Mobile broadband and WiFi HotSpot information and advice
3 have launched a cool looking mobile broadband ready WiFi router which enables you to plug in your mobile broadband dongle and share your connection. This could be at home, in an office or on hols (in the UK). Very exciting stuff.
Only £69.99 at 3. I’m definitely going to get one!
3 have announced that they will double their broadband speeds by the end of the summer. They currently operate at a theoretical max download speed of 3.6Mb, although they only quote 2.8Mb as a top speed as 3.6Mb is virtually impossible to achieve unless you sit live under a base station. Most people will receive 1Mb to 1.5Mb on average, which allows you to download a music track in no more than 30 seconds, so it’s still pretty fast. Most home broadband connection’s only achieve a speed of around 3Mb according to a report late last year by the BBC.
Their network top speed is increasing to 7.2Mb which 3 state will get most customers to an actual download speed of 2Mb. They aim t double the top speed again to 14.4Mb in the future, which we assume means a download speed of 3Mb to 4Mb which would challenge many of the home broadband providers.
Find out more about 3’s Mobile Broadband deals
GadgetStylist.com has revealed the details of the 3 Mobile Broadband with free laptop deal that is now available. There are 3 free laptops on offer, each with different features levels.
You can get a free laptop from £30 per month on a 24 month contract, up to £40 per month for the highest spec laptop.
Go to GadgetStylist.com’s mobile broadband and phone reviews website for more information
…and 1 million in total across Europe.This suggests that 3’s strong marketing campaign and courage to pretty much create a new market in the UK has paid off. I would estimate that with 500k subscribers they probably hold about 25-35% of the UK’s consumer Mobile Broadband market, out punching their weight in the mobile phone market where they only have around 6 or 7% of customers.
Great to see 3 getting some reward for their efforts and really interesting to get some numbers on the Mobile Broadband market.
3 are widely reported to be rolling out a new range of deals this August which will combine a free laptop with a £30 to £40 per month Mobile Broadband tariff. The contract will last 24 months and include 5GB of downloads per month.
This could be the ultimate student package, or a great way to purchase a second PC for your home whilst getting the benefit of mobile broadband whenever you need, with a generous download limit.
This is similar to Carphone Warehouse’s free laptop offers when you sign up to AOL for your home broadband, a deal which has proved very popular. Keep em peeled for the launch of the deals in a few days time on 3’s website.