So as I wrote earlier, I’m waiting for my BT Infinity service to be connected tomorrow so I’m using my all new 3 E586 MiFi that I got last week. (Do read about the rather frustrating circumstances of that.)

I thought I’d do another post about the MiFi just to illustrate how good I’m finding it.

I’m sitting on the third floor of my property. There’s a full ‘H’ signal on the device. Data is screaming through it.

I have to upload a 170.41 megabyte video to Youtube. I was thinking of waiting until I got the fixed-line connection to upload, but then thought it would be worth a shot to see how painful the experience was. I had no doubt the MiFi could do it — it’s certainly possible — the issue is throughput.

I wasn’t expecting miracles.

But goodness me it’s rocking.

See that image above? That was just as we started. Youtube reckoned the upload would take about 17 minutes. That’s pretty accurate.

Here it is at 30 odd percent.

And now, almost half way through the 170mb upload:

Very, very impressive.

My wife’s parents live out in the middle of nowhere in Hampshire.

When you put their phone number into the BT broadband speed checker, the system does the equivalent of burst out laughing, arms crossed, shaking its head.

It estimates a speed of between 0.25mb and 1mb.

This, then, is why when I go there, it’s rather difficult to do anything.

Email is fine, but everything else — Googling, Youtube, Skype, FaceTime, downloading stuff — it’s really, really slow.

So my wife has been doing some research. I’d mentioned ‘satellite broadband’ to her ages ago. She picked that memory up and went hunting. Yesterday she came across Tooway Broadband. It looks pretty user-friendly, it’s two-way, it’s reasonably priced and it’s highly tempting. Her parents are seriously considering purchasing it.

I did a bit of searching myself and there appears to be plenty of Tooway resellers. I liked the look of Tooway Direct.

I’ve been asked for an opinion. This is my issue. I don’t know what to say.

I know that when I last seriously looked at a satellite connection, hardly any services did two-way. I remember reading that they’re managed to solve the internet’s latency requirements with some smart caching/proxy management. I’ve never actually experienced it though.

I’d like to know whether it’s going to be faster than really rubbish broadband. And I’d like to know about the limitations. How does Skype perform? Can you watch a Youtube video without issue? How fast does it ‘feel’? Waiting a ‘moment’ but then experiencing super-fast delivery of stuff would be most certainly workable.

Have you tried any of these services? I’d very much appreciate your feedback!

Routinely, WiFi hotspots are so SHIT that I simply have to rely on my MiFi unit for connectivity. Three’s data network is amongst the best in the business — and the MiFi unit is a brilliant way of unlocking that for all your connectivity needs.

I used to regularly travel up and down the M4 motorway and goodness me, the networks — Three in particular — seem to have got that motorway connected properly. I was able to stay connected at what felt like desktop data speeds for my whole journey. [I want to point out, I wasn't driving!]

The MiFi gets me out of a heck of a lot of tight spots though. You know the scene — turn up at an office and find that their guest WiFi needs 16-layers of security confirmation. Or arrive into a pub to do some work and find that the bollocks BT Openzone wants to charge you on a pence-per-minute basis. Stupid. Scenarios like this have me reaching for the MiFi all the time. I don’t even bother taking it out my bag. I just feel for the power switch, depress it for a second and then see the WiFi connection pop-up.

So I’m a big user. Three’s current MiFi unit is the Huawei E585. Here’s a quick reminder:

It’s great. The battery feels like it lasts most of the business day. In practice after about 4-5 hours of continuous use, I need to power it up. Provided you’re in a city centre location, I generally find the throughput speeds to be comparable to a desktop broadband connection.

That was then.

Now the next generation is upon us: The E586. Let’s have a photo:

Right. This one is HSPA+ which means that you’ll get up to 21.1Mbps down (“HSDPA”) and 5.76Mbps up (“HSUPA”). Amazing. Three reckons it should be about 40% faster. (80% of the operator’s network will be fully HSPA+ compliant by the end of the year.)

They’ve made a few nice improvements — apparently the dashboard has got a nice upgrade. I’m hopeful on this one. It was a little bit ‘Huwaei bog standard’ for my tastes but it certainly did the job. There’s also a smart new feature that enables users to see the WiFi username/password on-screen at the touch of a button, ‘for fast pairing with new gadgets’.

