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Mobile broadband - the verdict

Posted on 15 Jul 2008 at 12:38

Speeds also take a dire turn for the worse if you head outside a 3G area. Many rural areas are restricted to the slovenly GPRS connections, which are an unwanted throwback to the days of dial-up modems, with a maximum speed of around 236Kb/sec. At such speeds, full web browsing slows to a crawl, and using web applications such as Gmail becomes a downright chore, if not impossible. Check the coverage maps on the networks' websites before you buy: if you're planning to use the stick extensively in a non-3G area, we suggest you leave well alone.

Upload speeds

It's not only downloads where you see true broadband speeds: uploads are equally well catered for by the majority of networks. They are beginning to implement a technology called High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) that provides a maximum theoretical upload speed of 1.44Mb/sec. In real life, we saw upload speeds of between 350 and 400Kb/sec, which is plenty fast enough for uploading photos to Flickr or updating blogs and websites.

The other networks weren't far behind, however. T-Mobile, O2 and Orange all recorded speeds above 300Kb/sec - which isn't much slower than you would expect from an ADSL Max connection.

The only fly in the ointment was 3, which suffered from paltry upload speeds of around 60Kb/sec in our tests. Our 100MB test file took more than half-an-hour to upload. This certainly isn't the network you want if you're looking to ping photos to a website on the move.

The right price

If there's a single reason why mobile broadband has taken off, it's price. After years of charging frankly ridiculous rates for mobile data (PC Pro once calculated that to download 20GB of data on a Vodafone mobile tariff would cost the same as a semi-detached house) the mobile networks have finally come to their senses and have now started charging more reasonably.

Four out of the five networks offer 3GB download packages for £15 per month; O2's basement price is £20 per month, although it does throw in access to The Cloud's Wi-Fi network for that. Some go even cheaper. 3, for example, offers a 1GB package for only £10. And although that sounds like a restrictively stingy download cap, if you're only using the stick for everyday surfing and catching up with emails while you're on the road, you'd do well to exceed 1GB.

"The most popular packages are the ones with a 3GB download limit," said Robert Ablewhite, director of Broadbandexpert.com, which compares different mobile broadband packages. Ablewhite claims intense competition between the networks has helped drive sales, but that he "can't see how they can reduce prices much further".

All of these deals depend on customers signing lengthy contracts. Most demand you sign on the dotted line for 18 months or two years, although you'll usually get the USB dongle thrown in for free, or at a highly subsided price.

Alternatively, those who only want mobile broadband as a backup for their home connection, or plan to use it very rarely, can opt for a pay-as-you-go plan. T-Mobile offers ad-hoc access for £4 per day, while 3's Broadband Casual package charges £1 per MB of data. Such packages only really make sense for very occasional use, and you'll have to pay a heftier up-front fee for the modem: from £49 on 3, £99 for T-Mobile.

And what about those business trips abroad, when you'd rather not enter the company credit card details in El Cheapo hotspot? For £10 a day, you can use your Vodafone modem across several European countries and the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand (check its website for the full list of compatible countries). For those countries not on the £10-a-day list, charges rise to a rather more princely £4.99 per MB - which only those with the most generous of expense accounts will want to invest in.