Vodafone's Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard is the first product in the UK to provide a fast mobile data service via a third-generation (3G) network. It consists of a Type II PC Card with a SIM slot, installation software on a CD, and a detachable aerial that plugs into the card to give improved reception.
This, Vodafone says, is all you need to get broadband access on the move. Our experience is that 3G can live up to the hype and give mobile workers a genuine alternative to Wi-Fi hot spots. But 3G coverage is currently limited, prices are high and we also encountered some performance problems. Two flavours of Mobile Connect are available: an Internet Access version that provides unrestricted access to the Web, POP3 and IMAP email, instant messaging and text messaging; and a Remote Access version that provides a Virtual Private Network (VPN) link to a company's local area network. We have tested the Internet Access version, which also supports VPNs, allowing access to Web-based corporate email.Installation and operation
The Internet Access service is straightforward to set up, and it takes less than ten minutes to run the installation CD. Vodafone includes an updated version of the Dashboard application that it introduced for its GPRS-based Mobile Connect Card last year. This program is your 3G control panel, from where you can fire up a Web browser or IM client, compose and read text messages, check the speed of your connection, and monitor how much data you have downloaded.
Performance
Vodafone’s 3G data service supports a maximum download speed of 384 kilobits per second (Kbps), or 48KB of data per second. In our testing, we regularly achieved speeds of around 264Kbps (33KB/s, or around 2MB a minute), with top speeds of 360Kbps (45KB/s) at some points. Performance was slightly better with the aerial plugged into the card.
When accessing Windows Update, the connection consistently hit between 80 and 100 percent of the card's maximum throughput, according to the networking component of Windows Task Manager. At these speeds, 3G can be extremely useful for quickly downloading a large presentation, a batch of emails, or an important security patch.
The caveat, though, is that 3G -- like DSL -- is a contended service, so bandwidth is shared between the various 3G users in each cell. As this product only launched in April, there are unlikely to have been many other 3G users nearby during our testing. It will be a few months before it becomes clear how well Vodafone’s 3G network copes with large numbers of people hitting it simultaneously.
On occasion, though, the connection was painfully slow. This was usually the case when surfing at the edge of Vodafone’s 3G network. At present, this covers only 30 percent of the population, and is concentrated on major cities like London, Birmingham and Manchester. Elsewhere, the connection falls back to GPRS, which is almost ubiquitous but has a maximum speed of only 57Kbps.
Our testing took place in and around London. On a coach journey starting beyond the M25, the card stuck to GPRS until reaching some 13 miles from central London, when 3G kicked in. Signal strength here was weak, though, which was reflected in relatively slow connection speeds.
3G wasn’t always available in the centre of London. Bizarrely, at one desk in ZDNet UK's office we could only get GPRS, while another one a few metres away basked in 3G glory. Kensington Olympia -- one of the capital's major exhibition venues -- was 3G-free one day during the test period, but boasted 3G coverage the next.
Switching between 3G and GPRS was sometimes seamless, but on other occasions would result in dropped instant messaging traffic. At its worst, browsing would also temporarily break down.
During the first few days of testing we also found that Web browsing occasionally wasn’t possible, even though the rest of the service appeared to be functioning. Reconnecting often solved the problem, suggesting that the fault lay with some of the IP addresses that Vodafone dynamically allocates each time a user logs on. Because services like instant messaging still worked when Web access didn’t, and because it was possible to telnet to Web sites on ports other than port 80 (which is used for HTTP traffic), it’s possible that a glitch with a transparent proxy was to blame.
Vodafone’s technical support team suggested that a fault on part of its 3G network -- now fixed -- may have been responsible. In any event, the problem had disappeared by the end of the testing period.
Value for money
Vodafone offers a range of tariffs for its 3G data service, all providing a certain amount of data per month for a fixed cost. The 'Low user' tariff gives 5MB of traffic for £10 per month, with each additional megabyte costing £2 more; the card itself costs £150 if you select this tariff. At the top end, a 'Power user' pays £85 a month for 500MB, with extra data costing 50p per megabyte and the card price dropping to £50. Prices are excluding VAT.
