Just made a big booboo this evening. After Tin’s observation, I have decided to give GPRS a try with my existing SIM card before I go about getting a new SIM for dedicated GPRS service should I find the speed to be adequate.
I activated GPRS with my phone as instructed on Sunday’s website. It took about 2 hours before I could access GPRS on the phone. When I came home this afternoon, I tried it on the PC card modem. It took me about an hour to figure out the setup configuration which is not documented anywhere.
I then went on and tested the speed. For website loading, it seems to be about 1/3 the speed as on my desktop at work using a 56K dial-up modem. Which still feels much faster then the PC card modem on 14.4K dial-up. Fair enough. I then tried searching a worth while program to download and check for the actual speed. The download dialog box said 18min for a 5.8MB file at an average speed listed as 5.2KB/s. Hmmm… The number itself matches what I would get on my 56K dial-up modem, but website loading for some reason is still not as smooth.
Just before I finish downloading the program, I suddenly realize that during the entire activation of the GRPS setup, it never confirmed or mentioned the $38/month service package. A quick call to Sunday Customer Service confirmed my fear. They wanted me to specify the package somewhere else on an entirely different phone number! I just went through some 8MB on pay-as-I-go in per KB charge. That would be over HKD$260!
The customer service rep at Sunday will go through my case with her manager tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.
WhaUSay?!