The great 3G data card road test

SPECIAL REPORT Scenario 3: Microsoft Campus, just outside Reading.
Video is one of 3G's big selling points, so we decided to stream a video. One of Steve Ballmer seemed appropriate. (You can see the file for yourself here).

T-Mobile
Using Windows Media Player at 220Kbps, we were able to enjoy full-motion video of Steve Ballmer talking about Linux. A couple of frames dropped and the player did occasionally stall, but the video was eminently watchable. The audio quality was faultless.

Orange
The video downloaded with no problems in the same kind of time you'd experience over a corporate wired broadband connection -- with little or no disruption.

Vodafone
This was the point where the Vodafone card, which had been performing very well, lost some ground. It failed to get the video working, and the card became stuck on a constant green light -- rather than a flashing light showing a healthy connection.

02
The O2 card also struggled with this test. The laptop speakers broadcast a regular buzzing noise -- and long experience with the Vodafone card has taught us that this indicated the card is struggling. All we got were occasional repeated snatches of Ballmer saying "OK one more time". The O2 software showed that we were getting occasional bursts of throughput, but no consistent connection.

Scenario 4: The College Arms, Wokingham Road, Reading
Mobile working is demanding, so road warriors need to be able to keep connected at their pit stops.

T-Mobile
We tried the Wi-Fi connection in the pub. Although the software said it was connected, the browser didn't want to know, so we turned our attention to the Cajun chicken and pint of Kronenburg.

Orange
No connection was possible. More Kronenburg.

Vodafone
The Vodafone card fluctuated between 3G and GPRS, which proved ample for some Web browsing and IM conversations with the troops back at base camp.

We also used the updated Vodafone software to look for Wi-Fi hot spots in Reading. It found five -- but unfortunately not the pub in question. Vodafone's hot-spot directory doesn't provide a map of each site, just the address. So users in an unfamiliar town would have to get their 3G or GPRS running in order to use an Internet map service and locate a hot spot. [Unless they had planned ahead and taken an old-fashioned map with them, of course. - Ed]

02
O2's deal with The Cloud meant that we could get onto a fast connection, although we didn't manage it the first time. To authenticate to the hot spot we needed to answer an automatically placed call on the mobile registered to the account. Unfortunately the level of background noise in the pub meant that we couldn't hear the instructions given by the machine on the other end the first time it called. Second time, with the mobile's volume up full and a finger in the other ear, we had more luck. But we couldn't get a VPN connection running.