Database Users

Guys what's the story With the UK O2 3G Availability

Hi. i have just got my Exec, totally happy with it, it's just that i cant get my VIDEO CALLING UP AND RUNNING :-(((
I live in North London, and there is no network coverage. so i thought, maybe that's the area problem. Than, @ Notting Hill , still no coverage, and finally @ oxford street, NOTHING. What the F**K i thought...
I am porting my Number from Orange, and it will take about a week for my Temporary O2 number to become what i had from Orange,
so i thought maybe that is one of the reasons???
May be i have to Activate the service somehow, i have no idea, what am i doing wrong, I even tried to change the Band from Auto to Umts, but that didnt help either.
please share your steps, or sollutions???
cheerzzzzz
:evil:

Did you receive a new sim with your exec. If you did, you will have to activate that before using 3G. On O2 your video calls will only be charged from your free minutes until 31/03/2006. After that it's 50p per minute!
What with skype and all the other services up & coming I find it hard to believe that they will stick to the pricing. But we shall wait and see.

so how do we activate the 3G then?

so how do we activate the 3G then?

alpharom said:
Did you receive a new sim with your exec. If you did, you will have to activate that before using 3G. On O2 your video calls will only be charged from your free minutes until 31/03/2006. After that it's 50p per minute!.
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Somewhere on O2 website i read that Video calls are charged same rate as voice calls ? isn't true ?

Wow that was a quick reply.
i Was trying to call these guys in the morning, but my 30 min break just wasnt enough :twisted:
@ the end this idiot told me that my phone is not 3G Compatible. Tat put me off the conversation :roll: and plus i had to go back to work 8)

anyway i think that i will have to wait for my orange number to finally ported and got activated, and hopefully then...

[quote="Somewhere on O2 website i read that Video calls are charged same rate as voice calls ? isn't true ?[/quote]
As posted before see link here...
http://flash.o2.co.uk/personal/videocalling.html
Pay Monthly - Until 31 March 2006, video calls from O2 mobiles will be charged at the same rate as equivalent voice calls and will be eligible for inclusion within the monthly inclusive calling plan minute allowance. From 1 April 2006, Video calls from O2 mobiles to other UK mobiles will be excluded from the monthly allowance and charged 50p per minute. Video calling is handset and network dependant.
Pay & Go - Video calls made in the UK to all UK mobiles will be charged 50p per minute at all times and will be excluded from any Bolt Ons or free allowances that include voice mails (other than O2 Friends). Video calling is handset and network dependant.

Still if anyone knows how to activate this 3G service, it would would help out us who dont realy know about these things. Thanks

You should get a new sim with your exec unless you already have a 3G sim. Ring customer services and go through the security checks. They will ask for the serial number of the sim to be activated. It usually is done within 24 hours. Mine was done after 6 hours.
Good luck
PS. Check your postcode to see if you have coverage in your area as well.
http://www.webmap.o2.co.uk/map.asp

my o2 card was working since i put it in, plus i haven't seen anywhere on my papers asking me to Activate. Thats a bit stupid of them.
Unless it's just me

Yep, your original card will work just like mine did, but I received a new sim card in the box. (They are different to older sims). Only these can run 3G. They activate the new one and the old one gets switched off....eventually!

alpharom said:
You should get a new sim with your exec unless you already have a 3G sim. Ring customer services and go through the security checks. They will ask for the serial number of the sim to be activated. It usually is done within 24 hours. Mine was done after 6 hours.
Good luck
PS. Check your postcode to see if you have coverage in your area as well.
http://www.webmap.o2.co.uk/map.asp
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Thanks mate I'll phone o2 tomorrow. they never told me this when i purchased.

mine was new one, came in the box as well. I am migrating from Orange.
But i will try to get hold of them tomorow again.
Thanks

OK your exec should be supplied with a 3G sim card ...it tells you on it in the small numbers on the card itself...8989 889 3G bla bla.... you need to call O2 and they need to activate GPRS and 3G (UMTS)....once they to that you should see the small icon on the top displaying either a "U"..(yep i see 3g) or a "G"..(yip i see gprs but no 3 g......3g or not 3g that is the question :lol: )...you can only video call when you have a U.....so to test it...use internet exploper on the device and surf the web on it via gprs...slower,,....then 3g...should nice and quick...then at least you know you have 3g and gprs connections are workin.....but i think o2 have a wee problem with there video calling on the exec...but i dont want to talk about it just now..lol as its doing my head in ..been in a o2 shop trying to fix the video calling.......sad thing is i knew more than they did....gggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr..ps or is that ee.g ? eh?