Somebody at Three has obviously given their MiFi a lot of use. One of the slight arses with the MiFi is having to open up the battery case to get the WiFi access code. Good thinking. See the picture above? See the button with the ‘key’ on it, top right on the side? I reckon that’s the one you press to get a reminder of the device password.

If you’re a big user of the internal memory card functionality (so you can access via your connected devices), that’s now upgraded to support 32GB micro SD cards.

And a final new addition? This:

That there is a fancy new charging cradle. This will be highly useful if you’re a regular MiFi user as you’ll want to pop it in the charger often.

This new unit should be available in-store and online from September. There’s no word on costs yet but I’d expect it will be priced similarly (if not exactly the same) as the existing E585. So, on PAYG the E585 costs £71.99 including 3GB of data. I’d expect it to be free on a 20/month contract. I think that’s what I’ll go for when it comes out.

Anyway, stay tuned. I’ll post a note when it’s available.

I came up from London last night and stayed overnight in the Premier Inn next to the stadium. I then had to make what I’m sure is a very familiar decision to most readers — WiFi or not? Should I give a tenner to Spectrum Interactive (the providers of WiFi at the Premier Inn) or should I simply continue to use my 3 MiFi?

My dilemma was this. I had 1.3GB to download and it would obviously be a lot faster via a fixed connection. However I’ve been to far too many hotels with utterly shit WiFi so I’ve grown very, very wary of wasting my cash unnecessarily. In this context I’d have been happy to pay for the utility.

What’s your perspective?

I took a video and walked through my reasoning. Let me know what you think…

Rightmove is teaming up with BT, the UKs biggest internet provider, to list the internet speeds of the 1m homes listed on its website, The Telegraph has learnt.It is understood that Rightmove is planning to list broadband speed alongside standard information, such as the number of bedrooms and whether the property has a garage or garden

via Rightmove to list broadband speed of all its homes – Telegraph.

About time.

When I’ve been looking for property over the last few years, broadband speed has been a highly important factor. Listing the information together will be very useful to me. Normally I have to try guessing postcodes and phone numbers to try and determine if the speed of a particular location is any good.

Good work Rightmove. Good work BT.

(But, come on BT, where’s this Infinity service? Answer… it seems to be coming soon. I checked with the BT Infinity site and I see that right now, BT can offer me 17mb speeds. But in September, that rises to 36.1mb. Nice.)

And to the Rightmove team — if you’re looking for something else to do, why not integrate mobile signal information into the searches too?

Detenna WiBE

We’ve had a note in from the team at Deltenna to tell us about their newest gizmo, the Deltenna WiBE. Or, in other words, the ultimate MiFi unit known to man. At least, it looks that way. I know that Ewan actually saw one of these working last week and all things being equal, we might have one to play with here at the MIR office soon.

The news release we got in today from Deltenna reports that recent 3G network testing undertaken in Cumbria and the Lake District has been very successful. So much so that for one news organisation, it may end the days of satellite vans. The WiBE device managed to increase 3G coverage 40x better than a standard MiFi device.

The signal was reportedly so reliable that it was able to deliver a continuous network connection good enough to deliver a continuous high-quality voice stream. So instead of having to drag a satellite van wherever you go, you could theoretically hop in your car, arrive on scene and contribute your report from a microphone plugged into your laptop running on your WiBE.

The trial with the WiBE proved that audio broadcasting, even in the most isolated of places such as Whinlatter Forest, is possible via 3G. (Literally the middle of nowhere – Google map) Independent tests were carried out using a MiFi device and the Deltenna WiBE with software similar to Skype but with better audio clarity. The result is a success — so much so that the news organisation will be using WiBE routinely.

Let’s get to some key points.

Speed

The WiBE extended mobile broadband coverage range into the remote forest of Whinlatter, where the MiFi device failed to register any signal. Not only did the Deltenna high-gain technology increase signal strength immensely, it also maintained average connection speed of 136KB/s, which exceeds the necessary minimum broadcast speed. Excellent.

Range

The longest recorded connection range was from a 3G base station located an impressive 22.9km (14.2 miles) away. Deltenna claims the proprietary antennas and algorithms give WiBE a throughput up to 30x that of a 3G USB dongle or mobile phone and 5x the connection range. The largest recorded RF signal strength difference was 22dBm, meaning the power reaching the WiBE was over 100 times that of the MiFi.

How it works

WiBE acts as a WiFi hotspot just like a MiFi device, but is nothing like your usual 3G dongle. The WiBE utilises four directional antennas and signal isolation algorithms to enhance the fastest signal in range.

