3G in UK

[charles_reed]

Report just published on mobile data transmission rates suggests that, in the UK at least, it's not worth having -

"More than 3,600 speed tests conducted by Broadband Genie revealed that the average speed is only 0.87Mbits/sec - a tiny fraction of the headline speeds advertised by the mobile networks. Although most state connection speeds of up to 3.6Mbits/sec, providers such as Vodafone claim to offer speeds of up to 7.2Mbits/sec, or even 14Mbits/sec in selected areas.

The vast majority of the speed tests (65%) were slower than 1Mbit/sec, with 39% recording speeds of below 0.5Mbits/sec. Only 16 out of the 3,6000 tests (or 0.5%) recorded a speed in excess of 3Mbits/sec."

In fairness to Vodafone, their 7.2Mbps is only claimed for a special receiver with their own proprietary software, a feature overlooked by the writers of the article.

 

[wotayottie]

So are they saying that 3G is no faster than the 2G that you get on the older mobile networks? Thats certainly not been my experience.

But I guess its a bit like Govt speed limits. I wonder how often we can achieve those with the congestion we have.

 

[charles_reed]

Not quite GPRS + EDGE gives about 0.114Mbps - on older modems/phones it's going to be little different to old analogue modems at about half that speed.

In the obfuscatory talk used by the mobile networks GPRS+EDGE = 2.5G.

 

[Robin]

I have a Vodafone 3G PAYG dongle and have been very impressed with the speed in practice (haven't measured it) in ports along the south coast. When it does drop the 3G signal it is very slow and very obvious, so at least in practice it appears to be better than 2G if that is what it drops to. However so far I've always managed to get 3G if the dongle is on an extension and out in the cockpit rather than just on the back of the laptop.

 

[bendyone]

I have a 3 modem, speed around 300KB/s unless in a good signel when it can go up to 900 KB/s.
My phone with Orange gives around 50KB/s in 2g area and 1MB/s in 3g area.

 

[maxi77]

I have a Vodafone 3G PAYG dongle and have been very impressed with the speed in practice (haven't measured it) in ports along the south coast. When it does drop the 3G signal it is very slow and very obvious, so at least in practice it appears to be better than 2G if that is what it drops to. However so far I've always managed to get 3G if the dongle is on an extension and out in the cockpit rather than just on the back of the laptop.

I would tend to agree, Vodaphome is good when you get 3G but GORS is pants, and you need a good signal to be of any use at all. The real problem is that 3G coverage is a lot less than they would have you believe

 

[Richard10002]

I'm in Glasson Dock with my phone "tethered" to the netbook. T-Mobile site says I wont get a 3G connection here, but I get one sporadically, (all last night and this morning the phone shows 3.5G). As mentioned, if it reverts to GPRS, it's really slow. Phone is a Nokia 5800.

Just measured the speed with:

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

and I am getting just over 1Mb download and 348 Kbps upload.

When the 3.5G symbol shows, I have never measured less than around 600Kbps download, which is plenty fast enough to watch TV on Slingbox, and videos on youtube.

Not sure what all the complaints are about.

 

[wotayottie]

Well I suppose the complaints are that it isnt 5mb or 10 mb

 

[temptress]

Report just published on mobile data transmission rates suggests that, in the UK at least, it's not worth having -

I have to disagree with your conclusions here.

IMO 3G is more than enough for most applications in the UK but not in all locations. We use 3G for all our internet needs. I don’t have broadband at home. We have a couple of 3g plug-in cards and specific 3G SIMS from several networks. We find the bandwidth is more than enough.

I can get up to 7.2Mbps (more usually 3.5 to 4.6) out of 3G in and round the Solent and most of the South of England but it depends on the technology. I monitor this constantly as it forms part of what I do for a living.

Anyway – using a mobile phone connected to a laptop will nearly always be slower than a dedicated 3G device or a dongle attached to a PC. Using Bluetooth will slow things down again. While off topic there are multiplex devices available that allow you to combine several 3G connections together for more bandwidth but trhis has technical limits if the connections are on the same transmitter.

 

[Richard10002]

Well I suppose the complaints are that it isnt 5mb or 10 mb

Agreed but that hardly makes it "not worth having" as per the report mentioned by the OP, (Charles).

We get about 2Mb on our landline broadband, which is "up to 8Mb", and it works fine. With 3.5G I think they say "up to 3.2Mb", (or up to 7Mb with Vodafone). Anything from around 0.7Mb upwards would seem to be a reasonable expectation, and quite adequate for most purposes. I find it a revelation compared to what went before

I suppose journalists and report writers have to find something to write about, and it seems that negative is usually more newsworthy than positive.

 

[johndove]

I had three contracts with Three Thats "Hutchison 3G UK Limited".

Mobile internet, and a couple of phones.

Been them for 6 years, all was good until a year ago.

This year they lost the plot, always a signal, but only worked some of the time.

After they changed phones, 3 new ones and having the old ones checked, still no better.

Stopped paying them, a few letters, some of there staff said it was due to them stop sharing mast with o2.

In the end they finished the contracts and I did not have to pay them!

Got my number back and with o2.


I know they knew things had gone wrong or did not work and they even said it will take a year or two to get it sorted.

My daughter is still with them and they still don't work as they use to!

 

[Searush]

Just renewed with 3 using a Nokia E71. Very pleased - ok it ain't rocket propelled, but my landline "broadband" only ever hits half a meg as we live right out in the sticks. My phone gets me all I need, but I wouldn't try video streaming - it doesn't even work on my ADSL landline. Using the laptop thro the phone is ok for e-mail, forums, searches, forecasts etc - suits me - its great to get service when miles from anywhere.

Phone also has GPS which is impressive, if only it knew left from right & could count the exits on roundabouts!