ArgyleMoss said:
so how do we activate the 3G then?
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Hi Fellow Plymothian!
1st Problem
Fist thing did the SIM have 3G printed on it (on the big card before you pop it out), if it just says GSM it's not a 3G SIM.
I got my O2 XDA Exec from Mobileshop.com and checked beforhand it would come with a 3G SIM, it didn't but they shipped me a proper 3G sim the next day.
2nd Problem
O2 3G reception is very very poor where I live in Peverell (top of the hill near Outland Road), I can only get a 1 bar signal upstairs in the front of the house. The O2 coverage checker showed good 3G signal strengh.
In comparison 3 and Vodafone 3G are very good signals anywhere in the house.
So I have set the Phone to GSM only and use Wifi when at home, when away I switch over to 3G (UMTS) if need it for data but keep it on GSM for better battery life the rest of the time.
Jonathan

well well.
I have got it now finally. The BUYMOBILES.COM sold me EXEC with a regular SIM 2G one. I have called them in the morning and they told me O2 does not supply them with 3G SIMS for this phone. and told me to comtact o2 to get a 3G sim.
I did that, and they told me either you wait 5 working days or go to any O2 shop and ask for 3G SIM. I did that, called them to activate it(YOU HAVE TO DO THIS IN ORDER TO GET 3G) and now i got my U sign instead of G and video calling is working.
On the sim, YOu do actually have a 3G sign.

Mine came from O2 direct (online)
its a 3g sim card
showing as G not U - so might be needs activating or might be not in their 3G area ??
However I wonder if the free GPRS until 31/12/05 ( if it exists) is for G or U usage, so not going to call them to activate 3G until I know ( if I get free GPRS on 2g, I think I'll leave it a couple of months)

o2 said no nned to activate a 3g card - must be because I'm not in their 3g coverage, that I only get "G" not "U"
Using the 02 sim in my nokia 7600 I can do a network search .. as it details all 2g and 3g networks , and yes I'm only showing 2g for o2 and orange , whereas voda and T Mob all have 2 & 3G ( so does Three , although their 2G is actually o2 piggyback!)
Placing a "3 network" sim in the xda Exec , changes the G to a U, and after changing settings I can get 3G GPRS access - but only to their page telling me to register/pay for the service

MDA Compact and 3G network UK

Hi all,
Congrats for the nice forum. I got my MDA compact sim free recently which I used with my Vodafone UK sim card and it worked fine. However I have signed a new contract on 3G UK in Phones4you where I was convinced by the dealer that the sim card can be used to another sim free phone apart from the 3G Nokia 6680 I have taken. It seems that this was not true because when I insert the sim card in the MDA it says "Ivalid Sim Card" and I can't use it now. Do you know any way I could manage my problem? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you very much.

I'm interested in this too. I have considered switching to the 3 network but that fact that you have to use their phones has thus far put me off.

kneeslasher said:
I'm interested in this too. I have considered switching to the 3 network but that fact that you have to use their phones has thus far put me off.
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Yes, they have good price plans, but I am really disappointed cause I can't use my MDA. Their sim cards seem to be locked and unfortunately I have no idea whether there is any way to make it suitable to non-3G phones.

The dealer lied.
3 will not allow non 3G phones because it involve cost to them. Three roam to O2's GSM (2G and 2.5G) when you are out of range of the 3 network and that costs them money. If you have a 2.5G phone like the Magician then it will be permanently roamed to O2 and they would make no money from you becasue they would be billed by O2 for your calls.

Don't forget you get a "cooling off" period on these contracts. Might be worth using it.