Our experience is that 3G users will very quickly notch up several megabytes of traffic each time they spend some time online. This is partly because Vodafone is counting both upstream and downstream traffic. During testing we would regularly be startled to find that we had run up five or six megabytes just by Web surfing and running several instant messaging conversations. The volume of sent data was typically one fifth of the volume of data received.
Running applications, such as IM and VPNs that regularly ‘check in’ with a central server could be an expensive hobby for 3G users. And as for song-swapping services like KaZaa…
After spending some £6 billion on its 3G licence in the government auction of 2000, Vodafone must be under pressure to recoup its investment. But it’s hard to believe that prices this high will encourage significant 3G take-up.
One major advantage of the Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard, though, is that it can supersede almost all other connectivity methods. Companies that equip their mobile staff with this device should never have to see another dog-eared receipt for time spent at an Internet café or a Wi-Fi hot spot. IT managers who are struggling to keep control of their remote access costs will appreciate this.
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Member reviews
...mine spends 75% on GPRS in central London.
- 5.00 out of 10
5.00 out of 10It worked from straight out of the box. It's as good as broadband when you are surfing the Net. I get excellent coverage in the Berkshire area, and I hardly ever use my DSL connection as it's stuck in one room. I could spend money getting a Wi-Fi DSL router, but that still limits me to the house.
Well done Vodafone!
- 9.00 out of 10
9.00 out of 10I travel a lot and at the same time have got used to broadband-type download speeds. Up until now, there have been no really fast products for the mobile user (i.e. not public but privately). This is good, especially when used with the on-speed program. And the introductory deal of "double" download Mbs is good.
- 7.00 out of 10
7.00 out of 10Have just taken delivery of my card, and within 5 minutes had it fully working. Although functionality is fine, and the VPN feature is useful, the major limiting factor with this device is the lack of nationwide 3G coverage.
Until 3G coverage is more widespread it is unlikely that this device will be widely adopted. GPRS speeds are not high enough to justify the outlay.
- 7.50 out of 10
7.50 out of 10- 8.50 out of 10
8.50 out of 10A little expensive, but if you're operating within the M25 or other major cities, it is perfect.
- 8.50 out of 10
8.50 out of 10- 5.00 out of 10
5.00 out of 10I have one big beef with all this -- both Vodafone and the ZDNet review imply that you can roam freely back and forth between 3G and GPRS, but this is not true: even when you pay £50-100 pcm, this does *not* give you the right to use your megabyte allocation by either 3G or GPRS. Your expensive monthly allocation (which is not carried over) is NOT valid for GPRS, so when 3G fails, you have to pay extra per Mb for the 'privilege' of using the slower GPRS functionality of your Connect card.
This makes no sense to me at all -- in effect, it means Vodafone can decide to turn off your local 3G transmitter (or in my case not fix it quickly enough), and the whole time it's down, rather than compensating you for the inconvenience of using GPRS instead, they actually charge you extra because it's 'outside' your 3G tariff. And meanwhile, you get no credit back for your unused 3G tariff even when this is due to Vodafone's failure to maintain a service.
*AVOID*, until they sort out this fraudulent billing.
- 5.50 out of 10
5.50 out of 10I've been testing one of these data cards for about two weeks, and although I've had no problems getting connectivity in the centre of Manchester, as soon as you commute you'll be lucky to get any sort of connection.
We were looking at this product for our company as a means for our remote sales guys and IT support techs to keep in contact with the office. It just wouldn't work in most places, so apart from our guys located near the major cities it isn't a feasable solution. (We have offices around the UK which need support).
I personally think if you're looking for a technology to keep you in contact with the office for email and similar schedule-type info, stick with an xda II or Blackberry device.
- 6.50 out of 10
6.50 out of 10- 7.50 out of 10
7.50 out of 10This is the best of the mobile cards that we have tried. Have had very little success with 3G reception either in central London or Bishops Stortford. Although our Orange equivalent cost £800 for five days use on pay as you go!
- 5.50 out of 10
5.50 out of 10I have had a Vodafone 3G card since early summer 2004 and have found it consistently troublesome and idiosyncratic. After eight months of downloading patches, learning little hints and tricks and how to pander to its whims and tantrums I’m in the process of giving up. Technology should not be this difficult and unreliable.
