Following up on the positive feedback from a couple of colleagues and Norman regarding the new Vodafone mobile broadband scheme i decided to take the plunge. Couldn't force myself to go with Vodafone so chose the 3network offering. Same sort of usb modem and 3Gig user allowance/month. Only £15/month against Vodafone at £25.

Mus say it seems quite good. Managed just under 1Meg download and 118K upload on speedtest.
Not bad for something i will only be using away from home.

Another nail in the coffin for hotel Internet fees.

That's not far off the max that I can get on this BT line, and I think I pay £11 per Month for 10MB GPRS on the mobile.

Might have to give one of these some serious consideration. Would be handy if I could use it for the PDA though.

Zyzel and others make routers that can use these things as backup connections. Or you could build your own router to use one, then you could use whatever on it

Coverage claims 65% of the population but coverage map shows vast tracks of the UK not covered, do you find coverage variable?

Good idea. Probably not quite so handy having to lug a 7Ah battery and a wireless router around in the back pocket but it'll work.

Just had a look at Oranges offerings on the data card front and they are still quite pricey for some reason.

orange dont do a flat rate data package yet, the only reason we left em after 12 years

lol the battery, sell the pda and buy a smartphone/ pocketpc phone? What pda is it, ie does it have a cf socket can you put a cf gsm modem in it?

Now, that does go against my beliefs, although I was recently thinking about an n95 for the SIP but after setting up and playing with my mates I've decided not to bother lol!


HP rx3715 I think, and dunno, never really looked, I try and do everything via bluetooth so it's easier to upgrade as it's a more universal connection.

They are in the middle of a roll out on the new high speed system. Seems they've also started top down, so for once us northerners may have a head start.
3 claiming 82% coverage at moment, far better than Vodafone.

In reality, most of the cities/towns i visit seem to have 3G so hopefully i should be ok. It will fall back to gPRS if 3G not available.

They don't appear to have any plans to either James. So now i have my phone on Orange and 3 connection for roaming data.