After a two week wait Vodaphone finally delivered their latest USB Modem Stick Pro

The model number is K3760

The box contents include

The K3760
A USB extender cable
Safety Manual
Quick Start Guide
Vodafone Mobile Connect Software CD 
A SIM card

The K3760 supports: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSUPA and HSDPA depending on mobile coverage.

Why a USB Stick based solution?

Well the plug and play ability of USB allows me to quickly internet enable any PC. So the built in WWAN of a laptop may be neater but USB is more flexible.

I don’t even need to remember my install CD any software installs from the memory inside the K3760.

Mobile broadband is also a good fall back temporary solution if my office based ADSL is playing up.

Sidebar: For optimum internet redundancy I used to have two separate ADSL connections but I have dropped down to 1 ADSL and 1 Cellular. So if one goes down I can utilize the other.

Like any mobile data solution you need good data coverage and I will build up a better picture of this over time.

Hardware

The USB memory stick like design you will be used to. The USB connector is recessed into the shell and it has a a silver switch to bring it out. The hardware holds the data sim but also has mini SD socket which can take mini SD up to 4GB. Note it is supplied with none.

Install

I have installed and tested it on both Windows XP and Windows Vista and both experiences were identical. However I got the impression that Windows Vista was doing more in the background and used nearly 1mb of data allowance just being connected.

The install on both platforms has a rather geeky dos box with some things going on.

But this disappears once the install is complete.

The version of Vodafone Mobile connect Lite is 9.3.3.10523

Connected

The speed of the connection depends on the type of network you have access to.

From my location during various parts of the day I had HSUPA all the way down to GRPS but all were functional working internet connections but of varying speed.

Other networks

You can force the Modem stick to re poll the available networks. I was surprised to see the other companies networks listed and their speed types. handy if I want to move to another provider with better converge a year down the road.

You can determine the speed of the available networks without connecting. The USB modem will Blink Green if a GPRS or Edge network is available and Blue for 3G.

VPN

My primarily reason for needing mobile broadband is to be able to VPN into systems for remote administration and all my existing VPN software worked first time.

So my out of the box experience with the K3760 is excellent. It did remind me of my first experience of using broadband after years of 56k modems. The WOW look how fast that file is downloading experience.

I will write a follow up post about the K3760 in a few weeks after I have use it a bit more.

So bookmark  http://www.colindiponio.com/category/mobile-broadband/ for future updates.

Product Link: http://www.vodafonebusinessshop.co.uk/DataWelcome.html

I have been having what I consider to be significant problems placing an order for a Dell Latitude E4200.

You can read all about it here. http://www.colindiponio.com/category/dell/

I was hoping for a compromise in the form of a Seed machine or Loan/Review machine to tide me through until the late November delivery date of the E4200.

In fact the suggestion of a Seed machine came from Dell Partner Direct. But it would now appear I don’t meet their criteria. I can’t magic up an order for 20 of these.

So my options are:-

1) Break with a 14 year tradition of supplying 100% Dell Hardware and investigate solutions from HP or Lenovo. A decision that will impact on my choice of hardware vendor moving forward for me and my Clients.

I can’t for example take a spiffy Lenovo X300 into a Client and then offer to supply them Dell. I take pride in the fact I supply clients what I myself use (PowerEdge, Latitude, Precision and Optiplex).

2) Place an order for the Latitude E4200 and hurry up and wait for what will be a total of 72 days  from when I placed the original order.

3) Take the Credit Crunch / Economic issues seriously and don’t invest in any new technology.

As time ticks on and various people around the globe are receiving their E4200’s and I jealous? Sure The E4200 sounds great but it’s not all smooth sailing one Chap over at the forums on  www.notebookreiew.com is less than impressed (See Posts 45 and 72).

Link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=306454&page=8

So what now?

I asked in an e-mail to Dell Partner Direct earlier today if we had run out of options but I haven’t heard from them since?

