[Ben]

Well, while I was in London the other day I fired up my laptop and Vodafone 3G Broadband card.

I immediately new something was different because instead of displaying the blue light for 3G the card made a rather nice colour out of the blue and green lights (green on its own means 2.5G). A quick go on www.kbps.co.uk confirmed that, with just 1 bar of signal (I was in TGI's, getting hammered), I had a downstream of 1mbps and an upstream of a couple of hundred kbps.

Unlike a normal mobile connection latency was also greatly reduced. I don't have any stats, but it was much more like using a wired broadband connection when browsing sites.

Now if only Vodafone would get their skates on and roll out HSDPA to all of their 3G areas :(

[bsrjl1]

Latency is much better with T-Mobile HSDPA, except it's everywhere where they have 3G coverage. This is because the Node B is responsible for data transmission, instead of the RNC so if something gets lost over the air it's very quick to retransmit.

My broadband was down yesterday morning & I have no 3G coverage by TM (only 3 & that's borderline, ISHO all the time to O2) so had to use GPRS. It.... was..... so..... slow.......and......you......press......a......key .....and.......wait.....to......see......it.....ap pear..... ;-)

[Ben]

Mhm, T-Mobile's total HSDPA coverage sounds impressive, but I've a feeling it's only about the same as Vodafone's - but then Vodafone covers areas T-Mobile doesn't, like where I live. Whether I'll ever be upgraded to HSDPA here is another story, but I guess I'd rather have 3G than nothing whatsoever.

Interesting wrt latency on T-Mobile.

[midlands_lad]

Hi,

Vodafone currently have 30% of 3G broadband coverage in the UK at present covering major cities such as London, Manchester and Glasgow. Due to the nature of mobile communications, coverage may not always be 100% in certain areas and post codes. The roll out continues and Vodafone aim to cover 50% of the population by the end of 2006 and also to strengthen existing areas. This is a relatively new service and work is ongoing.

It's possible to keep up to date with the latest coverage developments on the Vodafone website. There is an option to view coverage in six months time; however this is currently down for maintenance by Vodafone's I.T team. The option should be up and running again shortly.

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Page_BOS_Coverage&pageID=GM_0067

Hope this helps provide a little more information on Vodafone's plans for HSDPA as we head towards 2007.

[Hands0n]

I love those maps - they're great! Much better than anything I've seen on there to date. The postcode search was excellent (if the info is right) showing that I'm neck deep in 3G wherever I operate at the moment. This is backed up by the observation that I tend to see 3G on my handset all day, every day!

It'll be interesting to see what HSDPA handsets Vodafone will have by June 2007 (earliest I can upgrade without charge, if they're still applying subsidies then). I rather want something to replace my SE W900i which has all that it has plus HSDPA functionality - and of course a more reasonable Data Tariff than Vodafone currently has which scares me rigid each time I use it!! I really need something akin to T-Mobile's Web N Walk Pro (2GB monthly allowance) but on Vodafone's network. If not, then come June I may have to consider consolidating my mobile network ops down to a single provider, and that means T-Mobile at the moment. But then, June is a very long way off right now :D

[Ben]

Hi,

Vodafone currently have 30% of 3G broadband coverage in the UK at present covering major cities such as London, Manchester and Glasgow. Due to the nature of mobile communications, coverage may not always be 100% in certain areas and post codes. The roll out continues and Vodafone aim to cover 50% of the population by the end of 2006 and also to strengthen existing areas. This is a relatively new service and work is ongoing.

It's possible to keep up to date with the latest coverage developments on the Vodafone website. There is an option to view coverage in six months time; however this is currently down for maintenance by Vodafone's I.T team. The option should be up and running again shortly.

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Page_BOS_Coverage&pageID=GM_0067

Hope this helps provide a little more information on Vodafone's plans for HSDPA as we head towards 2007.
Do you write Vodafone's Customer Services email templates? ;)

Thanks for the information!