Hot-Spot or Mobile Broadband

Vodafone are going to extend what they call their ‘mobile broadband network’ to 3 million more people. What this really means is that by autumn 2008 they are upgrading the download speeds you will be able to receive in 6 of the larger cities in the UK, to match the speeds Londoners and major airport visitors (theoretically) have received since 2007.

The winners of the Vodafone speed lottery are… (Drum roll please)

• Birmingham
• Bristol
• Glasgow
• Liverpool
• Manchester
• Reading

Bad luck Northern Ireland, Wales, Leeds, Newcastle, and everyone else - you are not invited to the mobile broadband party!

Three things really annoy me about this press release and strategy:

What speeds will they actually offer? - The press release makes no attempt to commit to a download speed to which the six cities will be upgraded. I assume that it’s probably 7.2Mbps, but the omission of an explicit number makes me think that speeds will vary between 1.8 Mbps and 7.2 Mbps. About as committal as a Tory policy announcement!

Why so urban focused? - There is much talk of internet access whilst on the move, as if it’s something that hasn’t reached the shires yet. In fact most major towns and cities are fairly well served by wi-fi already. If there’s a Starbucks, there’s a way.

3G penetration into buildings can be pretty poor too. I have real issues connecting to mobile broadband once I’m more than 3 steps away from a window. I’d like to see 3G initially filling the gaps in wi-fi coverage something that should play to 3G’s inherent strengths. e.g. bigger range of coverage - ideal for the outdoors such as in parks or whilst on train journeys.

Are Vodafone saying that 1.8Mbps isn’t good enough? - Hard to tell from their woolly copy, but the tone of the release could lead one to assume that Vodafone is telling us there’s no point getting their mobile broadband service unless you currently live in London (or an airport). You could perhaps join their club in the six new cities once roll-out completes over the next few months. The reality is that they’ll be selling mobile broadband in their stores from John O’Groats to Lands End. I smell hypocrisy.

Of course, Vodafone realise you don’t need 7.2Mbps to enjoy a good mobile broadband experience. They’re just positioning themselves against the likes of 3 and T-Mobile, to control the battle of who has the fastest network. It smacks a little of corporate todger waving and is confusing for the general public.

Come on Vodafone, credit us all with some intelligence and remember to ‘respect thy customer’.

I’ve just popped into my local 3 store to bore them all about Mobile Broadband (It’s ok, they looked bored already) and I spotted a leaflet that says you get their Mobile Broadband for half price if you’re already a 3 customer. So you could get their cheapest package Broadband Lite for £5 per month. That’s next to nothing!

So if you’re already a 3 customer you should seriously consider getting Mobile Broadband from 3, particularly if you just want to test the water for the first year.

I also found out that their new USB stick modem has got built in Mac installation software which should make it very easy to install. One trick that I think they’re missing is that the sticks don’t have any memory storage built in like a USB memory stick, but I suppose that would make them more expensive and bulkier.

3 have just reduced the price of their PAYG Mobile Broadband offering to £49.99. You get the funky ZTE black and green ‘dongle’ - the very same dongle I reviewed on GadgetStylist.com and rated at 9 out of 10. I wouldn’t recommend the white USB modem which is the same price as I found it much harder to set-up, and the white modems are a bit common these days!! ;o)

You can buy the PAYG modems at 3’s online store.

The tariff means you pay £10 for 1GB of downloads, £15 for 3 GB and so on. The allowance lasts for up to 30 days. This is ideal for occasional users who just want access once or twice a month whilst on a weekend away over the summer. If you’re a daily user pay monthly is probably better for you.

If you’re a PAYG user please leave a comment below to let us all know whether you rate it or not!!

New research released by broadband comparison site Broadband Expert suggests that the average download speed of mobile broadband in the UK is 1.46Mbs. Earlier surveys by the same company revealed home broadband services deliver average speeds of 2.95Mbs, so Mobile Broadband is half the current speed of home broadband.

Download speeds should increase over time. One thing that seems to have been glossed over by the survey is that the majority of people who have signed up for mobile broadband are more likely to have the older, cheaper USB modems that run at a maximum download of 1.8Mbps. In my opinion this would skew the results and actually make an average of 1.46Mps pretty bloody good! In another year I would expect the average to rise closer to 2.5Mbps as the newer modems and upgrades to the operators networks kick in. In fact, in a year we may see average home broadband speeds being overtaken by mobile broadband. You heard it here first…

1.46Mps is way ahead of the speeds we all accepted at home 3 years ago and it’s more than fine for browsing the internet, receiving emails and watching shorter video clips. It’s obviously a little slow for downloading large amounts of music and video, but with a relatively low download cap (a maximum of 3GB per month in most cases) you aren’t likely to be using a Mobile Broadband for lots of heavy downloading.

The top download speeds ranged from 2.3Mbps for Vodafone to 1.1Mbps for T-Mobile and 1Mbps for Three. The average upload speed for all providers was 0.38Mbps which is a little on the low side. Upload speed describes how quickly you can send data from your laptop which is important for sending large documents such as emails with photo or Powerpoint attachements.

As you may expect, download speed varied between areas depending on the mobile coverage and the network used, with higher speeds more likely to be achieved in bigger towns and cities. It’s important to note that even in areas of good coverage 3G signals can quickly become weak once deeper inside a building.

Hi there

A little while ago, courtesy of the unique way BT treats new customers, I was stuck without a home broadband connection for 3 months. Living without internet access is not funny, so I was forced to investigate the world of wi-fi hotspots and mobile broadband in order to stay online/alive. I thought it would be a good idea to share my experiences with anyone who is stuck in a similar situation, or who perhaps just wants to find the best way to get online whilst out and about.

Wi-fi hotspots have been around for years and in the UK you normally have to pay for access. Mobile Broadband is the new kid on the block which is proving to be very popular. According to a recent study 50,000 plus people are signing up per month. I even hear that hundreds of thousands are joining each month from people in the industry.

This blog aims to give good advice about the pros and cons of mobile broadband and wi-fi hotspots, and the various providers. I’ll try and keep you up to date about the various deals, news and products.

My website GadgetStylist.com also shares user reviews of the mobile broadband services out there and has a comparison of the best deals in the market.

I hope you like my blog (I’m a blog virgin!) and would love to hear your comments.

Happy reading.

Chris