Let’s have a comment from Dr Andrew Fox, CEO of Deltenna:

“Reliability is crucial in live broadcasts as the listener will instantly spot when technology has failed. The results, especially the 14 mile connection, highlight the increased range that WiBE delivers and its potential to bring broadband to a greater proportion of rural locations.”

The Potential

Deltenna’s WiBE technology provides an opportunity for businesses, especially when reliable broadband is needed in rural locations. It has developed solutions for a wide variety of wireless standards, including GSM, WCDMA, WiMAX and WiFi. Its technology is deployed throughout the world and has been adopted by multiple mobile operators to test 4G systems based on LTE.

We’ll definitely need to get one in the MIR office and see just how good it is.

I can’t stand going to events and conferences and finding the WiFi services are either faulty, slow or non-existent.  It’s a big problem for event organisers — and one that can no longer be sidestepped as being the venue’s fault.

Complain to the event organiser that, “The WiFi is rubbish,” or, “I can’t seem to get a connection?” and you’ll invariably get a response like this:

“Oh, yes, sorry,” the event manager will say, “I’ll have a word with the Hotel Manger.”

And that’s when you’re trying to PAY the service provider a stupid rate per hour for the privilege of using their connection.

The Hotels & Venues Don’t Get It

Unfortunately, all the Hotel Manager can do is place a call to their disinterested WiFi provider who won’t lift a finger for at least 24 hours.  Enough time to ensure every delegate is well and truly cheesed off by 10am.  That’s because the hotel contract is usually for rooms.  Their service provider is specialist at extracting $6.95 per hour or $14.95 for 24-hours from any paying guest half interested in decent internet.  And this arrangement works fine when 3 out of 500 guests decide to use it.  The rubbish DSL connection feels very fast when only 3 people are using it.

And at some point, the hotel room WiFi fleecing service was co-opted to the ‘public areas’.

False Advertising

And all of a sudden, hotels started putting statements like ‘guest WiFi available in all areas’ on their websites and brochures.  In many places I’ve been to they’ve obviously installed no extra equipment.  It’s often just the reception ‘public area’ WiFi leaking into the ballroom.

Event organisers will, I’m sure, routinely phone up and quiz the ‘meetings team’ hotel/venue people who all nod like chickens when asked if there’s WiFi.

The Ebola Virus

Unfortunately, WiFi in hotels and conference venues is generally the equivalent of the ebola virus.  Forgotten.  Not quite understood.  Irrelevant for most.  Until 500 delegates who’ve all paid $1,200 for a one-day event arrive with laptops, iPhones, iPads and other implements that all need WiFi connectivity.

Then you’ve got a problem.  Everyone’s got a very big problem.  And what’s worse, it can’t be fixed pronto.

You can’t use one NetGear router on a 10mb home broadband BT connection to serve 500 delegates. Especially when the average device WiFi requirement per 500 delegates in the mobile industry is around 2.4 connected devices per person. But goodness me, I’ve experienced at least 3 events offering this kind of service level this year.

I’m sick and tired of experiencing this kind of shoddy service.

Who’s Problem Is It?

I know it’s not the event manager’s problem per se.  The technology just isn’t understood that well.  Even the hotel or conference ‘meetings’ teams don’t seem to understand what kind of infrastructure is needed.  Worse, a lot of the conference venue folk I’ve met simply don’t think it’s a problem.

And to be fair, it’s definitely not a problem when the venue policy is to proudly declare that their entire complex is WiFi-enabled — and then make it clear that there is no possible, conceivable way you will be given their Access Key.  No. Way.

Because their system only works for 200 odd people.

And they’ve only got a 1 megabit internet connection that they’re sharing with their own office PCs.

At so many venues I’ve been to, the WiFi systems appear to be held together with string and powered by really tired hamsters.

The New Series

Here, then, is a Mobile Industry Review series aimed at tackling this issue.

If you’re an event organiser or if you work in the ‘meetings industry’, this series is specifically for you.  And if you’re a long suffering delegate, I present this series for your bookmarks — to forward to the chap or lady who will, no doubt, shortly try and explain why the WiFi isn’t working at [insert conference name].  Send them this link and a request for a refund of your ticket fee.

