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How to use mobile broadband in businesss
3 Mobile Broadband
3 is at the forefront of mobile broadband innovation. Consumers can choose from a vast range of pick’n’mix-like options, where they choose which modem they’d like, how much data allowance they’ll need, and the length of the contract.
Business users don’t have quite so much variety, but there are still six different packages on offer. The lowest headline figure is £8.51 exc VAT a month for 3’s Broadband Lite service, which buys a minimalist 1GB-worth of data per month on a 12-month contract - the total price of £102 is the lowest we’ve seen for mobile broadband.
If you go over your data allowance, you’ll be charged 8.5p per megabyte, which quickly adds up. Though 3 bundles software that makes it easy to see how much data you’re using, that doesn’t apply if two or more people are sharing the modem.
You have two more options if you want a 12-month contract. Broadband Plus costs £12.77 exc VAT and includes 3GB of data per month, Broadband Max costs £21.27 exc VAT and imposes a 7GB limit.
If you know you’ll need a huge amount of data, take note of the Broadband 15GB deal. This ties you into an 18-month or 24-month deal, but what makes it particularly interesting is that if you’re buying more than one dongle for your business you can get the second contract for half price - until the end of January 2009 at least. That brings the price down from £25.53 exc VAT to £12.77.
Similarly, you can opt for the Broadband 5GB contract for £12.77 for the first user, and £6.38 exc VAT for the second user. Like the 15GB plan, this lasts for 18 months or 24 months.
3 also provides the option of buying a 3G wireless router. Plug your modem into this, and you’ll be able to share your broadband with anyone else in your home or office - though we’d recommend it as a backup choice in an office, or you’ll soon eat through your data allowance.
Where 3 struggles to match T-Mobile and Vodafone is for the solidity of its connection. On our daily commute, we found 3’s software a constant annoyance as it dropped in and out of reception, a problem exacerbated by the fact it doesn’t automatically reconnect when you come back in range.
Speeds themselves are respectable, though. Using 3’s E169 modem (you can choose which you get at time of purchase), we achieved maximum download speeds of 2.6Mbits/sec in London, and averaged 1Mbit/sec outside of London - when we could find good reception.