MDA Compact is not a UMTS phone! :roll: I think it couldn't operate in 3G networks! Correct me if I'm wrong.

GAINER said:
MDA Compact is not a UMTS phone! :roll: I think it couldn't operate in 3G networks! Correct me if I'm wrong.
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I believe this is true

I tried Orange 3G sim card and it worked just fine on my MDA compact.. :?
Was able to make phonecalls and access the internet without any prob.

RT-PRO said:
I tried Orange 3G sim card and it worked just fine on my MDA compact.. :?
Was able to make phonecalls and access the internet without any prob.
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Are you sure?! This is very strange! Are you talking about Orange in Israel?! :shock:

Thank you all for the replys, it seems that unfortunately in UK it would be impossible to use 3G card on the MDA. As the 6680 has nothing in common with the MDA I hope my bills to compensate the inconvenience :mrgreen:

3G
Using a non umts phone like the magician to connect to a umts network seems to me a very strange and bad idea.
Wait until next year (not so long) and buy the HTC Hermes or the XDA version : it's a S110 with the features of a QTEK 9100 and umts and wifi and ....

GAINER said:
RT-PRO said:
I tried Orange 3G sim card and it worked just fine on my MDA compact.. :?
Was able to make phonecalls and access the internet without any prob.
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Are you sure?! This is very strange! Are you talking about Orange in Israel?! :shock:
Click to expand...
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Yeah, an Israeli Orange sim card works OK on my Magician.
of course I couldn't use any 3G services... :roll:

3 is a UMTS-only network. All 3G phones in the UK are dual-mode GSM/UMTS phones.
Because the 3 network does not cover enough of the UK it has an arrangement with O2 so that 3 phones will 'roam' to O2 when out of 3 coverage. When they do this they use O2's GSM network. So, a GSM phone with a 3 USim would be permanently roamed to O2 as I said earlier.
An Orange USim will work in an Orange GSM phone. Orange (in the UK) have a GSM Network and are rolling out a UMTS network. When an Orange phone is out of reach of the Orange UMTS network, it simply uses the Orange GSM network instead. Now if you put a usim into an Orange GSM phone, it simply accesses the Orange GSM network and can't see the UMTS one. Oh and it will be able to use the 2.5G GPRS system as well.
A bit wordy but I think it's clear.

also remember folks thats "3" use a 5volt sim card unlike every other uk network that still use the old 3volt cards.

Some problem when dialling on my XDA Exec.

There is big problem with my XDA Exec, when I dial a tel No. it is Dailling and the Call end. The 3G sim card is work well on another mibile, and another GSM sim card is work well on the Exec, but the O2 3G sim card can not work on my Exec, could anyone give me some advice on in, thanks.

If you have a Data only plan then you may not be able to make calls. I think you need to ask O2 to activate voice calls. I have the same problem, but I only use my Exec for web & email as I don't trust it to operate as a phone!

jah said:
If you have a Data only plan then you may not be able to make calls. I think you need to ask O2 to activate voice calls. I have the same problem, but I only use my Exec for web & email as I don't trust it to operate as a phone!
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Thanks
But the problem is that the 3G sim card can be uesd on another mobile for any voice call.
I will try to ring o2 for some solution.

I have ring O2, but they can do nothing and will change another sim card for me.
The 3G sim card can be used on my Moto V3, dial and receive
The normal GSM sim card can be used on Exec, dial and receive
But the 3G sim card can not be used on the Exec, can not dial can not receive, anyone can help me with that.
Thanks in advance

mobile, which tariff/plan do you have? If you have a Data plan and you can use your 3G SIM in another 3G phone (I don't have an unlocked one that I can use) then I may have a faulty SIM as well

jah
My tariff is 200 cross network, everything is ok for last noght.
I have change the sim card with mu V3, now all working. maybe it is the problem with the 3G option

the problem was solved.
I change the network to GSM, then everything is fine. It that means there is some proble with o2 3G netword?? :?:

Does anyone know if a 3G sim (3) will work in a Wizard?

