ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Given that he wrote down the promised speed I think you have a good argument that the document is part of the contract and that the seller of the service is in breach. Don't need Ofcom!

Oh too bad for the dongle's speed. Do you know that Japan as one of the fastest mobile internet speed?

NTT Docomo (the main carrier in Japan) has a home service for owners of Wi-fi enabled cell phones to access mobile web sites at a maximum of 54 mbps. Furthermore, Docomo tested a system that transmitted data at a speed of 250 Mbps, which should be launched in 2009.

Asia is always further ahead of the US and Europe. These are speeds which should be able to get in about 5 years, so this is why it is interesting to look closely at this market.

I find it very mixed. I live in Edinburgh and have cable in my flat. The signal is okay for the parts of the web that I use. If I was using more multimedia content, I'd want the signal to be faster. However as I'm wireless, the speeds are limited to what the wifi router can provide. But recently I've been thinking more and more about going mobile. Living in Edinburgh and being a writer, it's great to go to a cafe and do some scriblings. Unfortunatly, a lot of cafe's charge horrendous amounts to use their networks, so I've looked into the mobile broadband market, but it all appears to be quite expensive. I want to maintain broadband in my flat, but don;t want to be paying a fortune for a contract. If I did I would be paying almost Β£40 a month for a broadband and mobile phone connection, on top of what I pay in my flat. Plus I wouldn't use mobile broadband frequently enough to warrant the expense.

At the moment only one mobile phone company offers pay as you go mobile broadband, but hopefully this will soon change as I'm sure there will be a demand. Until then I'm relegated to paying up to Β£4.50 an hour (in the National Library of Scotland of all places - no such thing as free access to library resources these days) or finding the handful off free places for wifi.

Rory,

You owe it to yourself (and us normal folk) to take the phone shop to task about the blatant mis-selling of the dongle speeds. And as the goods were not as promised, I don't see why you need to wait for OfCom either.

As a technology journalist for the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ, a well-placed letter to the head office should do the trick.

Its not the speeds with the current mobile broadband deals that force me not to even consider it, its the download limits.

Vodafone, who I guess you can classify as the industry leader in mobile broadband, has two download limits: 3gb on the lowest package, 5gb on the most expensive package. Every other mobile broadband company offers the same two packages except for 3 who also offer a 15gb package.

If you're just getting mobile broadband to occasionaly browse the net and check emails while you're sitting in the park or on the train, thats all well and good, but if you plan on using your connection for any conceivable length of time these limits are just not up to par.

Just on basic web browsing alone, I could very easily reach the 5gb monthly limit. If you take into consideration typical downloads and, god forbid, online gaming, you are looking at a monthly average of 30-40gb download. So as it stands right now, these services look pretty awefuly meager.

Unitl wiMax or equivelant are introduced with either no download limit or a limit of 50gb or more, then I think I (and many others) will simply not be interested.

These companies really need to re-invent their idealogy for the average download content of a website as they all seem to assume an average website is under 1mb download - sorry to say that has not been the case for many years. Since broadband has hit the world, file size of images have greatly increased and if you then go so far as to consider the many millions of sites that use flash you are looking at an average of anywhere from 1-20mb downloaded just to view one site and for the flash intensive, anything OVER 20mb. 5gb, 7gb or even 15gb just does not cut it anymore.

It shows that OFCom (and others) are behind as usual.

Why bring out a 'new' code of conduct and not have it apply to mobile broadband, which has been around for ages and is getting ever more popular.

No wonder this country is so behind, we drag our feet over everything......

Well done on shopping around for the best deal, if more people did this then more people would understand what is and is not available or capable from the different versions of broadband connectivity

I work in a phone shop and it is people like the advisor you obviously spoke to who give all of us a bad name

While i would never condone anyone misadvising people about speeds from either a fixed or mobile connection, too many people do and state that speeds will be to a certain level when frankly no one in a store can give such info with any shred of honesty, stores only ever have approx speed info and that would be for all retailers

But the downside to this is that some customers also do hear a speed and whether or not they have been told it is variable they will always demand whatever speed they have seen.

More needs to be done both within the industry from the companies themselves and also from ofcom to make people more aware about speed variables and also about download allowances, too many stories of people running up big bills for usage while abroad or such. customers should be aware of allowances and also about charges if they go over, people dont go over a phone bill and then claim not to know how many mins they had, they would be laughed at for that so why is it different with data charges.

People are currently taking advantage of the networks being generous due to it being a massive growth area at present.

VampiricHoshi - I think your figures for 'typical' downloads are way out. Typical for you maybe!

'Typical' here means 'average' and I can assure you that 'average' usage is no where near 30-40Gbs.........are you kidding me?

