We've been staying in premier travel inns for the last 4 nights. They have good beds and the showers are acceptable but the internet provided by Swisscom is a rip off. I paid £9 for 24 hours on the first night. It would be £108 for a month. It amused me that in the terms and conditions is said that the service could be used anywhere in the UK or Europe (except Switzerland).
While in Crewe I went to renew my mobile contract. I got 100 extra minutes a month and an infinite number of extra text messages for no extra cost. I also got an iPod touch and a new Nokia phone thrown in for good measure - neither of which I needed but I was excited about playing with them anyway. I got the phone because it was free and I figured Andy could use it after he left his iPhone on a plane. I managed to screw up the remote unlocking by entering 5 wrong codes and now apparently I need a special cable and some super skills if he wants to use it with O2. If anyone possesses these and can unlock a Nokia 6500 then please let us know - we'll put you on the guest list and buy you a pint ;) The iPod touch is the same as an iPhone but not as good. I knew this but still thought I might get a bit of enjoyment out of it.
I then went across the road to the T Mobile shop and bought a web'n'walk USB modem. That's what I'm sending this from. It works on the 3G network and gives you unlimited downloads. In the van I was getting 50kbit/s download speeds. Right now it's telling me it'll do about 7kbit/s. Apparently when the new masts are up it'll do up to 7Mb/s a second. It's £15 a month which I figured was pretty reasonable compared to what I've been paying in hotels. However I was very disappointed with T Mobile's definition of Unlimited which differs somewhat from what I'd been taught at school. The dictionary reckons that unlimited means "without limit" whereas T Mobile says it means 3GB. Personally I don't agree with that kind of false advertising. Essentially the adverts are saying
"UNLIMITED* DOWNLOADS" - *not really
It's like ads for weight loss or low calorie foods you see on the side of busses....
"Mars Bar Light: Helps you lose weight* " - *as part of a calorie controlled diet.
The calorie control bit basically means you can't eat it. Well, maybe one lick a day.
Over and out,
J
