Cannot connect on PAYG Mobile Broadband

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm using a DELL D620 notebook which has an integrated SIM slot. I'm running Windows 7. I've fitted DELL's 5540 mini PCI-e WWAN card, and inserted my o2 PAYG mobile broadband sim. I've put £2 on the SIM, giving me 200MB for up to 24 hours, just so I can test this thing out. I've got DELL's Mobile Broadband Manager software installed, the SIM is recognised, I can, and have, recieved SMS messages on my laptop through the sim, as this is how I received confirmation of my topup. However -- I cannot connect via mobile broadband! Every time I hit the "connect" button, it tries to connect for a while, before stopping without giving a reason why it failed to connect.

If I try and connect via Windows rather than through the DELL software, it says "Connection failed", and if I view the troubleshooter, it tells me that "The mobile broadband network connection operation (context activation) failed with error code 0". What does this mean?

Any ideas on how I can get this thing working?

[Anonymous]

Everything pointing to data not being active properly on your sim.

Try https://mobilebroadbandaccess.o2.co.uk see what it says

[adamtemp64]

try a search of the forum for m-bb.o2.co.uk and see if it worked with different user and pass combination like payandgo and password etc i am sure someone commented in the past it worked. if not ring customer services

[Anonymous]

I can only view that page via WiFi, not via mobile broadband. Can log in fine, says I have £2 credit.

[Anonymous]

On the o2 Live Chat with someone now, he says I've got to put the sim in an iPad and top it up to use it... well that's rubbish because I've already put £2 on it, and received text message confirmation of the topup via the sim while its in the laptop! So the sim works, it just won't get online.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
On the o2 Live Chat with someone now, he says I've got to put the sim in an iPad and top it up to use it... well that's rubbish because I've already put £2 on it, and received text message confirmation of the topup via the sim while its in the laptop! So the sim works, it just won't get online.

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Hmm, where does an iPad come into it??

Was the mobile broadband originally with an iPad?

[Anonymous]

Apparently its an iPad-only sim, which is stupid because its a full-size sim and the iPad takes a nano sim. There isn't any other data-only sim deals on o2. My laptop has the hardware, I don't need a dongle. How can the sim be iPad only when it half-works, receiving text messages etc. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Apparently its an iPad-only sim, which is stupid because its a full-size sim and the iPad takes a nano sim. There isn't any other data-only sim deals on o2. My laptop has the hardware, I don't need a dongle. How can the sim be iPad only when it half-works, receiving text messages etc. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

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Ok maybe starting to make a little sense (altho agree it's daft!) the sim maybe provisioned for an ipad only, which is why it won't work with those other APN's?

Try:

APN  idata.o2.co.uk

user: vertigo

pass: password

[Anonymous]

or:

APN: ibrowse.o2.co.uk

no username/pass

[Anonymous]

It is very stupid indeed. Can't see how they can limit the use of a sim to a particular device. Do they really expect people with other hardware to buy a dongle when all they want is the sim? idata.o2.co.uk APN doesn't work either. I don't think this sim does anything at all.

[Anonymous]

Quick update.... bit the bullet and split the sim card off into a nano sim, inserted it into my phone, changed the APN to "m-bb.o2.co.uk" with username of "o2bb" and password "password", mobile data popped up right away and started to browse. So I can confirm that the sim does indeed work, as does the APN, and its not in an iPad either, its in my HTC One mobile phone. How about that, stupid Live Chat guy? Got to keep plugging at it to get the sim working in my laptop.