Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
5 Posts
0
11283
October 22nd, 2009 08:00
Vodafone freebee mobile broadband
Well, I suppose I didn't get what I hadn't paid for! British purchasers of the Inspiron Mini 10 [and, in my case, the 10v] were promised 60 days free access to the Internet via Mobile Broadband. Vodafone sticker on the keyboard surround, Vodafone logo pops up on-screen at startup, Vodafone connect utility icon in there with the rest of them. "Searching for network" is the best the dialogue box can tell me. Thanks to guidance from other contributors to Dell Community, I check the hardware is working via rightclick on My Computer. The device is working OK. Actually there are two devices: a wireless card for hotspots which certainly does its stuff, and the internal wireless modem, which checks out as working, and seems to pick up offers from every other telecoms provider in the United Kingdom. BT broadband are especially insistent, presenting me with a login screen I can't use because I don't have an account with them. Dell sales play me one sort of music after the button-pressing game on the telephone, Dell tech support a different tune, but still no humans. I ring the contact number for Vodfone given by the dinky pop-up on my screen: the nice man wants to know whether I have a dongle [which, to be fair, is the way Vodfone mobile broadband normally works when you subscribe by paying money]. No details of me on their system [he did a postcode/zipcode check]. I would have expected a login screen to get me onto their system, but, fair enough, I don't know how this is supposed to work. Did I mention that I sent an e-mail enquiry to Dell Support, guaranteed response within twenty-four hours, still waiting after two days? Meanwhile I'm loading up applications onto the Mini, the external disk drive has arrived at long last [third package of three, the actual machine was the second, after the carry-case]. The Vodafone Broadband freebee started counting down the sixty days at the time of the initial order, twenty days ago. Who'd own a netbook, eh?
I'd welcome any hints about where the problem might lie, but I really don't think it's the hardware, and I've no reason to think Vodafone aren't sending out a signal. I'd recommend the Inspiron netbook to anyone, but wasn't Internet access supposed to be part of the general idea? Fortunately I have another means of access. Wiljon.
Wiljon
5 Posts
0
October 25th, 2009 09:00
Well, it appears that I have an "unregistered" SIM card in my brand-new mochine. I'm beginning to lose interest in the free access that I haven't got, and I'm looking at providers that would give me good value mobile broadband via SIM card without a dongle. Only two USB slots on the mini, one of which tends to be occupied by the mouse, so I'd really like to be able to use the built-in Dell broadband card the way it's meant to be used! According to another mobile provider, putting your phone SIM in the laptop slot is a very expensive option, just in case anyone was thinking of doing that . . . Laters, Wiljon
ejn63
11 Legend
•
87.5K Posts
•
321.3K Points
0
October 25th, 2009 10:00
Did you go here:
https://www.v-store.co.uk/index.cfm?go=trials.mbbootb
Wiljon
5 Posts
0
October 26th, 2009 06:00
Thanks, ejn, that's an interesting angle on the whole problem. They acknowledge that some users will be using a built-in wireless card device [which they ask you to specify], and will already have a SIM. of which they also want details. In my quest for mobile broadband, I certainly won't forget to look at what Voda are offering other people! But my Voda offer came via Dell, and I don't have a registration with anyone for broadband [registration number is one of the required fields on the form that appears on the site you refer to]. I'm currently awaiting a reply from [Dell] Customer Service [who referred me to Tech, who were helpful but referred me back to Customer Service again when it turned out the SIM was unregistered. E-mail is slower by days than phoning in, but phoning in doesn't always get you an answer. So I'll see what the next electronic response from CustServ looks like, before I start hitting every telecom provider in sight. The freebee angle is a side issue, I just want a contract! Wiljon [writing this at work, btw, ]
Poguem
2 Posts
0
October 27th, 2009 09:00
Well I have exprienced the same problem. My netbook arrived yesterday and the first thing I wanted to use didn't work..! After spending a whole afternoon talking with tech support and Vodafone I eventually got through to someone who was helpful.
The vodafone card should have been activated and registered with vodafone. If it's not working out of the box, then you need to speak to Dell customer services and they will send you a new sim. This is where I am at the moment, waiting another 3-5 days ... so fingers crossed. Whatever you do don't speak to anyone in tech support as they are waste of time.
You have to remove the battery to get at the Sim. Take note of the fact that you need to charge the battery for 12 hours when you first get it. And, don't listen when the tech support guy tells you to remove it AND the keyboard...!
Hope that helps...
PS I also got a TV tuner with mine which works fine... as long as I don't use the mobile antenna that was supplied!
Wiljon
5 Posts
0
October 30th, 2009 10:00
Very helpful, poguem, and I'm glad to report that I'm now in approximately the same position [though without TV]. It took technical help over the phone for me to establish that I had a non-registered SIM; at least I know how to check that now! And Customer Care via e-mail were entirely up-front about the delay of a few days before the problem is rectified Not having entire afternoons at my disposal, I wasn't able to do everything by phone [and what about those customers who depend on a mobile phone? Even nowadays, batteries don't last for ever . . . besides the interesting situation where you might be on a mobile when the tech person asks you to take out the phone SIM to test the vaildity of the broadband SIM by putting it into the cellphone ! ] No SIM-in-the-post has arrived as yet, but I'm fairly confident of the thing appearing the near future. So then: what are Vodafone's rates going to look like once the freebee runs out? Problems, problems . . . Greetings to all, Wiljon
And PS: opening up the cupboard door of the Presentation Equipment before doing my thing yesterday, I aimed for the DVD player on the built-in PC, and discovered it was . . . a Dell ! There's just no escape.
