Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
User avatar
By Tall_Guy_In_a_PA28
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1841075
Paul_Sengupta wrote:Samsung phone and a Samsung tablet.

Have you topped up some credit?

I get options for Data Add-ons (the cheapest of which is £15 for 2GB for30 days) or 'International Credit' for use overseas only, the cheapest of which is £2.

Are you saying that £2 of International Credit will enable my 'free' data? I might go for that. I have unlimited work-funded data on other devices so will never need this for anything other than Skydemon NOTAMs and weather.

I have got as far as accessing the 'My3' homepage on iPad mini (using the APN trick in the video above) and can check my account has 200MB of data available, but nothing else works.
User avatar
By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1841084
I'm not sure, but I found with a couple of mine and also those of friends, the easiest way of activating it was to put some credit on. I think when I last did it, it was just a "normal" top up.

I'm sure it's possible without topping up but I couldn't be bothered finding the method! :D
User avatar
By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1845665
Paul_Sengupta wrote:I'm sure it's possible without topping up but I couldn't be bothered finding the method! :D


Righty-ho, I've just obtained another one for yet another tablet I've purchased. I've found the method for registering without having to top up.

What you have to do is go into mobile settings and create a new APN. Call it anything you like, you just need the APN of "3internet"...don't worry about filling in all the MMS centre data and so on. Select this APN to use. Then you can turn off your Wifi and go to the web page specified to the right of the sim card on the package they send you, "three.co.uk/freedata". If the APN of 3internet has been selected, it'll take you to the registration page, rather than giving you the error.

Once you've registered, you can then switch APN back to the default one (three.co.uk I think) and you're in business.

Edit: Looking back, I see this was mentioned in a video on the previous page. This worked for me.
User avatar
By exfirepro
#1845874
@Paul_Sengupta et al,

What a palaver!

I ordered my free “3” sim several weeks ago (when still in lockdown) after seeing the early part of this thread. When it arrived, I put it in my iPad Mini 5 and tried to register with ‘3’ as per the instructions in the package, but couldn’t get past the locking screen mentioned by most others, so called the ‘3’ help desk. They got me to a point where I apparently had a ‘3’ account but apparently ‘3’ sends the password to the device containing the sim by text - unfortunately iPads don’t ‘do’ texts, so the help desk very unhelpfully suggested I visit my nearest ‘3 shop’ - which was still in lockdown, so I gave up.

Having come across Paul’s workround in this thread last night - I temporarily changed the APN designation in APN Settings from ‘three.co.uk’ to ‘3internet’ (with NO other changes) and it connected, led me through registration and gave me my free data, but still no password, so I returned the APN to ‘three.co.uk’ and went to bed.

This morning, after a rethink, I pulled up the ‘My3’ Page and tried to login - still without the (previously ‘texted’) password of course - and tried ‘Forgot Password’ to try to get it to send me a password reset link. Guess what.... despite having my registered e-mail and the ‘forgot password’ screen saying it would send a reset link by e-mail or text, it chose to send it by text... :evil:

I then had a (bit of a) brainwave... I swapped the sim into my (fortunately unlocked) Galaxy S9+ (which is normally on 02), then connected to the ‘My3’ screen and retried the login - forgot password trick and ‘Bingo’ received a text with a temporary password, which finally allowed me to login to ‘My3’ and reset my password to something I can actually use - and while I was there, check that my free 200Mb of data had actually been allocated. I then swapped the SIM back to my iPad Mini and ‘Hello World’ - 3G Internet Access. (I’m not sure what happened to 4G mind you - possibly something to do with being right on the boundary of Three’s reported signal coverage area), but at least it seems to be working!

So Thank You Paul! :thumright: for your prompt, but to repeat what I said above What a Palaver ! - If that’s Three’s idea of good marketing they are certainly not promoting themselves as my ‘Go-to provider’.
seanxair liked this
By GAFlyer4Fun
#1845977
exfirepro wrote:... ‘3’ sends the password to the device containing the sim by text - unfortunately iPads don’t ‘do’ texts,.....


Had that problem when I got my ipad mini 2 all those years ago. I dont remember how they resolved it but they did. Amazed people still having that problem.
exfirepro liked this
User avatar
By Tall_Guy_In_a_PA28
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1845994
I wrote:
Paul_Sengupta wrote:Samsung phone and a Samsung tablet.

Have you topped up some credit?

I get options for Data Add-ons (the cheapest of which is £15 for 2GB for30 days) or 'International Credit' for use overseas only, the cheapest of which is £2.

Are you saying that £2 of International Credit will enable my 'free' data? I might go for that. I have unlimited work-funded data on other devices so will never need this for anything other than Skydemon NOTAMs and weather.

I have got as far as accessing the 'My3' homepage on iPad mini (using the APN trick in the video above) and can check my account has 200MB of data available, but nothing else works.


My free data magically started working a couple of days after setting it up with no further intervention from me. I guess the 3 registration system is just a bit slow.
By malcolmfrost
#1846011
The Sim I used first stopped giving me data (mobile data was turned off! Doh!)so I ordered another. I used the 3internet APN trick to get the registration screen which worked fine and no account needed. I then switched back to three.co.uk (maybe not needed) and am getting 4G and 200 mb free so happy!
User avatar
By exfirepro
#1846172
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
exfirepro wrote:What a Palaver


You know you don't actually need to create a My3 account for it...? :D


I do now, Paul! But only after jumping through all the hoops to get to this point. I suppose the benefit of having the account, however, is that I can at least keep an eye on my data usage.

Peter
User avatar
By exfirepro
#1846182
@malcolmfrost

Mine probably does too, but as this is the first time I’ve ever run a tablet with a SIM card, I haven’t got my head round that bit yet. Next job on my to do list... :wink:
User avatar
By RisePilot
#1846225
So three pages of discussion on how to save a fiver?

If you call and ask, a “piggyback” SIM can be had for £5/mo from both EE and Vodafone. I’ve had this for many years and presently have separate SIMs in both my laptop and iPad sharing data from my primary mobile plan.

Historically, this was £10/m (I’ve done it since 2007), but is now £5. The call centre kids at customer service won’t always know what you’re talking about, but it is possible.
exfirepro liked this
User avatar
By Tall_Guy_In_a_PA28
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1846280
RisePilot wrote:So three pages of discussion on how to save a fiver?

If you call and ask, a “piggyback” SIM can be had for £5/mo from both EE and Vodafone.


But you need an existing account to piggyback onto, which anyone with a company provided phone (myself included) does not necessarily have.

Besides, £5/month for the rest of my flying life (20 years?) is not to be sniffed at. I have endured far longer Flyer Forum threads for no reward at all!