Well, here goes

[chaslam]

My Internet has just gone down because my credit card expired. Luckily, I had my 3 PAYG modem handy which I toped up at the beginning of the month, just to try it out, but I never thought I would be relying on it!

Well, so far, its been about 3 hours, and it seems to be going pretty well! Luckily, yesterday my signal was upgraded to HSDPA. If this happened 3 days earlier I would really be in the s**t, as I would have to be relying on good old standard 3G! Actually, at the moment its pretty speedy. Earlier it was up and down a little bit. Became fast, then slowed down, then sped up again. Did a test earlier and I was getting around 600kbps, where now im getting just over 1000, however to be fair it is a bit later, getting on for 10:15 at night, so I suppose thats expected. My 1GB of data for £10 seems to be holding on well. I wonder, just how much data is 1GB? Only time will tell, but I would be very please if it managed to hold out until I get connected again, which could take up to 3 days.

So, all in all, Im very impressed with it. At a moment when I would be pulling my hair out in frustration, 3 have managed to come in and save the day, and done the almost impossible thing of cooling me down!

[Hands0n]

Excellent stuff - I remain convinced that wireless broadband is where we're heading.

I notice that Three have got Mac support for their 3G/HSDPA dongles now
http://three.co.uk/personal/products_services_/mobile_broadband_/detail.omp

[miffed]

Yeah , they have a set of walkthrough instructions for Tiger (Different to leopard )
I'd guess it would be simple enough to feel you way through , but the step by step guide is useless (at least that was the case when I bought my modem just before Xmas )

[getti]

from me lol

[Hands0n]

Just read through the step by step guide for the Huwei - its all pretty standard Mac configuration stuff. No surprises and pretty much the same as how I set up my N95 to be a 3G/HSDPA modem to my Macbook Pro. Good to see that the USB dongle approach is as straightforward.

[chaslam]

One thing I would like is to get text messages on it and actually see how much you are using/used so you can limit it!

[Ben]

Great story, thanks for sharing chaslam. We all go on about these new 3G USB modems a lot, but in such a connected world it's rare that we have to rely on them. Hopefully you can let us know how your experience pans out over the next few days?

A gig is a fair amount of data if you're just browsing and emailing. Downloading updates/files is going to rapidly push up your usage. It's also worth remembering that the cap is likely up AND down, added together. Sites like YouTube are probably a nono... but then if you only need that gig to last you a few days then it's hard to imagine that you'd reach your limit.

Anyway, good luck. If you get chance, please can you open Terminal and do ping www.bbc.co.uk and ping www.google.co.uk? Press ctrl+c after several have done and then paste the results up here so we know what the latency is like.

[3GsINgH]

Just got one of these myself for £50 and its not too bad although not as good as i would have hoped. Seems to be a hell of alot of 3 users in my area as it does slow down quite a bit during the day time esp now its the weekend. Anyway just a quick speed test produced these results:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/229756189.png

[Ben]

Thanks, 3GsINgH! Not a bad download speed there, not bad at all. Upload and ping are a bit poor, but I would imagine the connection is entirely usable?

I think these USB modems are going to be the Next Big Thing™!

[Hands0n]

Gotta love those ping timings with these mobile networks .... The are reminiscent of what I used to see on long-haul circuits to Hong Kong.

For sure, ping times like these are going to pi55 off a lot of gamers who buy into the technology.


MacPro2007:~ xxxxxxxxx$ ping google.hk
PING google.hk (72.14.203.104): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=0 ttl=241 time=116.282 ms
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=1 ttl=241 time=118.633 ms
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=2 ttl=241 time=125.358 ms
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=3 ttl=241 time=124.748 ms
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=4 ttl=241 time=119.371 ms
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=5 ttl=241 time=118.993 ms
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=6 ttl=240 time=119.624 ms
64 bytes from 72.14.203.104: icmp_seq=7 ttl=240 time=124.979 ms
^C
--- google.hk ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 8 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 116.282/120.999/125.358/3.266 ms



Makes one wonder what the heck 3 (and the other mobile ops) are doing to our packets inside their Intranets before passing them up to peering nets!

[chaslam]

Well just did another speed test on mine and its similar to 3Gsinghs, however this is probably the slowest ive encountered since ive been using it: http://www.speedtest.net/result/229914635.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I generally get around 1400 but I still cant complain. Its only £10 for a gb, which is pretty dam cheap considering you are not tied to any contracts. I like 3Gsingh got it for £50, so its not to bad. Its definitely very very useable, however I wouldnt consider using it as my main long term connection simply because of the upload speed. Once we have HSUPA here in the UK, then I could maybe consider replacing my standard landline. I do however think its perfect for anyone who doesnt stay in one place very long or who cant get broadband through their line. Its a very very affordable and fast compared to dial up!

[Ben]

Yes, it's a shame those upload speeds are so pants at the moment. Vodafone's is a vast improvement, but then you'd hope so given the price and target market: http://www.talk3g.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4971

I believe Voda are also currently deploying HSUPA where they're putting in the 7.2mbps giving over 1mbps up.

So, in short, the future isn't all that far away! I'm sure Three will be rolling out these updates sooner rather than later.