Poguem
2 Posts
0
November 16th, 2009 03:00
Well, after waiting several weeks my new SIM has arrived... along with a new wireless card that I wasn't expecting. The instructions are useless, and after having spoken to Vodafone they have no record of my SIM or account...
It would seem that I have received another unregistered card that I can't activate and therfore I think I will continue with my free 3 sim card, that is a pay as you go, and not waste anymore fo my time trying to get any sense out of DELL...
Regards!
Wiljon
5 Posts
0
November 19th, 2009 10:00
Just to keep you all up to date on this thrilling saga: I too have a new SIM card that evokes the message from a mobile phone "Unregistered SIM card". Once again, Vodafone kindly inform me that my name, postcode and other details mean nothing to them, which is what you'd expect when i don't yet have an account. Furthermore, they agree with me that Dell Computer might have made the effort to register my details with Vodafone at the time I purchased a computer from them. And one tiny grain of sense, from the second Vodafone person I spoke to [Dell tech and Voda enquiries now switch my calls between them without me having to re-dial, reinforcing still futher my sense of buck-passing]. The grain of sense? What is the mobile NUMBER [beginning 07] for the SIM card. Not the number printed ON the SIM [though you might think it possible to deduce one from the other]. The number it would have if it was used in a mobile phone. Is there a way to find this out, I ask expectantly? Perhaps if I get Windows to interrogate the SIM? Or if I press the right buttons on my mobile handset, having once again put the SIM into it? No, it's in the paperwork. Well, I have to say, it isn't in the paperwork. Even the credit-card-like surround from which the SIM was originally extracted by my trembling fingers doesn't have such a number, though there are plenty of letters-and-figures numbers, with their barcodes, on the surround, some of them pasted on top of others.
Anybody know how I can find out this number? Not that I really think it's up to me to solve these problems, nor do I have any particular technical expertise, but hey, let's exercise a bit of good will and get the show on the road. Oh, and the Dell tech person [whose abruptness on the phone the Vodafone enquiryman commented on] offered to let me fill in a questionnaire about Dell service standards. Now that might be fun . . .
Regards to Poguem, and any others out there with similar problems [except, I forgot, you probably don't have Internet access at present . . .]
Wiljon
timesprout
3 Posts
0
December 21st, 2009 08:00
Hahaha! I'm sorry Wiljon, but you're just a beginner at this stuff! ;) My Vodafone SIM card didn't work either, and after a flurry of calls to Vodafone support, it turns out that this is because the SIM Dell have sent me is already registered to a "Mr Roberts". Needless to say, I'm not Mr Roberts. Reasonably enough, Vodafone can't legally take any action on my behalf for a SIM card that's registered to somebody else, so that leaves me only one option: Dell Support Hell.
I had a few half arsed attempts at sorting it out, with predictable outcomes. Today though, I've got the day off, and decided that I absolutely will get some kind of customer service out of Customer Support, come hell or high water. I realised my goal was formidable, but I'd badly underestimated my opponent.
As a veteran of Customer Support you're no doubt very familiar with the game Dell Ping Pong, where they shuttle you backwards and forwards between departments claiming it's someone else's fault. Well my friend, the game escalates to a whole new level when they've got a different company to blame stuff on too.
Two hours and forty six minutes later, after 6 separate calls, in which I've spoken to maybe 12 Dell representatives (my record in a single call is 7), and they're going to send me a new SIM. Of course, they could still have the last laugh, as they'll probably just send me another duff SIM like the guy above, but we'll see.
I learned some interesting things in the process:
1) it doesn't really matter what numbers you press at the initial automated voice prompt, you'll be transferred an average of 3 times between departments anyway
2) helpfully providing specific details of the problem and your many previous Dell conversations gets you precisely nowhere - it's like the big snake on a Snakes and Ladders board that goes back to square one. Your best bet is to politely state your demands, and stick to them
3) Dell will not undertake some remedial action and call you back / email you / whatever. This is merely a tactic to filter out the newbies. When you phone back, and you will, they will have "no record of that call, sir"
4) The supervisor is in a meeting. So is her supervisor.
5) The complaints department for Dell Customer Support is....Dell Customer Support! Can you make a complaint? No you can't. Can you speak to a supervisor? See 4.
6) They'll hang up about 1 time in 3. Don't take it personally, it's just to build excitement and tension.
7) Use cunning. My approach was to ring Customer Care and tell them that I just spoke to a guy in Technical Support who said that the SIM was faulty and needed replacing. I expect you need to have spoken to 9 or so customer support representatives for this to be plausible.
8) Remain charming. I told the lady who finally authorised a new SIM "thanks, you're the most helpful person I've spoken to all day!" She said "well I felt sorry for you, you've been transferred sooo many times" - so they know exactly what you've been through, eventually you might find someone who's suitably ashamed enough to do something about it. I just hope they didn't take her out and beat her for not toeing the corporate line.
Merry Chrimbo!