UK Connectivity problem w/ Huawei E355
Mar 18, 2013 | 5:53 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: San Jose CA
Posts: 1,100
UK Connectivity problem w/ Huawei E355
Based on positive reviews from others in this forum I purchased a Huawei E355 USB dongle, shipped from Hong Kong by kfcore.com
Arrived in London yesterday to use it for the first time. Picked up a prepaid 1 GB hotspot SIM for Ł10.49 from the 3 store on Kensington High St.
Placed SIM into dongle and configured WiFi. Able to connect to WiFi and obtain IP from dongle but no 3G connectivity. Tried two locations to see if it was a signal problem. When I point the browser to the dongle's home page I get "The SIM card has not been detected or is invalid".
Any brilliant ideas?
Robert
Arrived in London yesterday to use it for the first time. Picked up a prepaid 1 GB hotspot SIM for Ł10.49 from the 3 store on Kensington High St.
Placed SIM into dongle and configured WiFi. Able to connect to WiFi and obtain IP from dongle but no 3G connectivity. Tried two locations to see if it was a signal problem. When I point the browser to the dongle's home page I get "The SIM card has not been detected or is invalid".
Any brilliant ideas?
Robert
Mar 19, 2013 | 3:59 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: San Jose CA
Posts: 1,100
Thanks for the suggestion.
The APN is set to "Dynamic" and the manual setup choice was grayed out, and could not be chosen. Went back to 3 store and purchased a Ł50 Huawei E5331 WiFi hotspot with 1GB included. They wouldn't take the 1GB SIM back, so that's a Ł10 loss. Anyway, I'm still a better off than paying Ł20 / day at the hotel. Sadly, the E5331 hotspot is locked to 3 so I'm not sure how useful it will be on other overseas trips.
Aggravating how hard it is to get internet connectivity overseas. Everybody says it's easy, just buy a local SIM. But my experience with local SIMs has always been painful. Long waits at stores, setup problems, etc.
The APN is set to "Dynamic" and the manual setup choice was grayed out, and could not be chosen. Went back to 3 store and purchased a Ł50 Huawei E5331 WiFi hotspot with 1GB included. They wouldn't take the 1GB SIM back, so that's a Ł10 loss. Anyway, I'm still a better off than paying Ł20 / day at the hotel. Sadly, the E5331 hotspot is locked to 3 so I'm not sure how useful it will be on other overseas trips.
Aggravating how hard it is to get internet connectivity overseas. Everybody says it's easy, just buy a local SIM. But my experience with local SIMs has always been painful. Long waits at stores, setup problems, etc.
Last edited by boberonicus; Mar 19, 2013 at 4:12 pm
Mar 19, 2013 | 4:16 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,773
If it says the SIM isn't detected, then the problem is likely just that. Check that the SIM is seated correctly. If it is, and if you can verify that the SIM is active on an account, you might have a bad dongle.