Mobile Broadband Set-up on OSX 10.7

You know the part before the upgrade where they tell you to check all of your applications before you upgrade? Well, last night I decided that it would be a great idea to upgrade my Mac from Snow Leopard to Lion. Turns out that perhaps wasn’t so great an idea after all when my Huawei USB 3G modem dongle decided that it wasn’t going to work since it wasn’t relevant for the new 64-bit only kernel. Oops, I should have checked first. But it isn’t a complete disaster!

After frantically using Google to find a new driver to install and digging around the Huawei site trying to find a replacement driver I was getting to the point of doing some modifications to the com.apple.boot.plist file and restart my Mac with the i386 kernel instead of the x86-64 one that appears to now be the default.

But I found a Gem.... After searching the darkest, deepest parts of the internet, I found what I needed, and now, I will tell you how to Install Mobile Broadband on OSX 10.7 - Lion

As I am a T-Mobile Customer, I will be using a T-Mobile E170 dongle, but this should work on any Huawei modem. 

1) 1st, plug the dongle in to the Mac

2) Double Click 'T-Mobile Internet Manager'

3) Follow the on-screen instructions to install the manager

4) The T-Mobile Internet Manager will open & warn you the Device is disconnected. Ignore this & close the Manager.

5) Download THIS. It is the latest 64bit drivers from HUAWEI.

6) Install the huawei_universal_425_05.pkg

7) Restart the mac. When its back on, fire up the T-Mobile Manager & Hit connect :)

So if you’ve just upgraded to Lion and are trying to work out how to get your Huawei modem working properly with it, those instructions worked for me and I’m using it to write this post.

The £520 iPad

Ok, so i never got round to writing that iPad review, but it's still in testing ;). After having a really bad week with the Man Flu & the Snow, I received a very welcome gift from T-Mobile....

£100 cashback for the iPad!!

Yes, thanx to a company called Quidco, I got £100 cashback for the iPad, meaning my up-front cost was only £99! Sweet!

Now, with a 30% discount thanx to T-Mobile's Friends & Family scheme, I am only paying £520 over 2 years for the iPad!! That's cheaper than buying direct from Apple, plus I get 2Gb of data to use per month! How freaking sweet is that??

Anyone not sure about getting the Pad, if you know a T-Mobile or Orange employe & can get you the 30% monthly line rental discount, then get the iPad now!

So this is now what i'm paying:

• Up-Front cost for the iPad - £199
• Quidco rebate - £100
• Monthly line rental - £17.50
• Total cost over 2 years - £520

There is 1 drawback though.... 'Please note that cashback will not be awarded until the SIM has been active for 3 months.'

That sucks. Damn you T-Mobile!! But i digress, I get £100 cashback after the simcard has been active for 3 months. That's not so bad really. 

Here is the link for anyone who wants to go through with the cashback offer: https://www.quidco.com/t-mobile.

MiPad

Yep...... I got it.....

I may have said to people in the past that I wouldn't get one, but on Friday, T-Mobile delivered me my iPad. And i'm well happy with it.

When the iPad was 1st announced, I - like most of the world - saw it as nothing more than a oversized iPod/iPhone. 6 months later, and over 2million sold, I finally got my hands on one.

Here is my justification for getting one....

T-Mobile UK are now offering the iPad for £199 on a 2 year £25 per month contract. Over 2 years (plus the upfront cost), the iPad will cost £799. This is the 16Gb Wi-Fi & 3G model that Apple sell for £529 Sim free. Now, with Apple's iPad deal, you get no Sim card & no Data allowance. With T-Mobile, I get 2Gb of data per month included. Now, if i were to get a Mobile Broadband Sim card to use in the iPad (Sim from T-Mobile), the Data would cost £15 per month. Times that by 24 & you get £360. Add that to the upfront cost (£529) & it costs £889 over 2 years.....

Ok, hope that made more sense to you than me!! Here is a simpler breakdown:

T-Mobile UK iPad deal:

• £199 upfront cost for the iPad
• £25 per month for 2 years
• 2Gb of data to use per month
• Total cost over 24 months = £799

Sim free iPad deal:

• £529 upfront cost for the iPad
• £15 per month (30 day contract)
• 3Gb of data to use per month
• Total cost for month 1 = £544.
• Cost after month 2 = £559
• Cost if used for 24 months = £889

So the T-Mobile offer is'nt really that bad when you think about it!

Ok, so a full review of the iPad is coming soon (prob on wednesday now), so check out my Blog soon!