The MIR Event WiFi Charter

First, I present to you: The MIR Event WiFi Charter…

1. Delegates should be given free WiFi, especially if they’re paying to attend the event
2. Delegates should be able to download files at an average of 50k/sec throughput and Google should appear and deliver results in 2 seconds
3. Delegates should be allowed to activate up to 3 WiFi devices
4. There should be no registration required — this is always implemented as though it’s been conceived and programmed by an utter arse.  No forwarding weird rubbish.  No stupid proxy rubbish that doesn’t work on a mobile browser.  You should just be connected to the open internet.

WiFi Industry Experts Galore!

So, how do you go about delivering perfect WiFi for 10,000 delegates?  Well I don’t know.  I only know the rough concepts behind the technology.  Which is why I’ve asked a series of industry experts — some of the best ‘go-to’ companies around — to give me answers to the following questions.  I will be publishing each expert’s answers across this week.

Here are the questions I posed to them:

1. What’s the best way of guaranteeing brilliant, seamless WiFi service at a PR launch for 100 users?
2. Now, factor that up to 10,000 or 20,000 people at a huge exhibition? What kind of technology is needed to support that?
3. What kind of technical considerations are required when you’re dealing with multi-room or huge venues like Earls Court or big, big hotels that might need connectivity on multiple floors?
4. Once you’ve managed to assign and log a user on to a WiFi network, what’s the best way to assure brilliant internet connectivity? Is it just a matter of a big, big data pipe? The bigger the better?
5. Is there a functional limit for the amount of people that you can get connected to a single WiFi network?
6. Do you have any suggestions for a rule of thumb in terms of data consumption? e.g. 1 user consumes 200mb WiFi internet data in a day, therefore 100 users would need 20gb bandwidth in total. And what kind of backhaul pipe is needed for a decent service? Does ‘fast broadband’ from the likes of BT cut it in this arena? Or should we be talking super-fast dedicated connectivity?
7. In reality, is it just too expensive to do this properly to serve, say, 5,000 or 10,000 delegates?
8. What are the main ‘gotchas’ that result in event organisers being harassed by frustrated users?
9. Do you have any brief case studies or examples you could share where the technology has really worked?
10. What would your equipment/service shopping list look like to deliver WiFi to 500 or 10,000 delegates?
11. Take a gaze into the future: What should we be looking for in the future to deliver this kind of connectivity?

Standby for the responses — they’re good.  And if you’re looking to solve the WiFi for one of your upcoming events, I think the participants will be able to help.

Here are the expert contributions:

1. Scott Reeves of Ruckus Wireless
2. Ben Wilson of Xirrus

The service is obviously aimed at people traveling to the UK and staying for a few days or a week or so. It’s a smart concept.

Here’s how it works:

The site explains thus:

We’ll make sure your mifi is charged, loaded, and waiting for you at your hotel or friend’s address. You’ll get the small device and USB charger, along with a pre-paid return envelope. Simply drop it off at a postbox or hand it to a member of staff at the hotel on or before your last day.

Now a lot of you, I’m sure, will immediately point out that for £49.99 plus a tenner (i.e. just under £60) you walk into any 3 shop in London (or across the UK) and pick up a MiFi unit on a PAYG basis.

But — and this is a big but — that’s a total hassle.

It is. It seems easy to me, because I’m ‘local’. I know where the 3 shops are. There’s one on most High Streets. But that’s not flipping use if you’re working on site for 3 days in an industrial estate outside Basildon and staying in the hotel next door, is it?

Making a trip to the 3 Shop, or any other mobile shop, is a very expensive, time consuming arse.

So I think there’s definitely a market for MifiClub. And it makes a heck of a lot of sense renting a MiFi unit rather than a dongle or sim card, since you can share the data nicely.

The service is priced pretty reasonably, especially when you take into account the postage and faff costs (e.g. all devices arrive fully charged, ready for use — when I bought my impulse-purchase MiFi unit this morning, I was told to charge it for ’6-8 hours before use’. It was more or less empty. I had to plug it into the wall to get it to work).

£69.99 will get you a MiFi unit for 4 weeks from MifiClub. I think that’s pretty reasonable. Especially if you get it sent to your hotel. It’ll get you 1GB a week of data too.

Yes you’re paying a premium. But you haven’t had to mess around at all. Order it online a day or so before you fly and boom, it’ll be waiting at your hotel or office for you.

I like this a lot.

