There are 2 issues potential customers of 3Pay for iPad face.

Firstly, Three claim you can’t get prepaid MicroSIMs (the smaller SIM card that goes in to an iPhone 4 and iPad), and that they only exist for post-pay, monthly contract users. As of the time of writing, their website mentions they’re “coming soon” (and has done for a number of months now, and their phone support people told me twice in the last 2 days that they don’t exist and that there is no immediate release plans for them. I came across a thread on boards.ie where a Three representative claims 3Stores had them. A quick trip to Liffey Valley 3Store (note, the actual Three shop, not a reseller of Three services), and a short time later I’d one in my hand, promisingly labelled “MICRO SIM 3PAY BROADBAND[sic]“. I was told there was 1GB data included (no sign of how to get this, or any credit on the account). I also provided details to register, which I had to bizarrely handwrite, but registration doesn’t appear to have happened (I had to fill in the details on the MyThree website). So, ignore the 3 website, and ignore what 3 tell you on the phone. Go to a 3Store and you can get a prepaid MicroSIM.

The second problem many will face is registering on the MyThree website, so you can top up and buy daily/weekly/monthly passes for your “broadband”, you’ll need to be able to receive an SMS with your newly create password (or, for future reference, to retrieve a forgotten password). The iPad, of course, has no such SMS facility. So, you’ll need to find a device capable of receiving an SMS that will accept your new Three MicroSIM. Given that the most common device is an iPhone 4, and that most of these are locked to their network, you’ll need to find an unlocked iPhone 4, or an iPhone 4 from Three. Alternatively, you can hack together, or buy, a MicroSIM to SIM adaptor. In my case, I made an adaptor and used a newly-unlocked 3G modem from o2 to both test the Three network and receive their SMS.

So, once you can overcome those 2 hurdles, you should be able to enjoy Three’s network on your iPad, with 3Pay.

Feel free to contact me if you think I can answer any questions on any of this!

To remedy the problem, I substituted the call, in 2 places, with the PHP4 equivalent calls. file_put_contents(..) is a shortcut convenience method which is the same as calling fopen(..), fwrite(..) and fclose(..).

As of version 1.1.3 of the plugin the code is under wp-content/plugins/wordpress-mobile-pack/plugins/wpmp_transcoder/ in your WordPress install directory. The 2 occurrences are in the file wpmp_transcoder.php on lines 431 and 448 respectively.

I changed

@file_put_contents($full_location, $data);

.. to ..

$fhout = @fopen($full_location, "w" );
@fwrite($fhout, $data);
@fclose( $fhout );


.. and ..


@file_put_contents("$full_location.meta", "< ?php $"."width='$width';$"."height='$height';$"."type='$type'; ?>");

.. to ..

$fhmeta = @fopen( "$full_location.meta", "w" );
@fwrite( $fhmeta, "< ?php $"."width='$width';$"."height='$height';$"."type='$type'; ?>");
@fclose( $fhmeta );

.. and all was well again.

You could also just not use the “Shrink images” feature to avoid having to mess with any code!

Traditionally, mobile top ups are a matter of purchasing a fixed increment (€10 or €20, usually) credit value from a shop who use their in-house PoS systems or their Credit Card validation machine. The customer gets a printed receipt with a code they then enter once they call their mobile phone provider’s top up number.

However, in An Post’s case, you’ll purchase a similar piece of paper with a code on it. You’ll have to text that code to a short code (a 5 digit number, rather than a full-length mobile number), and wait for a response, by text, giving you the actual code you need to use when calling your top up number. There’s no mention of any cost associated with the short-number text, or response text for that matter. Presumably both are free, but it’s not clarified anywhere.

Have you ever tried reading a text message while on a call? On some phones it’s not possible, on most phones it’s not an easy thing to do. Many people will resort to having to write down the number. An entirely unnecessary step (given that PostPoint branches are all interlinked and already have interconnects with other services like, say, AIB).

An Post do raise a valid positive point to the new service and that is that someone can buy a gift top up without needing to know what network the recipient is on. I’d imagine that person represents a tiny minority of pre-pay users.

Finally, media coverage, and An Post’s own PR, suggests that it’s a top up service for all networks, but it doesn’t appear to be. Nowhere is there a mention of Tesco Mobile.