- 4.00 out of 10
4.00 out of 10Bought as a pay-as-you-go from the Laptop Shop: the card has never worked -- they do not want to know, Vodafone were of little help at all. Vodafone offered software that never materialised. Best advice: save your money and use your hotel's Internet connection and PC.
- 3.00 out of 10
3.00 out of 10Vodafone have some DNS lookup issues from time to time, but you, as an ordinary punter, can't talk to anyone who even knows what DNS is. Customers can't talk to the techies so you play Chinese whispers via the call centre (not their fault - bless 'em). Might be a nicer experience if they spent anything on tech support and customer service instead of executive salaries.
It does work -- just about, but it always packs up just when you need it most and there's no backup.
- 5.50 out of 10
5.50 out of 10- 10.00 out of 10
10.00 out of 10- 10.00 out of 10
10.00 out of 10We've had 3 data cards for a one-month evaluation. All 3 PCs needed to be rebuilt after installing the Vodafone software. It removed the ability for IIS to serve .Net pages and caused Apache to generate a 20GB error log on the hard drive. The support staff were less than useless.
- 2.00 out of 10
2.00 out of 10The device may work most of the time in GPRS (don't bother with 3g, because it constantly cuts out), BUT only get this device if you like constantly arguing with Vodafone about the billing. ie over £6000 for the first two months because they put me on a mobile phone tariff, then charging for the extra 150 MB when the data limit was upped from 300MB to 450 (even though I phoned first to check). Now, they are trying to charge me for using approx 500 MB a month (for the last three months), when I KNOW that I have not exceeded 450 MB. FORGET IT!
- 5.50 out of 10
5.50 out of 10My card didn't work right with my Sony Vaio, customer support took me through a long list of things to try and after 15 days it just didn't work. Refund? Nope, you only have 14 days to get a refund, the support people repeatly telling me I should have made the request within 14 days, even though they could see about 12 support calls about the technical problems. Typically big company support and not a lot that can be done about it
- 4.50 out of 10
4.50 out of 10You cannot download e-mail to Outlook or Outlook Express with a Wanadoo account
- 2.00 out of 10
2.00 out of 10The card is fine and easy to use, but the software has been developed on the back of a fag packet and crashes when the wind changes. Vodafone support is clueless: they can't even tell if you have a card and not a 'phone -- and forget getting hold of technical support.
- 5.00 out of 10
5.00 out of 10The "product" simply does not work. Despite numerous firmware updates (why do the CDs provided have out of date software on them)and using multiple PC we just can not get it to work.
- 4.00 out of 10
4.00 out of 10The Connect Me software definitely causes IIS (or Apache) to stop working. Easy enough to get it working again -- just uninstall the Connect Me software. It's probably grabbing all available ports.
- 2.00 out of 10
2.00 out of 10The connection in any mode is unreliable. The service often stops for some time when 3G becomes available or drops away. It does this even without moving the device at all.
The transparent proxy compresses HTML web pages by removing line breaks. Images are also compressed horribly leading to a terrible browsing experiece. The Javascript code added to web pages to allow access to full quality images breaks standards compliant web pages in Firefox and pages intended for other agents e.g. the Eclipse software update system is handed broken XML.
Support do not acknowledge the existance of this compression system.
Censorship is excessive, outlawing popular technology blogs which I access for work. Form submissions can be censored while normal access to the same site is permitted. Its like living in China. Age certifications are liable to fall away from time to time and rather than providing an uncensored http service you are heavily censored.
- 4.50 out of 10
4.50 out of 10I got my card free with a new laptop. Seems to work ok but at these prices I will be using this only in emergencies.
- 7.00 out of 10
7.00 out of 10- 10.00 out of 10
10.00 out of 10Coming up to the end of my contract and will be getting rid of it even though I still can't get broadband.
The software is not good enough, despite updates. The latest version frequently hangs on disconnect forcing a reboot before reconnecting.
This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't need reconneting frequently because it had lost its access.
The compression of images gets more and more annoying as you use it too, they really should provide an APN that routes around the proxy.