It’s at: http://www.mificlub.com/

I have to say, Vodafone UK is seriously, seriously disappointing when it comes to mobile broadband. I’ve been sitting enjoying both my unlocked Novatel Wireless MiFi unit for quite some time, but I’m hugely frustrated for the rest of the Vodafone marketplace not able to easily enjoy the benefits of MiFi.

Pop over to challenger network, 3, and for years you’ve been able to pick up a MiFi unit that shares your broadband connection with up to five of your connected devices. They’ve just released their all new 2nd-generation unit and, as with the first generation, I’ve no doubt they’re flying off the shelves, especially at their keen price of £49/each PAYG (plus a tenner for 1GB data).

What, then, does Vodafone UK offer it’s millions of customers?

A plastic dongle for their laptop.

Yup.

That’s it.

That’s-all-we-get.

All I can assume is that the financial bods have done their numbers and decided that their UK customer base isn’t quite ready for MiFi.

It’s not as if the UK is some mobile backwater.

Oh look, what’s this I found on Vodafone Spain’s website…

Yeah, they offer MiFi. They don’t force their customers to use stupid broadband sticks that ONLY work with laptops. How 1995 is that viewpoint?

It gets worse if you compare directly.

This is Vodafone Spain’s Mobile Broadband page. LOOK at the products they’re offering… Broadband sticks, yes, but they’ve got stick-plus-base station, the E960 router, another different stick … and the “Pocket WiFI”:

Aaaand what do we get offered in the UK? Let’s look at the same page on Vodafone UK:

Yes. Dongles. Just USB dongles.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

Spain isn’t the exception. Vodafone Germany also has a bucketload of possible products to choose from:

Oh look… the trusty old MiFi unit. Again.

How ridiculous is it that Vodafone UK doesn’t actually stock MiFi? Oh they’ll give you a MicroSIM for your iPad and they’ll be delighted to sell you a netbook-and-a-sodding-USB-dongle… (or a Netbook with integrated SIM). But MiFi?

No. Not today please. Why not?

I got hold of one of the new 3 Mobile WiFi units last week and I’ve been putting it through it’s paces. Regular readers will know that my opinion on MiFi was set to ‘ultra positive’ ever since I tested the Novatel Wireless device last year. Dongles are for dunces. A separate unit that enables multiple devices to share the mobile braodband connection is the way ahead.

I was a fan of 3′s first unit, manufactured by Huawei and although it did it’s job perfectly well at the genius price point of £49 Pay-as-you-go, there was room for improvement.

The first improvement is that you now just switch the device on. That’s it. Switch it on it’ll automatically setup a MiFi mobile broadband connection. On the old version, you had to specifically tell it to start/stop and whatnot. And you had to look at the little coloured flashing buttons to try and determine whether you had a 2G/3G connection. So, no messing around with multiple options or buttons any more. Just switch it on and you’re done.

The next thing they’ve sorted is a screen. And goodness me it’s useful. Here’s a close-up:

You’ve got the signal strength indicator, a connection type indicator (e.g. 3G/HSPA), a WiFi indicator, a connected globe indicator and the battery level. Everything you need. My absolute favourite is the WiFi indicator — do you see the number 1 next to it? That indicates you have one device connected. Connect another device and it increments to 2. This is really, really REALLY useful for me. I sometimes want to know whether or not my laptop/desktop/iPad/whatever is still connected — so a quick glance to that indicator is super. Battery is important too. And if you’re on a train or in the back of a car, you’ll also want to know what kind of signal quality you’ve got.

And I like the black sleek look — attractive, functional, definitely the way ahead.

If you’d like to see the unboxing and demo, here’s the vid I made on Friday:

Inside the box, I’d like to draw your attention to the whizzy cheat cards. It’s a feature they’ve been using over at sister firm, INQ, to avoid having to stick stupidly annoying massive manuals in with their phones. Have a look:

The MiFi comes with 9 of these little pocket cards offering quick guides to setting up the device, getting it started, connecting to it from your computer, that sort of things. The attention to detail is excellent. And, if you’re someone like me who positively does not read the manual (unless the device simply won’t start), they’re a welcome addition.

In terms of cost, here’s where it gets crazy. £49 for the device. You do need to pay a tenner for 1GB as well, so the full walk-out-the-shop price is a minimum of £59.99. But I’d recommend taking a look at the £69.99 PAYG option which includes the MiFi unit and 3GB of data.