I do understand what you mean with the limits, especially the mobile broadband, but your figures are way off.

Mobile broadband is great!
However the costs associated are not.

How can we play games, use the i player download updates, or software on a tarrif that charges us so much??

Remember the stories of people using it abroad and having a Β£25,000 bill for downloading 1 film...

Untill mobile broadband becomes cheaper to you it wont have the mainstream prevelance that fixed line does.

What bandwidth caps do you have on your new service?

Do they even tell you these or is it one of the so called "unlimited" services?

It is frustrating that when choosing an internet connection the usage allowance for an "unlimited" connection is not made clear!

@jack101, I am referring to the average download requirements of the home globally, including homes here in the UK.

You will find that the average requirement for a home IS now approaching the 30gb or higher mark, especialy here in the UK.

I am not just talking web surfing here, I am talking total monthly download.

Its increased to that sorts of figures because of several things:

1) Average website filesize has massively increased from less than 500kb to 2mb or more - on average that incrase is atleast 3 times the size - this is due largely to the use of the PNG file format - check your net usage just from viewing the news section of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ website and after 10 minutes of browsing you are likely to hit over 10mb. Flash heavy sites can reach over 10mb in one go
2) File sharing - people, on average, are downloading/uploading far more media than before. Added to that, 90% of modern software handles a regular update check including windows updates (this is not including video media).
3) Online gaming has hit an all-time high and has the second highest bandwidth requirement
4) Video streaming - the biggest hitter of them all. Really doesn't need commenting, but most people don't tend to realise the file size of what they are actually streaming

You would be trully alarmed to see what the average user's bandwidth requirements are right now. It is why broadband firms here in the UK are in such a panic because they modelled there systems assuming people would only need a limit of 5gb and instead people are tending to require more than twice that.

If you really don't believe me, check your own bandwidth usage for a week. Even if you just surf the net casualy you will be surprised at the result.

VampiricHoshi; I don't need to check my bandwidth usage, I know I am a heavy user, as I work in IT.

That means I also supply family and friends with advice and recommend the best broadband etc.

Most that I have set up use around 3-4Gb a month of bandwidth / downloading. Which includes email, itunes (not much mind), web browsing and a few downloads.

I would say that around 15 of the people I have helped, all but one I would class as 'average' users, the other one loves online games and video streaming, hence he uses a lot more.

The packages that are on offer are restrictive and can be deceptive, but the usage, in my opinion is not as high as you stated.

With new services and dare I say it 'web 2.0 and the cloud' I'm sure usage will go up as more and more software is supplied on net as a service.

The big thing that needs to change is the infrastructure to the home, BT's copper is just not good enough and we lag behind some other countries in this area, although to be fair, who'd have thought we'd be complaining about getting (upto - shh.) 8Mb download speed in the early 90's when this all started. (Rory?)

Also, like you suggest the Wi-MAX is a possibility in the future, but maybe only in large Cities......but who knows.

I'm no power downloader with the web, never have been, but Virgin's DSL service was in my view expensive for what was on offer.

I checked into mobile broadband and bought into 3's service for a flat tenner a month (lite) - works great in the Midlands, rural Wales and North Devon Coast for examples of locations.

I'd heard Vodafones service was four times faster, it is before 9.00am (3g+ they call it) but then it's fairly standard throughout the day, one thing - the line doesn't drop as 3's does.

Other notable points re: mobile broadband are:
(1) Vodafone compresses their data, images look appalling, Bytemobile software needed to control this. 3 just sends what is uncompressed.
(2) No fixed IP address on Voda, try using MSN messenger, no good.
(3) both systems provide no online data usage services so it is easy to run over limits, 3 at least send your dongle a text advising to top-up.
(4) I do circuit riding helping people wirth pc hassles, it is great to take your broadband with you - I've got rid of the landline and Virgin now.
(5) mobile broadband is active in minutes, try configuring a router and all machines in that time!
(6) you can now but mobile broadband routers - share your dongle!

I am on an "unlimited" fixed line with one of the "bigger" ISP's.
Overnight I get great speed, but between 9am and midnight, i can wait ages to get a document from the OU library.
I schedule downloads to take place overnight and would happily get rid and go mobile if the allowances were not so small.
I can get through a 3gb allowance in a couple of days and dread to think what the cost over that would be.
the mobile firms need to get a grip on the price and then they will challenge the fixed line ISP

Having just moved house and experienced just how long certain companies can take to install broadband i've put my mobile broadband to the test on a daily basis. Whilst I always found it find to use out and about, daily use showed upload speeds to be a problem and download speeds very intermittent. Although the shock came when the bill arrived. Having never used the 3Gb bundled for Β£15 a month the extra surfing pushed the usage to 3.8Gb and the bill to over Β£80!

