The great 3G data card road test

3G data card providers promise true mobility -- allowing users to break away from the office and be productive almost anywhere. Our tests show that the current products and services aren't there yet.

Things should improve over the next few years as 3G network rollouts continue -- especially near major routes like the M4 corridor and the train lines into London. Manufacturers and developers must also improve products and services to avoid the kind of technical glitches we experienced with Orange's software -- but all 3G data services currently have something of the first generation about them.

Is 3G a must-have for today's laptop user? Not yet. It's surprisingly close if you fit certain profiles of work and location. For example, ZDNet UK's editors and writers use 3G cards on a regular basis with varying degrees of success mirrored by the experiences in this road test. At the moment, the cards are probably only worth investing in if you work within a major city and travel by car; even then you will still probably need Wi-Fi.

In choosing an overall winner, some factors are similar between all operators. For example, there is not a great deal of difference between tariffs (which you can check using the links in the table below). At the time of the road test, T-Mobile still operated a relatively slow connection, though this is due to be upgraded and is made up for in some respects by the bundled Wi-Fi deal, which Orange and O2 are also adding. But after extensive use, we have some reservations about the Novatel Merlin U530 card used by T-Mobile, O2 and Orange. Although it works most of the time, it can be unpredictable -- our advice, if you do buy one, is to use the self-extracting driver that should ship with it instead of letting Windows run the installation automatically.

So, after a full day's road test, separate reviews which you can read below, and further ad hoc usage, Vodafone stands out as the best overall. It didn't claim the fastest speeds in Central London and couldn’t cope with the video download in Reading, but over the course of the day it proved to have the most consistent service and user friendly interface. Reliability counts for a lot when you're on the road. The Vodafone service is also alone in providing support for Apple machines. Given our experience, we've decided to give the ZDNet UK Editors' Choice Award to the Vodafone package.

3G datacard solutions
	O2	Orange	T-Mobile	Vodafone
3G data solution
Standalone Reviews:	O2 Data Card 3G/GPRS	Orange 3G Mobile Office Card	T-Mobile 3G Communication Centre	Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard
3G coverage
	Check here	Check here	Check here	Check here
Key features
Protocols supported	3G, GPRS, SMS	3G, GPRS, SMS	3G, GPRS, SMS	3G, GPRS, SMS
Software	O2 Connection Manager	Mobile Office Card dashboard	T-Mobile 3G Communication Centre	Vodafone Dashboard
Wi-Fi hot-spot access	yes (O2 handset account required)	by end of 2004	yes	yes
Mac support	no	no	no	yes
384Kbps throughput	yes	yes	Q4 2004	yes
Tariffs
	Check here	Check here	Check here	Check here