If you’ve got an iPad, an iPod Touch, or frankly any device that benefits from WiFi (like a Nintendo DS, laptop), you really should look at getting a MiFi when you’re on the move. The ability to switch on a mobile broadband cloud for all your devices is something I find very valuable, almost every day of the week. I use mine on the train, in meetings, wherever I need data service.

A lot of people I speak to still have a built-in negative perspective on 3. That viewpoint is really out of date now. The company has some of the best and fastest data connectivity in the UK. You will find yourself, on occasion, out of signal. But it’s broadly the same with any of the other network operators. You also benefit from the fact that 3′s network is generally under utilised (in my opinion) by their subscribers so I usually find it super fast. You can use the coverage checker on 3′s site to determine if you’ve got connectivity in your work/home areas.

I’ll post some video of the 3 MiFi unit working with different devices. I haven’t yet used the device long enough to see how long the battery lasts in ‘live’ conditions.

Here’s the set of MiFi photos I took:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

This week, the airline confirmed an agreement with Panasonic Avionics Corporation to provide broadband access across its entire fleet, as well as call and data access for cell phones.

With the improved communications system installed, future passengers will be able to access the web during flights using their own devices and seatback screens.

I haven’t flown Cathay Pacific before, but I am most certainly liking the concept of 50mb broadband speeds when I’m in the air, especially on a long-haul flight where I might want to do a bit of work online. I wonder just how fast this service would actually be in a live environment? Could you, for instance, actually download a 1.5GB iTunes movie in 10 minutes?

That would be rather swish.

In fact thinking back about 15 years ago, if I was lucky, I got similar speeds on my 56k modem.

I’m using an 8mb ‘high speed’ British Telecom broadband connection.

If you get a brochure from BT any time soon talking about their 21CN network — the fabled brilliance that will connect us all with gigabyte speeds — please do send it to BT Centre, Newgate Street, with a note attached with words to the effect ‘stick it up your arse jumper.’

Can we just do a test here? Across the comments today, there’s been a number of readers giving examples of their slow slow connections (that are meant to be super fast).

Could you please respond telling me what average upload /download speeds you’re getting and what connection you actually are meant to have?

Don’t do one of those broadband speed tests. I want to know real life, real examples. Take a 100mb file and upload it to Vimeo — during the upload it gives you a throughput stat. I’d like to see just how bad (or good) it is.

I know that Ben Smith has a lightning fast Be Unlimited connection in West London.

But in Billericay, Essex, we’ve got shit.

Witness, for example, this comment from Dominic Travers:

I Currently live in Bristol and can get O2/Be ADSL2+, which is exactly what BT aim to have rolled out nation wide by 2011 as the culmination of their 21CN project to make Britain world leaders in IP based communication technology. 15 months ago when I first signed up to the service it was pretty good, 16Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up. For at least the last 6 months the O2 box in my local exchange has been full to bursting and the thoughput can only be described as dismal. I can still get the maximum speeds once a connection is established, but the latency in ordinary browsing the internet is abysmal now I am on the max contention ratio.

If this is as good as UK domestic broadband is going to get we’re doomed.

Rubbish.

Absolute unmitigated rubbish.

We can’t do better than this?

And if we can’t get the sodding FIXED connections working, what hope have we got of making it work whilst mobile?

During some HSPA+ 64QAM technology trials, the Vodafone chaps in Spain managed to achieve 16mbps. But it gets better. They’re planning to trial 21mbsp this quarter using HSPA+ MIMO.

Vodafone experts estimate that the technology would be capable of delivering a typical video download experience of more than 13Mbps in good conditions and an average of more than 4 Mbps across a full range of typical cell locations including urban environments. If the trials prove a success, Vodafone plans to make this technology available in selected commercial networks.

Just in case you’re wondering about HSPA+ — it’s the next evolutionary step in the 3G HSPA roadmap. As indicated by the plus sign.

Of course, the new technology — particularly this 64QAM and MIMO gubbins will need a whole new set of broadband dongles and devices. Woo huu. Hopefully this should arrive by the time my 24 month data dongle contract has expired.

Bring it on.

Crossing both 2.5 and 3G networks its due out soon, with carries to be mentioned in due course.

Specifications/Compatible computer operating systems: -

• 3G: 850/2100MHz
• GSM:850/900/1800/1900 MHz

• Microsoft Windows XP
• Microsoft Windows Vista
• Mac OS 10.4
• Mac OS 10.5

Posted by email from MIR Live (posterous)

Hitting the stores this week is T-Mobile’s answer to 3′s wireless broadband mobile router, the mouth full that is the Mobile Broadband Share Dock

It works the same way as 3′s Huawei D100 Router, only with a less catchy name. The Share Dock plugs into their mobile broadband dongle, then enables surrounding devices to have ‘net access over its WIFI signal.