I have read multimail's comments and agree to some point. I have bought 3 mobile broadband on 12 month 3GB contract. My usage online is not that heavy but as I am living in Bridlington, a small town on Yorkshire coast with little population, the network providers are not very interested in setting up up-to-date broadband infrastructure in this area. Although the 3 shop promised 1mbps, it did'nt even reach that level- 2/3 kbps and it is so frustrating. I have to wait half an hour sometimes. So, if you intend to use mobile bb at home, consider about the region you're in. I hope the speed will improve.
The frustrating aspect of fixed line broadband is that if you move home and your contract has not yet ended, you have to pay termination fees to the provider, which is very unfair. There is no such problem with mobile broadband. I think there is big future for mobile bb.

I'm fixed for the moment, but unfortunately suffering from the monopoly that is Karoo in the Hull area.

Yes, a monopoly. We have only one ISP.

No choice whatsoever.

And they are expensive and slow.

Not happy.

Many folks don't realise they can use their existing mobile phone as a 'mobile broadband' modem, thus saving the cost of a 'dongle' and more line rental.

You just load up the datasuite software on your laptop (freely available from most mobile phone manufacturers), plug the USB cable which came with your phone into the laptop and phone, click the 'connect to Internet' button on the software, and you're online via your mobile.

What I would recommend, however, is that you ask your mobile phone provider about 'unlimited data' options. Vodafone currently charge Β£5 or Β£7:50 depending on your current tariff. Paying for data seperately could get very pricey indeed.

Paragraph three of this post states β€œthree quarters of them are using it to go online from home, even if they've already got fixed-line broadband”. I assume these people are getting unlimited download packages from their 3g providers or they haven’t heard of wireless routers (and wireless dongles if the device isn’t wireless enabled). May be I’m missing the point, is it the pose factor.

I too use a mobile broadband dongle at home. It has three settings depending on the quality of signal... basic GPRS, 3G and 3G+. It is only the 3G+ that gets any where near 1 Mbps and I get that maybe 40% of the time. I do not actually mind this though as the salesman did look up my area before I purchased, told my that although 7.2 Mbps was advertised I would be unlikely to get above 1 Mbps and that I had 2 weeks to bring it back and cancel the contract if I was not satisfied.

So why am I paying Β£15 a month to use a relatively slow connection at home... because neither BT nor Virgin will provide me with broadband... they can't! Virgin has no cables so that is excusable but BT is a different matter. They decided to put TPON in to my house when it was built 5 years ago and subsequently I can't get broadband through them. I do not even live in a remote area... Stevenage in fact and people in the same new build area but further away from the exchange do get broadband as they have access to a Copper overlay... but for me nothing...

I thank the mobile makers for this Β£15 a month dongle as otherwise i'd be paying around Β£10 a month for "unlimited" dial-up!

Several people have commented on cost and download limits on mobile accounts yet my experiance is differnt. I have a mobile account (vodaphone) with the 3g limit yet I browse the web , send email and play wow for 3 hours a day this month my total useage (01 - 20 aug) is 578meg not even a third of my limit. ok so downloading tv or large patches is a no no but for every day use the speed is good and the limits not an issue (so far in the last 6 months the mot i hit was almost 2g over a month)

I have 3G with three and on the whole, I am very happy with it.

It does however vary quite a bit in speed depending upon the time of day.

What people have to take into account, is that the 3.6mbps speed is the maximum speed of the cellsite or the 3rd of the cellsite (if a 3 cell directional cellsite). Therefore, everybody else in that area (or 3rd of a cell) is sharing that 3.6mbps speed, unlike cable where you are only sharing with a handful of people on your street.

Having said that, it is very cheap and coverage is good. Personally, I use a Linksys 3G wireless router, which allows me to station the 3G setup on the windowsill and use the wifi from the 3G router. - This will give much improved coverage in you are indoors. - I would highly reccomend. (It's branded vodafone but works with all networks).

I have my fixed line home broadband with BT and regularly get speeds up to 5Mb which I'm happy with.

I needed access to the Internet when we went on holiday a couple of months back.

Rather than using an expensive Wi-Fi hotspot I opted to go for 3 mobile broadband after comparing them with the likes of Vodafone and T-Mobile on a useful site I found - .

I got mobile broadband speeds up to about 1Mb with 3 which was fine. They advertise up to 2.5Mb, but for Β£10 a month it did the job for me and continues to work well when I'm away from the office and need to go online.

Hello, I have mobile broadband and im expected to receive 1.5 Mbps at average
im lucky if I get 256 Kbps, I am disappointed when I was told I have a good area on the 3G network