- 4.50 out of 10
4.50 out of 10No 3G in B'ham city despite claims. Had Vodafone rep in office last week to demonstrate. Coverage in Europe is patchy at best and no 3G in most countries.
Tech support is useless. Had usual Vodafone promises to resolve issues, but fail even to call back.
- 4.00 out of 10
4.00 out of 10- 4.50 out of 10
4.50 out of 10- 2.50 out of 10
2.50 out of 10I have never used a product that has such a lack of support from the manufacturers! the customer support in the biggest branch -- Bond street -- is atrocious, rude deputy manager, clueless help & advice staff! Not much support from vodafone online nor from Option(the 3g datacard manufacturer) nor from Toshiba (manufacturer of my brand NEW laptop). My system crashes EVERYtime I use the datacard. but normally the laptop works brilliantly! I have the latest vodafone mobile connectivity software. no hope! Really frustrated!
- 2.50 out of 10
2.50 out of 10Poor connection tends to cause crashes. Over 18 certification switches itself off. Expensive.
- 3.50 out of 10
3.50 out of 10The most appalling support from any company I have ever experienced, and I am a shareholder!
It seems that they are not interested in helping you unless you are a business user on a monthly contract.
I must have spent 3 days and numerous phone calls, speaking to at least 12 different people in various parts of the business.
During that time I was among other things sold a useless SIM card, lied to, misinformed, promised return calls that never happened, left hanging on hold for 15mins+, and all with absolutely no resolution of my issue at the end of it all.
So I am left with a £100+ product that does not work and for which I am unable to get support for.
Unless you get given one on a business contract don't waste your money.
- 3.50 out of 10
3.50 out of 10I have had my Vodafone datacard for 6 months and must have spent a minimum of 12 hours on the phone to them. Billing dept, managers, supervisors, technicians, you name it i've spoken with them. The problem here is that no one knows what there talking about. I've had horrendous excess bills, even though all the data is accessed through the vodafone screen and i never go over my alloted monthly allowance. And yes, all norton, microsoft updates etc, are switched of and not running in the background. Opt for unlimited package 1gb £45 per month, although i'm still getting excess bills and the usage only reads 589mb !! i get this for £25 a month due to the problems i've had, but still trying to recoup the other £500 in excess bills. The threat of legal action will eventually prevail, i hope. Its a widely documented problem and the frustrating thing is that you go onto say a 250mb tariff, dont go over it on your usage screen and then get a bit for 340mb, 90mb excess @ 1.50 a mb + VAT. This is what they have, and this is what you have, its your word against theirs. I wish someone at vodafone would sit down and use a datacard for 1 month, then they would see it doesnt add up. Most people pay by dd and dont even notice. Private individuals and businesses should keep and eye on things, as your just throwing money away. I wont be renewing when the contract expires.
- 4.00 out of 10
4.00 out of 10Bought this product yesterday, having problems with connectivity. Have been told I need to wait up to 3 days for technical support. Will return it quicker by royal mail!
- 2.00 out of 10
2.00 out of 10I have spent literally hours trying to set this card up. Initially, the program wouldn't recognised that the card was inserted so one could set up a profile. After trying several patches, downloads and work arounds I eventually got it to recognise the card. Then came the problem of trying to connect. The information I had been given was wrong and only VodaGuy on a message board was able to get it to connect. Now it's connected to the network, it won't allow me to actually use the Internet, Outlook iTunes downloads or anything else. Will have to spend more hours trying to figure this out. Support was good at first (or so it seemed) but the solutions offered didn't work. Now it's impossible to get any kind of response from Vodafone Support. There MUST be better cards / solutions out there???
- 3.00 out of 10
3.00 out of 10Tried one of these for our mobile sales force in NZ (early adopters campaign). It totally hosed up his notebook and made it impossible for him to demo our product...which was the whole point of having the bloody thing. Tried it in a second machine, same FUBAR results. Screws the network stack, kills asp.NET, and support is a huge value-subtract. Back to the drawing board for them and us.