Seeing as the T-mobile HSDPA network is shared by 3, you’d have thought this product would have been out there first. The D100 has now had over a month or so advantage to gain its foothold in the marketplace.

How they both balance against each other in costs is of an interest. The T-Mobile offering arrives free on an 18 month contract, at £20 per month for connectivity.

On the 3 offering you have to buy the router at £69.99. On top of that still having to get the mobile broadband dongle plus whatever contract suits your needs. T-mobile bundles in with the Mobile Broadband Share Dock their dongle, creating a more rounded package.

The other consideration to take into mind is their fair usage policy. T-mobile has stipulated it will only be a 3GB data allowance, where 3 have a 5GB on a £15 18 month contract to match their D100.

All told over that 18 month period 3′s deal would come to £340, whereas T-mobiles package would be £360. With 3 of course there would have been an extra 36GB possible data allowance all totalled up.

Seeing as they are both using the same network, the clear winner has to come down to the numbers at the end of the day.

From Mobile Today;

O2 is looking to accelerate sales of its mobile broadband by offering a money-back guarantee amid growing consumer uncertainty regarding speeds and coverage for dongles.The operator, which had been the last of the major networks to unveil a mobile broadband proposition, has been promoting a 50-day service promise.

O2 is offering to cancel the contract within the first 50 days and have the cost of the USB fully refunded if the customer paid for it.

The service has been featured in both its own stores as well as at Carphone Warehouse.

OK we know O2′s 3G coverage is not the best in the UK, however surely that with the 50 day guarantee it does make the proposition of mobile broadband a lot more appealing!?

Remembered the heady days of October the first when Virgin entered the mobile broadband market? Now they’ve only gone and launched the cheapest deal in UK at just a fiver a month.

There’s catch, as expected and there always is of course – you need to be on Virgin.

New and existing customers on their service, such as with the L or XL packages are only entitled to this deal.

Their 3G mobile connectivity rocks up in the form of a 1GB data allowance per month over a supplied USB modem, which can be plugged into a laptop, netbook or even a PC.

For £10 a month, users on the ‘M’ Virgin Media cable package can also have broadband internet on the move.

This all runs from the T-Mobile network, with a one off £25 fee offering up to 3.6Mbps speeds on a 12month contract. Going over the allotted gigabyte limit though will set you back a lofty 1.46p per megabyte, just for your info.
A good deal we believe for those already with the company and also great for enticing new customers along.

The ads typically showed a USB broadband stick looking like a rocket jetting into outerspace, with a strapline explaining that Vodafone’s mobile broadband service is ‘light years ahead’ of the competition. The ad also aimed to point out that Vodafone’s service was superior to the competition.

3 and T-Mobile, together with a member of the public, took issue with the ads. The ASA investigated and upheld the complaints.

Naughty Vodafone!

In fairness I tend to find their entire service the most reliable — still — but I note that in the ASA findings, the pointed out that the LCC test (that Voda used to support their claims) found that:

In six out of the 10 regions of the UK tested, one of the other networks had a faster average time to download a web page than Vodafone.

I’m willing to bet that was 3 who was faster…

They have NO business doing this.

No business at all.

THIS from a company that charges 0.5 pence per Kb for mobile data to handsets.

THIS from a company that still has ‘SEE ABOVE FOR WAP CHARGES‘ on it’s tariff page.

WAP charges?

Virgin Mobile is stuck in the dark ages. Clearly if you’re using Virgin Mobile, you don’t use the internet on-the-go. Or if you do, you’re a total numbskull.

You can get 3GB on a mobile dongle from Virgin for £15/month.

Pay As You Go will set you back FIVE FLOCKING POUNDS per megabyte. PER MEGABYTE!

Pay Monthly (or all the other bollocks price plans that they offer — Daily Bonus, Pay By Direct Debit, Liberty SIM) is TWO FLOCKING POUNDS per megabyte.

No business. NO BUSINESS whatsoever coming to market with a mobile broadband dongle.

Get your mobile data tariffs sorted first.

THEN come back and we’ll have a chat. Right?

