3 mobile internet

Anyone use 3s mobile internet?

Regardless of what the brochure/bumph says, what real-world download speeds do you get??

Thing that puts me off is that my actual mobile (O2) is very VERY fickle ... in my house, I can move my head a few inches and I go from good signal to zero ... I can also go to certain spots of the house and it is full strength (a few meters to the side and there is none).

So who has it and is it any good? ... thinking of dropping my landline (I use mobile for calls, so it is only there for the interweb and for cold callers to abuse grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!) and using 3 mobile internet! ... it should mean if I am out and about I have internet and it is actually cheaper!

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

Anyone use 3s mobile internet?



So who has it and is it any good? ... thinking of dropping my landline (I use mobile for calls, so it is only there for the interweb and for cold callers to abuse grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!) and using 3 mobile internet! ... it should mean if I am out and about I have internet and it is actually cheaper!

3 are a very very bad company - sign up and they will never let you go - they will hard sell everytime and all the time - cold callers will never be able to phone you as 3 will be on the phone all the time - 3 are a very bad company I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole

I use vodaphone and my mate uses 3. My connection is usually faster than his but he never fails to pick up the network whereas mine occasionally has difficulty connecting.

Either way they both do what they say however I would not recommend this as your only connection. Tis just about fast enough to browse but can be slow and it can take a while to download youtube clips etc.

HTH

Originally Posted by Blue_SV650S

Anyone use 3s mobile internet?

Regardless of what the brochure/bumph says, what real-world download speeds do you get??

Answer is - it varies. 3G reception is very variable, plus you need to be in an area that has HSDPA (aka Turbo network in 3 speak), even then reception is variable and not great indoors. If you do get one try to get the modem near a window, it should make life better. I'd say that your average in a good reception area in the middle of the day will be around 300kbps, lots slower than a good broadband, if it drops to GPRS it will be as slow as dial-up.

If you only use it for browsing and the occasional download it is very useful, obviously works when out and about. Speeds also vary with time of day, most evenings are really slow, I guess lots of people using the network then, sometimes the connection drops out as well.

We're just waiting to get our phone line sorted so we can have proper broadband access, the 3 modem is great for my other half to take away with her when she is working away (with my laptop) but it can be frustrating if it is your only internet access. As I have a 3 phone as well, I only pay 7.50/month for 3GB, so it is pretty cheap for me and worth having.

MT (writing on my laptop with the 3 modem).

Originally Posted by empty

Answer is - it varies. 3G reception is very variable, plus you need to be in an area that has HSDPA (aka Turbo network in 3 speak), even then reception is variable and not great indoors. If you do get one try to get the modem near a window, it should make life better. I'd say that your average in a good reception area in the middle of the day will be around 300kbps, lots slower than a good broadband, if it drops to GPRS it will be as slow as dial-up.

If you only use it for browsing and the occasional download it is very useful, obviously works when out and about. Speeds also vary with time of day, most evenings are really slow, I guess lots of people using the network then, sometimes the connection drops out as well.

We're just waiting to get our phone line sorted so we can have proper broadband access, the 3 modem is great for my other half to take away with her when she is working away (with my laptop) but it can be frustrating if it is your only internet access. As I have a 3 phone as well, I only pay 7.50/month for 3GB, so it is pretty cheap for me and worth having.

MT (writing on my laptop with the 3 modem).

Humm, might go for 3 on my contract renewal (O2 have piddled me off my sneekely making me pay £5 extra a month when I thought I was getting the same deal as last year!). 3 do a mobile package that is comparable (well actually less, but the one I have now exceeds my usage, so one that fits the bill for a bit less). Basically for that package plus the £7.50 mobile internet brings my monthly back to about now, but allows moile internet ... if I find it usable at home, then I'll ditch my landline/home internet

Don't like the sound of all this cold calling mind, do you get much of that?

Thanks 4 the help guys!

Originally Posted by thinone

3 are a very very bad company - sign up and they will never let you go - they will hard sell everytime and all the time - cold callers will never be able to phone you as 3 will be on the phone all the time - 3 are a very bad company I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole

Pifff!

I was offered a 5 gig + free modem for 7.50 pm as I have a phone with them and have had for so long now, they duid call me 6 months ago and offer 1 gig for 15ppm which I turned down,

yes three hard sell, but I have never had a problem using that to my advantage Im on more minutes and opaying less then ever before.

the 3 modem is good but struggles a buit more than the phone for signal, it feels a bit primative in doftware terms but I have yet to launch it out the window..

usefull as a back up and or when on the move but my virgin Broadband is far superior..

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We have about 10 guys here at work who we swapped from o2 3G data cards to 3 cards - the difference in coverage was huge - they get HSDPA most places and if not can usually get 3G - with the o2 cards it was GPRS almost everywhere!

We have had no problems at all with them - I think they are all on the £15 a month package

I've had it about 2 months. No problems or cold calls so far.

got it from pc world and got a big discount off a new laptop!!

Results ....

On the left is a speed test at the point in my house where I normally get poor O2 mobile connectivity, the middle is where I normally get good O2 connectivity. The right is my normal broadband (512 account).

As you can see, 3 Mobile didn't exactly blow me away!!