Hi i have some general questions regarding mobile broadband, however i am not from or in UK so i dont have any knowledge within this field. I found this excellent site that compares prices and services: http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/mobile_broadband/#products= Obviously i like vodafone for the price, but i have no idea how good they are in UK. To be more specific, the broadband mobile connection will be in use in Sheffield. Can anyone tell me if vodafone has a good network range in sheffield, or any other? And more importantly, which ones do not? And another thing: In denmark the general policy with broadband mobile is, that when you have exceeded your download limit, it will not be disabled but just limited excessively in speed, so it still works but not fast. I was told by someone that the general policy in england is that it will be disabled, or you will start paying per mb. (yikes!) Does anyone know if this is correct? And more importantly, which companies does NOT disable the connection but just limit the speed excessively? I really hope someone can help here because its a jungle out there :bawl:
Well I can tell you about the "3" network from 3 years of misery with their mobile broadband Stay away, they are a very poor service, bad connection problems, very poor customer service, and yes they do charge per mb after you use your allowance From everything I have heard since being with 3, Vodafone seem to be the best for mobile broadband
Thanks for the warning Can you tell me any details regarding the question on disabling or limiting speed? In denmark 3 is by far the best and they have just about 100% coverage in denmark, and at 16 mbps, so i was most positive about them.. but things in other countries changes completely for a company, in terms of quality and service it seems.
O2 are good in big cities outside then no, I went with O2 anyway because I love them (and I got it for free....). This will help you: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/...and/cellular/3g/maps/3gmaps/coverage_maps.pdf The 3G coverage of all the major networks across the country. Mobile broadband in the UK is 3.6 or 7.2mbps on 3G. If there's no 3G you'll get Edge, then GPRS, then GSM, but the last three are pretty useless anyway. And most if not all will charge you per mb once you go over. Most have a limit of 350b, 500mb, 750mb or 1gb per month. But read the T & Cs even if it says unlimited it could be as little as 500mb still.
yeah Azjo, sadly comming to the UK you'll be taking a step back a good few years in terms of technological infrastucture that you may be used to from the more 'advanced' European countries. Forget any speeds you may be used to in Denmark (16mb you mentioned), 7.2mb is the absolute theroretical max you'll get here (on 3G) 3G coverage can be seen here for each of the major providers in the link here http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/25383/ofcom-publishes-3g-coverage-maps Dated jul 2009. As you'll see Orange and 3 have the best 3G networks massivley ahead in coverage - almost all over the UK. The others are pretty much concentrated on the big cities/towns - so in Sheffield you'll get good 3G with any network I suppose. Have a look in this forum http://www.broadband.org/forum/mobile-broadband/ May be a good place to start.
They dont need to limit the speed of mobile broadband, its not fast enough to do that I live very close to a 3G mast for 3, and I was getting at most 300Kb/s and my Dongle was flashed with the 7.2Mbps firmware, as said above, expect nothing you have seen out of the UK We are only starting to get 16Mb/s for landline broadband becoming more common
With my Iphone I get 1-2mb downstream in Norwich where i live, depending on which part of the City i'm in. When I go to visit my family in Manchester I get 3.5mb. This is on O2. I friend of mine lives in Birmingham and he swear blind hes get 7.2mb nearly everywhere, hes on Orange. Thing is on Iphone O2's usage is completely unlimited with no fair usage policy. Orange is 750mb per month !!! So his is faster but he's got to be carefull with how much he uses it !!! I regulary use 5-10gb per month on my Iphone no worries. These examples are Iphone contracts thou.
