Unfortunately for them, the tech bubble burst but they’d still quite like their money back. Hutchison’s 3 – a network new to the UK – was the first mover and has tried to win the public’s heart with 3G handsets capable of making video calls and downloading football highlights.
The other operators have bided their time. The remaining networks – Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 – have instead focused their attentions on the business market with the launch of 3G datacards, all within a few months of each other. O2 is the most recent to launch but was unavailable at the time of our test. Its results will be included here in due course.
Plugged into the PC Card slot on a laptop, these datacards give access to the internet at data speeds of up to a theoretical maximum of 384 kilobits per second (kbps) as well as services such as email, instant messaging and SMS text messages.
However, the actual maximum data transfer speed depends on a number of factors including the number of people using the same cell in the 3G network, the strength of the signal as well as atmospheric conditions and interference from other radio devices.
One problem for users is that the 3G networks are still very patchy and so all the networks offer both 3G and general packet radio service (GPRS) access in the same card. Where there is no 3G signal, access it at the slower GPRS rate of a theoretical maximum of 171.2 kbps – again with lower real-world speeds.
So how do these datacards work in practice? We took the three new cards on the road to find out.
The cost
The price you pay for the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS card depends on how much you plan to use it. If you are a low volume user, you pay £169 and then £10 per month for 5 megabytes (MB) of data plus £2 per MB thereafter. A megabyte equates to around 25 web pages or 200 text only emails. The price for “power” users is £84 for the card and then £75 per month for 1000MB of data plus 50p per MB thereafter. Two intermediate packages are also available.
Orange’s 3G Mobile Office Card costs £170 for the card and £10 per month for 7MB of data pus £1.50 per MB thereafter for low volume users. High volume users pay £85 for the card and then £75 a month for a maximum of 1000MB of data. Again, there are two intermediate tariffs.
T-Mobile offers a single package for all users, regardless of their usage patterns. The Multimedia Net Card costs £199 and you pay £70 per month for a maximum of 1000MB of data. However, also included in this price is free access to T-Mobile’s wireless hotspot network although you will need a wi-fi card or built-in wi-fi to access it.
At the beginning of September, Vodafone also announced wi-fi coverage as part of its 3G offering. Datacard users with wi-fi capability (through an additional card or built into their laptop) can now access all of BT Openzone's wi-fi hotspots. However, the only advantage is that usage of these hotspots will be shown on the same monthly bill - you still have to pay a time-based fee for their use.
The coverage
