By Peter Cochrane, 5 August 2008 11:00
COMMENT
Written poolside at my hotel in Rome and dispatched via a 3G HSDPA data service.
The economic downturn and collapse of the dollar have resulted in a lot of my business migrating out of the US into the EU and south-east Asia.
Wireless from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out moreÂ…
A is for Antivirus
B is for Bluetooth
C is for The Cloud
D is for dotMobi
E is for Email
F is for FMC
G is for GPS
H is for HSDPA
I is for i-mode
J is for Japan Air
K is for Korea
L is for LBS
M is for M2M
N is for NFC
O is for Operating systems
P is for Pubs
Q is for QoS
R is for Roaming
S is for Satellite
T is for TV
U is for UMTS
V is for Virgin
W is for WiMax
X is for XDA
Y is for Yucca
Z is for Zigbee
So after more than a decade dominated by easy-to-find free wi-fi access in the US, I now find myself in countries where I have to search out low-cost links.
Because of tight deadlines over recent weeks I've had to use access facilities in hotels that have stung me for anything between €15 and €30 per day for the privilege.
So I decided I needed another string to my bow. For less than €20 per month I now get access with up to 5GB downloads using a 3G USB/HSDPA wireless dongle.
The service has so far provided me with greater access speeds than any of the hotel ADSL services I've tried to date, and I have actually saved money. It also represents the first useable - for me, anyway - 3G service I could justify, sign up for and employ profitably.
But it might just be that my iPhone could be the second reason to use 3G - especially if my future excursions into regions with high access costs continue to be problematic.
As a general trend young people only buy a fixed telephone line to gain broadband access as their lives are centred on mobility and mobile phones.
What is now interesting is the prospect that they might just move to 3G for broadband access too. I can certainly see this move as a prospect in areas where the bandwidth provision is advantageous.
This development might just be the financial thread the 3G industry have been looking for.
The only potential threat on the horizon appears to be WiMax because ADSL services have now more or less maxed out, and generally have contention ratios in excess of 15:1, and never seem to perform as advertised.
Comments
There are 13 comments. Join the discussion
1. John Rutter
Does that 3G charge include EU roaming for data access?
See your point about using 3G for 'broadband', which is certainly an option now.
Just not sure your introductory comments about EU/Asia locations with expensive ADSL-based services being the same.
2. anonymous
€20 for 5Gb of 3G data when in Rome, what network's he with then?
3. Richard
Outdated landline contracts are another reason:
Although more and more people now live mobile, transient lives, landline contracts for phones & broadband are still tailored for static lives;
Based around a permanent address rather than a flexible, mobile life-style.
BT landline phone contracts have a minimum term of 12 months, heavy early exit penalties and no cheap or easy way to transfer the phone contract between successive tenants of a rented house.
Most broadband contracts also have a minimum term of 12 months; again with no way to transfer the remainder of the contract.
Also, most of these contracts require successful credit checks, so large numbers of people are excluded.
So, many people can obtain only expensive pay-as-you-go mobile phones.
Our village has very poor mobile coverage, so mobiles do not work reliably.
It seems strange that Ofcom allows such unimaginative marketing of landlines and broadband services to exclude increasing numbers of people from having easy economic access to modern communications.
In areas with good mobile coverage, perhaps cheap pay-as-you-go 3G could fill the gap?
4. CMylod
Do tell. For a traveller which service costs €20 with roaming for 5GB? Most of them seem to be affordable for only one country with scalp rates for crossing borders.
5. Chris Goodman
It has long been my contention that, once capital outlay on construction has been recouped, then the cost to run a wireless network should be remarkably less than a fixed network. Therefore a wireless network operator should be able to well undercut any offer made by a fixed operator and, with suitable promotion and good service, steadily wean customers from fixed to mobile.
6. anonymous
Probably 3.
In Sweden this subscriptions costs $12-$24/month for 1-5 GB. The dongle costs $130.
7. anonymous
Just a shame 3G coverage is so poor across the globe, but esp. in the UK.
Vodafone 3G is so patchy, as to be almost unusable. I'm talking in the city or so close to major motorways in the UK you could throw a stone, not up a mountain in Wales.
When you can get it, it's great though, as GPRS fallback is painful.
The more iPhone 3G punters there are, the more they will realise this as O2;s 3G isn't a great deal better.
Roll on WiMax....
8. Peter Cochrane
John = You have to look at individual providers contract details to see the 'roaming rates' for overseas use. Mine seems a nominal amount! Peter
9. Peter Cochrane
Anonymous = I try never to adverise anything in these blogs. Check out the 3G providers web sites. Peter
10. Peter Cochrane
Richard = Check this out:
http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39259275,00.htm
It might fix your mobile signal problem!
Peter
11. Peter Cochrane
CMylod = I never advertise - check out the providers web sites. Peter
12. Peter Cochrane
Chris = Correct until optical fibre to the office and home is deployed and then it undercuts everything including fresh air! Peter
13. Peter Cochrane
Anonymous 3 = Yep - coverage is a problem so I combine 3G with WiFi and will add WiMax when available, and 4G if it ever arrives. In the mean time look out for other solutions based on micro, pico and femto-cells. Peter