Vodaphone USB stick in multiple countries

[Traveler]

I will be in Dublin, London and Italy in the next few months, in that order.

I thought I would purchase a Vodaphone USB stick since that company has service in all three places, but was wondering if anyone knows if it will work in all those countries with locally-purchased SIMs? Ideally, I would purchase it in Dublin, swap in a U.K. SIM in London and an Italian SIM in Italy. That would save me from having to purchase multiple USB sticks.

Any info is appreciated.

Thanks!

[Ties Brants]

It will only work if the stick isn't sim-locked. (which I assume it is) If it is locked it will be locked to Vodafone in the country you bought it in. So it won't work with any other network, not even with other Vodafone networks.

Getting an unlocked usb stick with umts 2100 and gsm 900/1800 from somewhere else might work better.

[inquisitor]

Those Vodafone 3G sticks produced by Huawei can easily be unlocked if they actually are locked. Usually the back of the box or the stick itself shows the manufacturer's logo (Huawei or ZTE).
Here in Germany Vodafone modems have always been sold unlocked (even prepaid ones). Only the dashboard software on these refuse to connect to other networks. However you can replace this restricted dashboard software by an unlocked one through a simple update procedure (see 3G modem wiki Home - 3G modem wiki for more details).

[Traveler]

Thanks for your responses!

Originally Posted by Ties Brants

Getting an unlocked usb stick with umts 2100 and gsm 900/1800 from somewhere else might work better.

Any suggestions as to where I could find an unlocked usb stick? I don't think I'm technologically advanced enough to unlock one myself.

[inquisitor]

Unlocking is quite easy. You just need to enter the IMEI (serial number on the back of the stick) at Online Huawei Modem Unlock Calculator and within seconds an unlock code will be generated.

Then you would download a dashboard update for your stick from 3G modem wiki Home - 3G modem wiki and run it. This will replace the operator-branded (and perhaps restricted) dashboard software on your stick's integrated flash memory by a generic dashboard, which will work on any network.

Finally uninstall the operator-branded dashboard from your computer, install the now unbranded one from your stick and start it. If you use a third-party SIM card and the stick is actually locked, you will be required to enter an unlock code at some point. That's it.