Apparently, there are now 191 operators with commercial HSPA networks and 740 devices you could connect up to them, should you want to.

If you’re up for more of these stats, the average peak speed is between 3.6Mbps and 7.2Mbps, which the association says means an average end user speed of over 1Mbps. Operators usually say that the real end user speed for a connection is one third of the peak. It would be interesting to get a more real world perspective on the GSMA’s numbers: what’s the average speed you’ve experienced using your HSPA connection? And is it better than your home broadband?

3 UK’s Mobile Broadband offering has been named “Best Mobile Broadband” by the UK’s most popular dedicated broadband comparison site, www.top10-broadband.co.uk. The independent site, which claims over a million unique users each month, has given 3 UK the award based on analysis of data captured from mobile broadband speed tests, examination of feedback from consumers and hands-on research of products and services.

I’ve introduced more new customers to 3 than any other operator, specifically because of their mobile broadband data offering. Whether it’s via the handset or through a dongle, 3 really is knocking the competition for six.

I was in a Vodafone store the other day when I saw their ‘buy me now’ pay-as-you-go mobile dongle. It was on a shelf, ready to be picked up, purchased and used. There’s no way Vodafone or the other networks would have headed toward the tenner-a-month dongle reality we have today if it wasn’t for 3 kicking the industry out of bed. Vodafone were — and still are — making an absolute packet from the 45 or 70 pounds a month data card deals they were originally offering. I think I’ve got one of them, still.

Top 10 Broadband was particularly impressed by the strength and flexibility of 3 UK’s mobile broadband packages. The judges specifically cited the fact that 3 UK allows customers a very generous data allowance, as well as the quality and ease of use of the 3 UK data modems, as important factors in the award.

3’s Head of Mobile Broadband Jonathan Lutz said, “To be independently verified as being the best mobile broadband provider is a great validation of all the work we have done over the past year. Our aim has always been to bring easy-to-use, high-quality mobile broadband at the best possible price to as many people as possible. This award is recognition that we are achieving this goal. “

Congratulations to Jonathan and the team at 3. Nice work. Keep it up!

Operators, it seems, have been dragging their feet and causing delays, saying they need to do technical testing to make sure the new service won’t cause any interference with the mobile services already out there.

From the New York TImes:

Representatives Anna Eshoo and Edward Markey suggested the operators might have other motives. “We are concerned that incumbent wireless carriers are seeking unnecessary and unprecedented testing delays to prevent new innovative competitors from entering the market,” they wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin

How many times have we seen this sort of scenario? Operators see something coming that’s inexorable yet they reckon it will hurt their bottom line, so they drag their feet for as long as they can rather than thinking up new ways to make sure they stay ahead of the competition. Fingers crossed we see this free wireless service as soon as possible.

They led the way, in the UK at least, with the tenner-a-month USB mobile broadband revolution.

This shows demand is strong for mobile broadband in all 3’s territories, including the UK, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Austria…

… says the press release I got in this morning.

Christian Salbaing, MD of European Telecoms at Hutchison isn’t impressed with the roaming data rates demanded by other networks. He has a good old dig at them (aimed, I reckon, at the EC regulation chappies):

“Typical retail roaming prices are literally hundreds of times what customers expect to pay domestically. A European consumer might pay around one Euro cent per megabyte at home, yet pay a premium of 360-times that simply to cross a border.”

Ridiculous. Aye.

Christian obviously goes on to point out that 3′s “3 Like Home” tariffs enable data roaming on 3′s sister networks without additional cost. (Elsewhere 3 charges around £3 (€3.79) per megabyte to its customers, based primarily on the wholesale rate charged.)

If you’re arriving into the UK and find yourself data roaming on 3, you can work out just how much your incumbent operator is creaming you with this statement from Christian:

3 has demonstrated its commitment to bringing down the price of roaming across the EU by offering Europe’s mobile networks a reciprocal wholesale rate of just 25c per megabyte, [compared to the current average of nearly €4]. This offers even greater scope for compelling retail rates than the European Commission’s suggested wholesale level of 35c. Just five networks have agreed to take up the offer – suggesting a clear need for intervention.

It really is very smart.

I think I’m still expecting things to screw up. I remember when my GPRS internet connection was good for about 10 minutes or so, then you had to reconnect. Those were the days. Of pain.

Today I carry both a 3 and Vodafone one and they’re both equally excellent.

It’s just astonishing that they work. I need to get over my connection-anxiety.