[SuperFlyTmobileGuy]

You know if you wanted to use your mobile for something else, such as....watching certain broadcasts, and you're on Tmobile, you may get your wish...soon...

[Ben]

That's excellent news. I wonder if it'll be the same Sky tie-up or whether they've got other plans. Fingers crossed it's NOT MobiTV ;) Fingers crossed they can make it a success!

[Hands0n]

Fingers crossed .................... I'm on T-Mobile, and they got to go at least as good as Vodfone with the TV which is excellent! MobiTV should be consigned to the "WTF is that supposed to be?" bin!

[miffed]

This is great news ! :D

Mobile TV is something that I have been quite interested in recently

Had a bit of a play with my 6630 (Three) - OK if you like ITV 1 !

Also bought a 6280 on Vodafone for this purpose - but unfortunately as I live in a small hamlet (30.000 residents , Four Business parks , 3 Superstores ,1 commercial radio station HQ etc ) I get no 3G coverage from Vodafone , so that is a non starter

So it will be great news if T-mobile do something & remove the need to mess around with the other three stooges , sorry , networks ;)

What a Christma bonus this will be :D

[SuperFlyTmobileGuy]

Some people might find their phones are already geared up for MobileTV. For example, 6280 users with the latest firmware will find an icon for it, other handset users may also discover this. That's not to suggest it's already working but as I said, 'coming soon'...

[Denyo1977]

A friend of mine has already got an icon on his Sony Ericsson K800i. Now I have got an MDA Vario II and I can't even get T-Zones on it (always redirects to www.t-mobile.co.uk) and everytime I go to a Video, ringtone or Game link on the T-Mobile favourites page I get the message "At present we can't offer downloads for your type of phone." And I even had the message "your phone doesn't support streaming" and I'm quite sure that was on T-Mobile favourites too :confused:
I don't know if there will be a firmware update for the Vario II. But for me it looks like Mobile TV wouldn't work on it. :(

[Denyo1977]

Two and a half months later and still nothing happening. Will there be Mobile TV on T-Mobile at all?

[getti]

Thats what I also want to know. I have decided to use T-Mobile for my contract provider instead of 3. Now thats a HUGE leap for me as not only do i work for 3, but have been a big fan of theirs. Plus they offer Mobile TV already.

T-Mob cover all my needs but TV would be the iceing on the cake so the saying goes.

Gutted there is no UK sling player available unless you use 3... now THAT would have been great

[3GScottishUser]

A minor point (or rather a major one) but lack of mobile TV does not appear to have hindered the rising contract connections at either T-Mobile or 02.

Maybe their focus on other benefits has been well founded.

[Ben]

That's just the thing. Three's offering, despite being quite substantial on the mobile media front now, is just so niche. While horribly torturous, the glacial progress of the other networks and their attention on more fundamental, telecommunicational aspects of their services appears to be the tortoise of the metaphorical race.

Is T-Mobile Mobile TV still coming? Probably. But I doubt they're in any hurry about it.

[Hands0n]

Perhaps they're taking note of the general dis-interest in Mobile TV. There are tons of faddy ideas being bandied around in an attempt to discover 3G's killer application. All the while it is staring them in the face ..........

Ready? 3G's killer application is Data. More specifically, it is making available the Internet via or upon a mobile handset or other 3G device. Thus, removing the traditional tethers to the Internet - copper wires and fibre optic cables. Freedom of movement, mobility, access where it is wanted/needed. Much like mobile voice and text has taken the consumer by storm - freeing us up from the same thethers that we had with wired telephony.

Now; what you actually do over the Data/Internet connectivity is another matter. How well do applications sell over the wired Internet?

The obvious is staring them in the face, but they dare not look as it offends their traditional (PTT) values of premium value for mobile data.

[getti]

I think Mobile TV will be big over here but the problem is availability or content. The only REAL Mobile TV in the UK is with Slingplayer on X-Series with 3 and to be honest its very impressive.

Streaming all your home TV stations over 3g (and it uses 262kb/s stream which is why its much better than others) and thats limited by the broadband upload speed.

You can get movies, sports, news, soaps... anything you can at home on your mobile.

ALso what is good is (say with me) having a Telewest HD box. I can access my recordings over my mobile and watch them back too plus all the content on Virgin VOD.

[3g-g]

ALso what is good is (say with me) having a Telewest HD box. I can access my recordings over my mobile and watch them back too plus all the content on Virgin VOD.

Is that the Virgin/Ntl/Telewest cable service without the Sky channels now?!

[3GScottishUser]

Who in their right mind wants to spend £100 on a box to stream TV to a tiny mobile screen?

You can get a decent 7" Freeview LCD TV now for about £130 and get 40 TV channels and loads of radio etc and its easily visable.

The slingbox is nice niche product but its a mugs eyeful for mobile phone use, a triumph of novelty value rather than usefullness.

I must admit I have not really been convinced by mobile TV and tend to agree with 02 and T-Mobile that there are better and more useful ways to employ 3G bandwidth.

[solo12002]

" tend to agree with 02 and T-Mobile that there are better and more useful ways to employ 3G bandwidth"

Oh do please tell me how 02 manages to do that. Were I am they dont even have a 3G network, ask others on here and I think most would be in agreement that 02 have little if any 3G coverage at all.

Maybe o2's way of using 3G bandwidth better is not to use it at all!

[getti]

Sky have taken 4 channels away from Virgin but thats all. Sky News, Sports News, Sky 1 and Sky 2

All others are there still

[Hands0n]

Maybe o2's way of using 3G bandwidth better is not to use it at all!

*bites lip* :D


We had to leave O2 simply because their 3G, that we were paying for, was non-existent, and that is in North Kent, just outside the M25! All of the other networks provide near-solid 3G (and 2G for that matter) in the region.

Back on topic - I remain completely unconvinced about mobile TV and, it seems, so do the general public. It does not have the wholesale appeal of TV in the living room. The screens are too small on mobile phones for anything but either "novelty" or occasional use. The opportunity to watch TV while out working are highly limited. Slingboxes and suchlike are not really for the masses - too "nerdy" :D for the average Joe. Far too complex also, I'd contend, for the man in the street - in concept let alone practicalities.

The average buyer, and this is missed by the current thinking behind Mobile TV, want their product to be an appliance. That means plug it in, switch it on and it works. Mobile TV in the form of Slingbox is not that. Mobile TV in the form of what we've seen to date from all the players is very poor in performance and quality - with possibly one exception, Vodafone. But even that is limited in its appeal and pricing.