I have recently been having a nightmare ordering a Latitude E4200 from Dell. So I did some sleuthing around the Dell.co.uk website this morning at 10am 22nd October 2008 to see if any other models were also being delayed.

In my case the 1.4 Ghz CPU on the Latitude E4200 is apparently causing the delay of up to 35 days.

As you can see above this isn’t just isolated to one machine or product family. Hopefully this will resolve itself soon as this represents a significant percentage of Dell’s Business offerings and must be forcing consumers to consider other options.

For back story see: [Here], [Here], [Here], [Here] and [Here]  All these posts are about the trials and tribulations of ordering one single Dell Latitude E4200 laptop from Dell.

—

My Dell Partner Direct Account Manager called me late yesterday afternoon.

This was further to my e-mail earlier in the day asking for lead time confirmation and to ask if the  costs had changed.

I was re-quoted and the E4200 was £115 more expensive but we soon resolved that.

The next stumbling block is the current lead time. As you can see from the above that’s up to 36 days on top of the 35 days that have passed since I placed my original order.

I was told the hold up is the 1.4Ghz CPU.

I had to be honest with my rep without throwing my weight around. I’m not prepared to wait 71 days for a laptop product that Dell offer on their web site when I can order one off the shelf from HP or Lenovo.

The demand for the E4200 was clearly started too early, in the UK at least.  It has been featured on the Dell business site as an orderable product since September 16th. I ordered one on the 17th but with a Delivery date in the late Novembers its all a bit vapourware for my liking.

Disheartened but still brand loyal I asked about the availability of the E4300’s but they too have a long lead time.

Earlier in the day I spent an hour or so doing real research into alternative products from other vendors like HP, Lenovo and Sony. Specifically their small form factor laptops in the 12.1” range.

Ill be honest HP 2710p below is getting pretty near top of my list.

If the 2710p came with a faster CPU 2nd generation SSD I would be giving it some serious thought.

As it stands I have a call in with Dell to see if we can work out a deal on a seed unit or something to tide me over.

The reason why my order was cancelled was given as:-

“There was an error on our systems and the order did not download correctly and interface with the systems down in the factory.”

It sounds like I was spot on  in my post of yesterday:-

“I can’t help thinking something is really wrong inside Dell if the simple business of buying and selling fails so miserably.”

I am still shocked that the internal systems at Dell could allow this to happen. The order went from sales to the factory. There was a problem and the whole thing just stopped and disappeared down a black hole.

It took the customer to identify the order was cancelled. Now that can’t be right.

It sounds to me like Sales weren’t aware (or they would have fixed it).

I certainly didn’t know or was contacted or e-mailed.

Moving on…..

So I now have achieved one of my impossible missions finding out why the original order from 35 days ago was cancelled.

I had asked for the new lead time of a E4200 as the Dell UK Website worryingly indicates

“Due to unprecedented demand for this system, we regret to inform you of a prolonged delivery time on your order”

Sadly this information was not given. So 35 Days into the ordering process I am still unclear when I would actually receive a Dell Latitude E4200. So this morning I have e-mailed Dell Partner Direct and asked for confirmation on lead times.

If I have to wait 20+ Days then I am not sure I can afford to wait and will be forced to find another solution from HP or Lenovo. That would be sad because I have been ordering Dell’s exclusively since 1994.

One thing missing from my Voice Mail from Dell Partner Direct. An Apology.

I am glad this order is mine personally because if it were for a Client I’m not sure I could put a positive spin on what’s going on.

To read the other posts relating to this topic see here

2008/09/17/dell-in-slowdown-of-demand-as-dell-partner-direct-is-unresponsive/

2008/10/14/dell-cancel-my-latitude-e4200-order-but-dont-tell-me/

2008/10/17/i-still-have-issues-with-dell-partner-direct-in-the-uk/

2008/10/20/michael-dell-blogs-direct-to-it-decision-makers/