But before that, a round of applause for ME - this will be my seventh post for the year - a new record! Maybe it's down to COVID19, or maybe I'm just more irascible than normal - which is also a hint that this is going to be a another grumbling post.
So, Broadband. As I've mentioned in the last few posts, Three has been my ISP for 12 years, though it seems longer. Generally, I was happy enough with the service, up until 1-2 years ago. The modem/routers supplied by Three got faster, the monthly data-transfer cap increased dramatically (going from 25Gig to 768Gig) and all for less money, well, almost - it started out 12 years ago at €25/month, reached its zenith at €42/month, and I'm now paying €30. Great! What wasn't there to like? The service provided, that's what!
On paper, I had better kit, better transfer-speeds, and a better monthly cap. In reality, the download speeds during peak-hours was a joke, so I really couldn't avail of any of the improvements in the technology. So as I've mentioned already, I went searching for a new ISP, and eventually settled on '48', an off-shoot of Three, using Three's network, though a separate company in its own right. Before November 10th 2020, 48 are offering a 100gig/monthly data allowance, which includes unlimited calls & texts to all Irish mobile & landline numbers - and all for just €7.99. For me, the unlimited calls bit was the clincher. I currently have a pre-pay phone with O2 (which is owned by Three) that will eat through €10 of credit in no time. Since my Huawei B525 modem has a standard telephone socket, all I needed to do was plug in a telephone - I did, and it works perfectly!
48 doesn't provide any modem/routers to its customers like Three does. Instead, it outlines the requirements & steps required to get Three to unlock your Three phone/modem - which of course presumes that you are/were already with Three. Interestingly, it also points out that, failing to get Three to unlock the device, there are many mobile-related business' that provide an unlocking service, but doesn't recommend any one in particular.
After ordering a 48 sim, it didn't take long to realise that it, along with every other ISP, was barred from using my Huawei B525 - 'sim-locked' in mobile parlance - so effectively useless. In order to get the B525 unlocked, about 3 weeks ago, I opted to look for help through Three's 3Community forum. Since this is ongoing, I won't say much about it. Suffice it to say, my interactions with various moderators there went from the sublime to the ridiculous, with my username/profile suddenly no longer capable of posting to the forum, a situation that still has not been resolved. I may relate the sad, sordid details in a future post.
Falling at that hurdle, I then tried to get help through Three's 'Web-chat'. From past experience, this has become a 'last-resort' option for me when it comes to seeking answers. These guys/gals, usually from India, will keep you on for ages, and generally achieve nothing in the end. This time however, I got a result. After explaining my unlock request to the rep. I was informed that he could see that an unlock request had already been put through for me, and granted! I informed him after a thorough check, that no unlock-code had been emailed to me, and would he be so kind as to resend it. This he did, only for us to discover as the minutes ticked away, that his email wasn't going to arrive. After another failed attempt, he instead tried sending the unlock code as an SMS to my BB account - success, finally!!!
Naturally, I was elated, happier than a pig in shit. A few minutes later, I had the 48 sim in the B525, a prompt for a SIMLOCK code, then finally, one unlocked device - EASY PEEZY! Finding that the transfer-speeds with the 48 sim were identical to the Three BB sim was another plus, so there seems to be no throttling in evidence by the parent company.
But, as the saying goes, "Much wants more", so with the B525 puzzle cracked, I diverted my attention to the other Three dongles I have lying around, namely a E5573 and a E5220, both from the Huawei stable. The E5573, being 4G-enabled, therefore the more able of the two, I chose to try getting unlocked by Three again, though this time, via their 'Web-chat' help service. There was no virtually instant unlocking to be had second time round though. The rep. told me that it's actually Huawei that provides the unlock-codes, Three just forwarding them the request. I was further informed that I 'should' hear within a month if my unlock-request will be granted. So I await with trepidation, if not much hope.