- 4.00 out of 10
4.00 out of 10I have tried different GPRS and UMTS data cards and they all disappoint in one way or the other, But this is by far the best I have tried. I use it a lot on trains, and it's very important that the card can switch from one antenna to another, and also go from UMTS to GPRS seamlessly, without losing your connections like SSH etc. And it's here that the Vodafone card performs a lot better than any other I have tried.
- 7.50 out of 10
7.50 out of 10The card works well. But I can not understand how a "unlimited inclusive data bundle" actually has limits. Perhaps Vodafone are re-inventing the language
- 8.00 out of 10
8.00 out of 10The card does not work in the USA. The software does not work with other cards or phones. The whole thing is imensly frustrating - every time I travel it takes me 1/2 hour minimum to get it working - far easier to just bluetooth into my regular phone & use that.
Not even any faster than a phone
- 2.50 out of 10
2.50 out of 10This card connects fast enough and the coverage is fine - the chances of being allocated an address and being able to use the DNS to find a web site are not good. I can't rely on this for work and keep my old mobile modem as a backup, not exactly ideal for a premium service.
- 6.00 out of 10
6.00 out of 10Getting connected took about 8 hours on the phone. The pricing is excessive and the coverage is sub standard. The software supplied is appalling - so bad I have removed it from my PC. It doubles the usage for no reason at all and drops the connection regularly even though the signal is good. I actually bought this to allow me to surf whilst travelling on the train - NO chance the signal coverage is not good enough and the software is too slow to reconnect.
- 4.50 out of 10
4.50 out of 10Card doesnt want to install, took several attempts, REALLY buggy software.
Orange tech support is nothing more than a joke (ie non existent).
Do yourself a favour and dont go near orange.
- 2.00 out of 10
2.00 out of 10The dashboard software is appallingly ill programmed: by default it eats 100% processor, and lowering the process priority to make anything else in windows usable makes it unstable and prone to crashes. There is no way to set the software to automatically reconnect on disconnection, and the connection usage statistics included in the software are very misleading.
- 4.00 out of 10
4.00 out of 10It cost me a whole day to discover software version 6.0.x hangs all my ASP.NET applications. It cannot run my development tools anymore. After deinstallation of the software the problem was solved.
- 5.50 out of 10
5.50 out of 10Had mine for 2 months, unlimited ??? not so sure will find out at the end of this month, first month used 245 megs, this month I know I will exceed 1GB, hope the fair usage policy works both ways, so as I only used 245 megs last month and I expect to use 1.5 gb this month, then I hope Vodafone dont send me a letter saying I am using it too much.
Connections good, and stable, like the product so far
- 7.50 out of 10
7.50 out of 10I am stationed in Germany and made the mistake of getting this service from Vodafone. Let me tell you customer support and billing here in Europe is at the least "crappy". I have overpaid 1000 euro for services I diodnt even use, my usage chart says 3GB, theirs says 6. They have a thing or two to learn about service and customer support.
On top of that it rarely maintains the connection I need.
- 2.00 out of 10
2.00 out of 10I dont know why everyone is raving about this product being SO expensive! If you did your homework and shopped around a bit, then you would find the Vodafone pack, available from all PCworld stores in the UK. Just ask for one!
This package includes several contract options, the best of which in my opinion is the cheapest one, and also the one i opted for!
For £25 a month, you get unlimited web access, with a fairly descent 250Mb a month download limit.
And the best part of this deal?
The card is absolutely FREE! yes you read that correctly, the card is 100% FREE!
The card obviously relies on the vodafone network to gain a connection, and i have friends that have the orange version and absolutely hate it, as the orange one seems to be riddled with problems and can never connect properly, and so have switched to the vodafone version which is noteably better!
My connection speed is fairly slow, but i never get a good coverage on any network at my house (due to the location!).
I use this card mainly for work use. Being in the Merchant Navy and operating out of Aberdeen, i obviously cant use the built in wireless hardware in my laptop to connect to my wireless network at home, as its 550 miles away!
Overall this product is brilliant for people constantly on the move or working away from home and require a moderately cheap internet connection per month, providing you dont go over the download limit!
And seeing as the card is FREE from PCworld, i cant see any reason not to get one!
- 7.00 out of 10
7.00 out of 10