"Mobile" mobile broadband

[deanaco]

Hi.

Deanaco is a newbie to the forum.

I thought I would relay my recent experience with the following setup:
Asus eeePC - running XP SP2 + all updates
Unlocked Option iCON 225 (formerly locked to UK Orange network)
UK "3" Network sim - £10 monthly PAYG

The rationale for this was to create a truely mobile PC. Importantly, I wanted to be able to make use of PAYG deals on mobile broadband throughout Europe. A network locked mobile broadband modem was thus of little point, given the data roaming charges with virtually all UK network providers. As I'm UK based, I started with the cheapest PAYG deal available in the UK which seemed to be the "3" network. The Option iCON 225 reviews I had read seemed favourable. An important feature of them was a capability to automatically change down a gear to GPRS / EDGE when the network could support higher bandwidths - I did not expect the whole of Europe to have as good 3G coverage as the UK, but wanted to maximise probability of obtaining at connection at all. I obtained the modem via ebay from a very nice chap called Pele.

The short outcome was that it works - up to a point. It seems that if you are in a good 3G area, then 3 SIM card will work just fine with the iCON 225 - really satisfying. In my part of the UK the 3G coverage is not comprehensive. To test the 3G I had to travel by car to quite a high hill nearby, where I had a totally acceptable videophone conference via Skype. The reason I had to do this was because I do not have 3G coverage immediately around my home. Round there, I have EDGE at best. So, the pecularity I have to report is this:

1) 5 bar GPRS/EDGE strength signal + 3 SIM + unlocked iCON 225 = Connects to network for SMS, finds Google Address in IE, but cannot load the webpage.

2) 3/4 bar GPRS strength signal + BT mobile SIM (from my phone) + unlocked iCON 225 = Connects to network, IE browsing absolutely fine (obviously a little slower than the 3G experience, but totally serviceable).

Can anyone explain to me why this is the case? At present, my explaination 'puts the blame' on this odd behaviour on "3". Do they impede/inhibit non 3G data connections to their network? On contacting their support line I was told that "3" mobile broadband modems are 'optimised' for the "3" mobile network and that, in their book, it was entirely reasonable that the GPRS connectivity on their network with somebody else's modem would be inferior to use of one of theirs. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Can anyone offer an explaination of what I have to do (short of procuring a "3" network modem) to make the system work properly at the lower connection speeds?

Thanks in advance to anyone who may be able to help, or at least offer some insight to the counter-intuitive behaviour of the set up.