standard. That means you will be able to use it on all four mobile phone networks in Ireland, as they all use the GSM standard: Vodafone, O2, Meteor and 3. The same goes for most other countries.
There is one caveat: Apple claims that to save space, they switched to the next generation Micro SIM standard. This is like a regular Mini SIM card, which is used by most mobile phones today, but with the excess plastic around the chip chopped off. But it turns out that the chip itself is not only the same size but electronically identical, as confirmed by the GSM association, so the good news is that even if your mobile phone network only supplies the older Mini SIM cards, you’ll be able to simply cut off the excess plastic yourself and fashion a DIY Mini SIM card. Cheap data roaming here we come, just remember to bring a steak knife! The image below shows a size comparison between the two cards:
We will be posting our review of the iPad as soon as it becomes available. Apple, if you are reading this, please send us a review unit! You can write the author of this article at urban@createvision.ie or please post your comments, questions or feedback below.
There is one caveat: Apple claims that to save space, they switched to the next generation Micro SIM standard. This is like a regular Mini SIM card, which is used by most mobile phones today, but with the excess plastic around the chip chopped off. But it turns out that the chip itself is not only the same size but electronically identical, as confirmed by the GSM association, so the good news is that even if your mobile phone network only supplies the older Mini SIM cards, you’ll be able to simply cut off the excess plastic yourself and fashion a DIY Mini SIM card. Cheap data roaming here we come, just remember to bring a steak knife! The image below shows a size comparison between the two cards:
We will be posting our review of the iPad as soon as it becomes available. Apple, if you are reading this, please send us a review unit! You can write the author of this article at urban@createvision.ie or please post your comments, questions or feedback below.
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Huawei MiFi (E5830) by 3 Ireland service and speed impressions
02/01/10 13:55
Recently, we did a hands on review of the Huawei E5830, sold as the 3 MiFi by 3 Ireland, one of Ireland's four mobile phone networks. Having now used the MiFi on a daily basis all over the country, including counties Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Dublin, Westmeath and Cork (in no particular order), we can talk a little bit more about the service. We have never found the speed to drop below 1 Mb/s as long as there was reasonable coverage in the area. This, for a mobile broadband product, is quite impressive. In fact, overall our speeds always stayed between 2 and 3 Mb/s, and we saw speeds as high as 5 Mb/s on several occasions downloading files as well as when running speed tests. While we would not suggest mobile broadband as an alternative to fixed line broadband, it's safe to say that the technology has improved. You can see an example speed test below, which we just did and is typical of the average speeds we are seeing:
You can read our original hands on review and first impressions of the Huawei E5830 MiFi here.
Our only gripe with the service so far has been that if you even slightly exceed the 15 GB usage allowance on bill pay, 3 Ireland will bill you 5 cent a megabyte. Considering 1 GB consists of 1024 megabytes, that works out as a little over €50. For example, if you used 17 GB instead of 15 during a month, you'd quickly see your bill rise by an additional €100. Of course, if you opt for the prepaid version, you won't experience that problem. However, we would like to see 3 Ireland offer a way to control your monthly spending. For example, if would be nice to have the option to suspend the service after a certain amount has been spent. Perhaps an option where you have to click "Confirm" if you wish to exceed your allowance?
You can write the author of this article at urban@createvision.ie or please post your comments, questions or feedback below.
You can read our original hands on review and first impressions of the Huawei E5830 MiFi here.
Our only gripe with the service so far has been that if you even slightly exceed the 15 GB usage allowance on bill pay, 3 Ireland will bill you 5 cent a megabyte. Considering 1 GB consists of 1024 megabytes, that works out as a little over €50. For example, if you used 17 GB instead of 15 during a month, you'd quickly see your bill rise by an additional €100. Of course, if you opt for the prepaid version, you won't experience that problem. However, we would like to see 3 Ireland offer a way to control your monthly spending. For example, if would be nice to have the option to suspend the service after a certain amount has been spent. Perhaps an option where you have to click "Confirm" if you wish to exceed your allowance?
You can write the author of this article at urban@createvision.ie or please post your comments, questions or feedback below.
3 'MiFi' (Huawei E5830) hands on
29/11/09 19:25
A few days ago, we got our hands on 3 Ireland’s new “MiFi” device. This is essentially a rebadged Huawei E5830. So far, we are quite impressed: unlike a regular mobile broadband dongle, it creates a wireless WiFi network anywhere, so you don’t need to install any drivers.
To set up the device, we popped our SIM card inside and turned it on. Once we had done that, a new wireless network appeared on our laptop, which we could connect to and get online without fuss. Going by the manual that came with the device, which is about the size of a very fat credit card, you can connect up to 5 computers or devices this way simultaneously. The manual specifically mentions it working with Apple’s iPod touch, but it should work with any WiFi-capable device. We can confirm that during our testing it worked fine with various laptops and an iPhone.
We ran some speed tests, and typically got about 2.5 Mbps downstream and 0.3 Mbps upstream, which isn’t bad at all for mobile broadband. If we had any gripes, it’s that the buttons on the side of the device are quite fiddly. This is an area where we feel Huawei could improve upon.
We paid €69 on a bill pay contract with 3 Ireland, plus their standard €19.99 monthly charge, which covers 15 GB of data usage. Please add your comments by clicking the “Comments” link below. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them as best I can.
- Urban
To set up the device, we popped our SIM card inside and turned it on. Once we had done that, a new wireless network appeared on our laptop, which we could connect to and get online without fuss. Going by the manual that came with the device, which is about the size of a very fat credit card, you can connect up to 5 computers or devices this way simultaneously. The manual specifically mentions it working with Apple’s iPod touch, but it should work with any WiFi-capable device. We can confirm that during our testing it worked fine with various laptops and an iPhone.
We ran some speed tests, and typically got about 2.5 Mbps downstream and 0.3 Mbps upstream, which isn’t bad at all for mobile broadband. If we had any gripes, it’s that the buttons on the side of the device are quite fiddly. This is an area where we feel Huawei could improve upon.
We paid €69 on a bill pay contract with 3 Ireland, plus their standard €19.99 monthly charge, which covers 15 GB of data usage. Please add your comments by clicking the “Comments” link below. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them as best I can.
- Urban