Windows Phone 7 - Hands on

So here it is, the Samsung Omnia 7 - T-Mobile's 1st Windows Phone 7 phone. Weighing in at 138g, a 4 inch capasative touch screen, AMOLED display, 1Ghz CPU, and Windows Phone 7 OS.

I got the phone delivered on wednesday, and must say.... i like it. The phone itself feels nice in the hand, the screen is ultra bright & the OS is promising. I say promising because i'm not feeling it 100%. Something is missing...

I'll get to the bad points later. 1st, the good stuff.

• Xbox Live - The xbox live service is amazing!! No doubt the best feature / app on Windows Phone 7 to date.
• Internet Explorer - Did I just say that?? Yes, IE on this phone is great, not quite as good as iOs, but not a bad attempt.
• MS Office - only tried this once, but was able to create & edit a Excel file. Best Office app on any mobile
• The Marketplace - This has its good & bad points. The bad being the lack of content - only 1000 apps. But as the OS is only 4 weeks old, I cant really hold that against it. The good news is the layout. This is the best looking app store on any mobile... iOs, Blackberry, Android & Symbian. It looks lush.

And now the bad stuff

• MSN Messenger - Did MS really leave out msn messenger? or am i missing something
• No Backgrounding - WTF?? Not even suspended backgrounding like iOs? It really annoys me opening Twitter, only to find it has to load my entire lists from scratch.
• Live tiles - Live?? Really? Most of my tiles are static!! MS need to open this up to all apps.
• One home screen - Really dont think i could live with only 1 home screen... I really like the scrolling affect, but MS need to allow multiple home screens.

All in all, it's not a bad phone, but MS mad one massive mistake.....

Back in 2007, apple released the 1st iOs device, the iPhone. It was a smartphone, but was missing key things ALL other smartphone came with as standard. MMS, no backgrounding, no copy & paste, no 3rd party support, a locked down OS.... but somehow, Apple still made the iPhone the greatest gadget on earth....

Now, in 2010, MS seems to want to emulate what Apple did in 2007, by taking there phone back to basics. No copy & paste (yet), an extremely locked down OS, no backgrounding and total control of there devices. MS are trying to do in 2010, what Apple did in 2007. Will they succeed?? I hope so, because the OS is very promising, but needs some work.

The Samsung Omnia 7 will be going back on tuesday, as I don't think the OS is quite ready for the big time yet. I really believe it's time will come. Maybe in a few months I will return to Windows Phone 7. Until then, back to my beloved iPhone 4.

The Samsung Omnia 7 is available on T-Mobile UK from £35 per month. See:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-monthly/samsung-omnia-7/# for more info.

Samsung Omnia 7 Specifications

Band	Quad-band
Weight	138 g
Size (mm)	122 x 64 x 11

Talk time (up to)	6 hr 10 mins
Standby time (up to)	330 hr
Charge time (up to)	2 hr 30 mins

Imaging

• Video camera
• 5.0 Megapixels Camera
• Camera flash

Connectivity

• Internet on your phone
• Mobile broadband
• 3G
• Bluetooth
• GPRS
• Built-in GPS (Software required for Sat Nav use)
• Sync with PC

Messaging

• Personal email
• Windows Mobile email
• Picture messaging (MMS)

Entertainment

• TV on your phone
• Audio player
• Video player
• MP3 player

Miscellaneous

• Handsfree included
• Voice activated dialling
• Vibrating alert
• Personal organiser

Everything Everywhere to cut 1,200 jobs

Merger of brands leads to predictable shedding of duplicated roles

The umbrella organisation behind the combined T-Mobile and Orange brands is to cut 1,200 jobs in the UK from its 16,000-strong workforce.

Everything Everywhere said that the cuts will affect areas including back office, headquarters and management as part of a restructuring plan that was expected when the two operators merged.

Tom Alexander, chief executive of Everything Everywhere, said in a statement that he "regretted" that some roles had go, but is confident that the move is the best decision for the company.

"We need to ensure that we are operating with maximum efficiency, effectively serving two brands while removing any unnecessary duplication from the business, " he said.

"With the size and scale of our combined business, we have an incredible opportunity to deliver an unrivalled experience and unparalleled value to our customers."

The company claimed that no frontline customer service or retail staff will lose their jobs, and that both consumer brands will retain dedicated marketing teams.

The cuts follow an announcement that Everything Everywhere will expand its retail footprint, and increase its network from 16,000 radio sites to 18,000.

Customers on both networks will be able toaccess either network from 5 October as part of an overall commitment to develop and combine 3G, 4G, fixed broadband and Wi-Fi networks in the future, according to Everything Everywhere.

The company recently announced a 4.8 per cent fall in revenue for the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 from £1.8bn to £1.72bn.