Mobile broadband has never been more popular. Once the sole preserve of traveling business types, it’s now cheap enough to tempt open your own wallet, but which services were the best in 2008?
We’ve herded the mobile broadband dongles, corralled the 3G USB modems and picked our favourite mobile broadband products of the last year. It wasn’t easy, but there’s a wealth of difference between each network’s individual offerings.
Read on to see which ones came out on top in the last we months.
Vodafone 7.2Mbps mobile broadband
When it comes to mobile internet, speed is everything, so when Vodafone became the first network to offer downloads at 7.2Mbps we rejoiced.
“That’s faster than my landline!” we cried, and we were right.
OK, so you need a signal stronger the Geoff Capes to pull it off, but Vodafone’s extending coverage every day, and with average speeds reaching the 4Mbps mark, it’s still enough to give our landline a good kicking.
Vodafone has pledged to improve its network even more in the next year, meaning 7.2Mbps will soon become the new mobile standard by which all others are measured.
T-Mobile HSUPA mobile broadband
By rolling out HSUPA connections across its mobile broadband network, T-Mobile made it possible for us to upload data almost as fast as it could be downloaded.
It turns mobile broadband into a real competitor to ADSL, and opens up the possibility of mobile video conferencing and gaming without wires. It’ll also speed up video sharing while out and about, and makes sending e-mails with large attachments a breeze.
We’re still awaiting the first mobile broadband USB dongle to support it, having to make do with net-connected mobiles and 3G-equipped laptops in the meantime.
3’s £10 mobile broadband
When 3 rolled out its £10 mobile broadband deal, we sat up to take notice. Sure, the broadband dongle included was far from pretty, but the price couldn’t be questioned.
What’s more, when we tried 3’s mobile internet service, we frequently found it kept kicking in places it shouldn’t. Cellars, underground bars and restaurants were prime locations for it to dish up a surprise, and for that reason we love it.
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