Hi, I have a unlocked Wizard & my T-Mobile contract has just expired, I was just wondering if a 3G sim (3) would work in it as there are some cheap deals on that network? I wouldn't use it for video calls so thats not a problem.

im 99% sure they DONT! however maybe someone there can prove me wrong

I'm using a Cingular 3G SIM in my 8125 with no problems at all.

sk0t said:
I'm using a Cingular 3G SIM in my 8125 with no problems at all.
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a cingular 3G sim and a "3" UK usim are not the same, one runs at 3 volts (sim) and the other at 5 Volts (usim)

Aha! More than I knew! I knew it! Thanks for correcting me..

i was having problems going on line when i first got my wizard, tried everthing even customer suport couldnt figure it out. well i finaly went to store to exchange my unit and one of the reps asked to look at the sim. sure enough thats what it was i didnt have a 3g sim. all is welll now

bigdooky said:
i was having problems going on line when i first got my wizard, tried everthing even customer suport couldnt figure it out. well i finaly went to store to exchange my unit and one of the reps asked to look at the sim. sure enough thats what it was i didnt have a 3g sim. all is welll now
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what our american brothers call a "3g" sim and what the network provider called "3" use are slightly different things.... a american 3g sim is simply a normal 128k provisioned with extra services I.e. data and video calling (this is the same way all the gsm uk networks work too) however with "3" being the first 3g only network in the world they choosed to use the next generation of sim card called a usim which don't work in lots of non 3g phones including the wizard. try googling the word "usim" to see wot I mean

Under 3's terms and conditions you are not allowed to use their sim in a 2.5g phone. If you do use one and it works, they will eventually block it and send you a new sim with a gentle reminder that you are in breach of Ts and Cs.

Cheers Chaps, 3 it isn't then!

My O2 UK 3G UMTS sim works perfectly in my Wizard.You just can`t really get the benefits from it (Faster GPRS/EDGE etc....).

Unable to use 3G on my TyTnII (Kaiser)

Looking for help in getting 3G services running on my TyTnII (Kaiser).
I have a Vodafone version of this device, but running on Orange Network (currently testing the device for work). I have manually setup GPRS settings for Orange network and can connect fine, phone has E for Edge when in correct area, but can not get 3G at all.
Can I assume that this is down to the phone being some how locked down to Vodafone and not letting me use the 3G network on Orange. I have another one of these devices with a Vodafone sim card, and get full 3G straight away, even the G icon appears as 3G.
Any help however relevant would really be appericated.
Thanks
Pete

i dont believe they can be locked to edge at all
maybe the orange subscription is just not umts enabled

Coming to the problem from a different direction which may help.
I have an Orange SPV M5000 which I use on an orange PAYG sim card. This has never shown 3G on the display. A couple of days ago I unlocked the phone & put in my T-Mobile PAYG simcard which I have been using on an Orange SPV M1000 (only a max of £1 a day up to 30g of downloads)and straight away it showed the 3G sign on the display, so it's possable that your simcard does not alow 3G or it needs to be enabled.
My Orange PAYG simcard needed to be GPRS enabled when I wanted to start downloading data. Hope this helps. Regards John

Thanks for your help so far.
Hi Guys,
Just wanted to say thanks for your replays so far, certainly looking like problem with Orange, rather that phone.
I have contacted Orange after finding an article on their website about using 3G and it stating that you need a 3G device and 3G sim card.
Will let you know how I get on.
Thanks again.
Pete

orange does not allow 3G connections without first being enabled there end. Ive had the same problem some time ago.

I called Orange & they said I needed a new 3G sim card cost £1 which i bought. It came yesterday & i installed it & now I have the 3G symbol on the display.
Do I need to change any settings or numbers etc or are the old setings OK for 3G

JohnWB said:
I called Orange & they said I needed a new 3G sim card cost £1 which i bought. It came yesterday & i installed it & now I have the 3G symbol on the display.
Do I need to change any settings or numbers etc or are the old setings OK for 3G
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As far as I know the settings that work with GPRS on Orange should just work for 3g in your case.

wizzzard said:
As far as I know the settings that work with GPRS on Orange should just work for 3g in your case.
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Wizzard, you are correct, everything works fine, just faster.