The E5220 I figured would be an easy fix as it was old and there must surely be a unlock-code 'calculator' freely available somewhere on the web. Despite loads of links enticing the unwary to malware sites with promises of such, none was to be had, at least none that worked. But there must be dozens of sites offering to unlock E5220's, with unlock-fees ranging from the ridiculous (€59) to the downright reasonable (€2-5), the latter's 'cheapness' making them immediately suspect. Then I came across this site. It is like most of the rest, promising to unlock modems, while charging rather hefty unlock fees. But this one takes a different tack to attract customers - the E5220, being just 3G, so now regarded as 'old technology' , it unlocks for free!
Or at least that is the claim. I submitted my IMEI/Country/ISP 10 days ago and waited anxiously for the coveted SIMLOCK code to be posted on their site. The only red-flag that something may be amiss is that your request-information is not immediately viewable on their site. Only after the 'unlock codes' have been generated, is their a mass-posting of the requests, accompanied of course by the generated unlock-codes. The second suspect thing I noticed was that, having just received a working unlock-code from Huawei, the generated-code doesn't look 'right' - the real unlock codes are made up of a variation of numbers & letters, the latter being both of upper & lower case characters. The site's generated code is simply a string of 8 numbers.
Which doesn't work! My first attempt was a copy & paste from the site, which resulted in a "invalid code" error. So, just in case there was some 'invisible' character being included in the Copy & paste, I tried it again, typing it in this time. Same result - that's 2 of 10 unlock tries wasted, with only 8 more attempts permissible before the E5220 gets 'bricked'. What the site presents to the public is dozens of legitimate unlock-requests, accompanied by their non-working unlock-codes. So basically, just more scumbags, giving people false hope. [UPDATE!!! Though I didn't mention it, after the failed attempt to unlock the E5220, I copy & pasted from the E5220's Web-browser interface, the hardware information from its 'Device Information' option, and re-posted it to the free-unlock site, in the vain hope that they might have made a mistake. As this 'extended information' contained an identical IMEI number to the first one I posted there, I didn't hold out much hope. So imagine my surprise just a few minutes ago, when intent on closing forever, the Firefox open-tab to this site, I saw my re-posted hardware information there - along with a newly generated unlock-code! AND THIS ONE WORKS!!! I obviously owe the guys running this site an apology - SSSOOORRRYYYY. Terrific!!! - two down, just the E5573 to go].
So it's looking like the B525, the best of the lot, is the only one I'll get unlocked, at least without paying for the service, be that from Three/Huawei, or one of the unlock sites available online. Or maybe I'll see if some of the mobile-phone selling shops in my locality do unlockings cheaply.
Although I planned to ditch Three last month, I dithered, then finally decided to hang in there for another month, just in case there are more unlockings to be had from them. If not, it's no biggie. I have the 48 ISP waiting on the side-lines. I've been using them for over a week and can see no difference in the level of service provided - and at less than a third of what I'm paying Three! Sure, not an "unlimited" (aka 768Gig) data allowance, but 100Gig is more than enough for what I do. Then there's the included unlimited calls & texts - also something I'll never use much, but again, it's nice to have!
Edit:
Dropped into my local mobile unlocking/internet cafe today to inquire about getting these unlocked. Not a problem, according to the guy I spoke to, for about €25 a pop - actually less than I was expecting to be quoted! Probably not worth doing the E5220 for this amount seeing as it only offers 3G speeds, but if Three/Huawei won't unlock the E5573, I'll definitely consider it. [Update: After Three Web-chat proved unhelpful, I played my last card and asked one of the 3Community moderators could she see if my request to unlock the E5573 had been submitted. 24hrs later, I had one unlocked E5573!!! For the record, the sim-(un)lock code she provided was another 8-digit number, just like that generated by the unlock-site, so completely different to the E525's unlock code.]
I've had the B525 and the E5573 setup & running from the same location for a while now, so that I can see how they compare, and I've gotta say that the B525 is the clear winner. Even without the 'rabbit-ears' antennas, transfer-rates are much higher with the B525. But the E5573 and E5220's 'super-power' is that they're battery-powered, so are not without their uses.
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