#slickric21 What do you mean with that there is no limit at all? I dont think you are talking about the same service as the ones im looking for? If you look at the link i gave in post #1, then the limit is in download is set to something. What i would like to know, is what will happen when i reach 1gb with o2, or any others? Will they disable, or just limit the speed? When i say limit the speed, the speed will be something like 10-15kb which is relatively okay i suppose. (well, thats how it works in denmark)
Hi Azjo, Yes we are talking about the same service. Basically the Iphone (and other phones) use the 3G network for their internet access. This is the same 3G network that you'd use if you took "Mobile Broadband" with any of the suppliers your looking at. On O2 Iphone user's have 'true' unlimited 3G internet usage. Orange (who have better 3G coverage therefore better speeds) impose a "fair usage policy" of 750mb per month. Voda (about same as O2 for coverage) impose 1GB per month usage. However i'm not suggesting you get an O2 iphone as the cost of contract starts at £30 per month thou. You can use an Iphone as a modem also, but the tight ass suppliers watt to charge you an extra £10 per month to do so. However smart users "jailbreak" their iphone and can unlock this feature for free. As for what would happen if you went over monthy limit on a normal "Mobile broadband", i'm guessing but maybe you'd get a letter if you did it often 'reminding you' of your agreement. After this if you still went over they'd probably charge you for the next contract with more usage allowance.
So its not actually a 1gb or 3gb deal you have bought, but an iphone with 3g service? Can you link me to the 'product' you have bought?
yes thats right...... sorry for the confusion, I originally only mentioned it to magicdave26 as an example of 3G speeds. http://shop.o2.co.uk/promo/iphoneindex note where it says "data/wi-fi = unlimited" - thats unlimited internet access. You have unlimted internet access on your phone, but if you want to use the iphone as a modem you have to either..... 1)pay extra for the "internet tethering bolt-on" = Expensive 2) 'jailbreak' the iphone it and enable "internet tethering" manually = Free but technical http://www.redmondpie.com/enable-tethering-on-iphone-3g-3gs-3.1.2-firmware-eqw846/ thats how i did mine. I should stress again though I don't really recommend getting an iphone just for internet access as its very expensive. What exactly are you planning to get mobilebroadband for anyway ? Do you plan to download lots of data ?
It is just meant for general browsing and not much more, and the person will be moving at some time so im thinking its best to get a wireless broadband service. But even 3gb is pretty hard to stay under, so im trying to find out whether or not they disable the connection completely or not in uk. I still havent got that cleared in this thread yet unfortunaly If they disable it completely, or start charging money per mb, then i would say it is useless.
yes I agree with you, useless. As stated in the start of this thread, this is the UK here, not some modern European country. That forum i linked to earlier seems to be a good place to find your missing info, maybe have a look in there or start a thread http://www.broadband.org/forum/mobile-broadband/ Update; just had quick look in there for you found this (dated jul 09 thou) Code: There are no unlimited data packages to my knowledge. The closest you'll get is 3's 15GB package for £15 a month. 15GB will be enough for most people. It will only run out if you like downloading movies or excessive amounts of music! T-Mobile have 3GB limits but allegedly won't charge you for going over, they'll just throttle your speed. Here's a summary of the Out of Bundle charges. Operator Out of Bundle data charges Orange 1.46p per MB Three 10p per MB O2 19.6p per MB T-Mobile No extra charges - May slow your download speeds. Vodafone £15 per GB Virgin Mobile £15 per GB from here http://www.broadband.org/forum/mobile-broadband/345-there-any-unlimited-broadband.html So it seems they charge you per MB for going over, except t-mobile who just slow you down. They won't disconnect you, they want you to go over your limit and rip you off
Very interesting thread you found there. If that hasnt changed, it looks like T-mobile has won I dont mind slow speeds at all, as long as its possible to get on and do some work. Anyways, the 16mbps speeds in denmark is completely new, and may only be in the bigger cities actually, so we arent that far ahead. 3 is huge in 3G here (hence 3) so i believe they use denmark as a testing area. Luckily for us
I'd still register and start a thread in that forum thou m8, just to make sure things haven't changed since last yr when that thread was started. Also check the 3g coverage that t-mobile have in the areas you'll be visiting before u commit to anything.
