Data access is standard on Vodafone. To the best of my knowledge, the type of connection (GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA) depends on the handset and your configuration thereof, not on the SIM. I have to qualify that by admitting that I personally have not progressed beyond EDGE (the fastest type of 2.5G).

Handsets have to be configured with settings specific to the provider, for MMS, WAP and internet access. Your Sony Ericsson phone has probably not been configured for MMS with Orange. The easiest way to configure it is to receive the settings via SMS. Most customers get them from their mobile provider (Orange, in your case). For Nokia phones, there is an alternative, by following a link on the Nokia website. Sony Ericsson might have a similar facility: as an internet addict, you should be able to find out about that.

I would expect the N900 to follow earlier NITs in having a Mobile Operator Setup Wizard which will do the configuration without any input beyond your manual selection of the operator (Vodafone UK). It should be simpler for the N900 than for the earlier Tablets, which accessed mobile data via bluetooth connection to a phone. The N900 has the phone built in.

I got my Vodafone SIM on a visit to Britain in 2004. I went into a Vodafone shop and bought it. At that time, I was not interested in mobile data. Nevertheless, the SIM has given me data access in successive technologies short of 3G. Nothing on the website indicates that 3G would be different, but you had really better ask someone who uses 3G with Vodafone. So far as I remember, nobody from Vodafone has ever rung me up.

Perhaps I had to show my passport in the shop. I don't remember. Maybe that was in Italy. It's no big deal. By using this forum, you have already registered and published more personal detail than the mobile provider will ever want to know.

NOTE: The price of 50p for 25 MB does not include the use of VOIP or messaging services. They cost 1 Pound per MB, charged separately on your PAYG balance. There could be other exclusions.