Mobile broadband to share!

Wow.

I’m going to be honest, it’s not that often I get really excited about broadband, but today is an exception. I have just discovered the existence of mobile broadband wireless routers!

Having just signed myself up for mobile broadband from 3, I find the prospect of being able to share my new broadband connection with my flatmates pretty special.

Following the success of mobile broadband, it was really only a matter of time before the market started producing accessories to improve the mobile broadband user’s experience. And indeed, they have done just that…

3’s new (stylish looking) Huawei D100 router turns a standard 3 USB modem into a wireless router, which allows up to four broadband users to share the same 3G connection to access the internet.

The router costs £69.99 and is available from selected 3 stores as well as www.three.co.uk. As all the equipment is plug-and-play, setting it up should be a piece of cake!

T-mobile are releasing a similar device, called the “share dock”, and once these babies are unleashed on the market, I believe we will see massive changes in the way that Britain chooses broadband. Effectively, you can now get wireless broadband without a landline, which is great news for those who can’t get a landline and for those who don’t want to pay for one.

Indeed, who would want to pay £130 to have a landline installed, plus £10.50 a month in line rental, when for around £70 you can get a router that shares one mobile broadband connection with a whole house?

The only thing holding mobile broadband back now is the question of speed. If four people are using the same mobile connection, the speeds are not likely to be brilliant. However, with mobile broadband providers relentlessly pushing boundaries on the speed front, soon this problem could evaporate.

Yes, I believe that mobile broadband wireless routers are the future!

One quick word of caution - The more people using your connection, the more likely you are to exceed your download allowance, so it’s vital you keep an eye on your communal usage.

If you are planning to share your mobile broadband, it’s probably worth splashing out on a plan with higher download limits, rather than getting stung for exceeding your allowance.

Install the BroadbandChoices.co.uk Download Monitor onto each computer that will be using your connection, and regularly add up the totals to ensure you don’t reach your limit!

Guilty Pleasures

Your heart starts beating faster…

Your breathing becomes heavier…

You can feel your palms getting sweaty…

That vein in your neck begins to pulsate and your whole body is getting tenser with anger…

“AAAARGH!”

Not being able to get online is annoying for most, but for some it can be painfully frustrating.

New research conducted by YouGov for 118 118 has revealed that as a nation we are officially ADDICTED to the internet. The report revealed that around 44% of internet users are left feeling stressed are confused when they lose access to the internet.

Indeed, Dr Jerald Block (a leading psychiatrist who writes for the American Journal of Psychiatry) asserted earlier this year that internet addiction is now a serious public health issue that should be officially recognised as a clinical disorder.

According to Block, internet addiction has four main components:

• Excessive use, often associated with a loss of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives (i.e. forgetting to eat during your online casino marathon)
• Withdrawal, including feelings of anger, tension and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible (i.e. wanting to throttle your sister when she is hogging Facebook)
• The need for better computers, more software, or more hours of use (i.e. spending seventeen hours playing World of Warcraft)
• Negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation and fatigue (i.e. “I told you not to look in my private folder!”)

Internet addiction is no joke.

Internet addiction clinics have sprung up around the world and online in an attempt to help people conquer their need for a fix. Indeed, many people have turned (apparently without irony!) to message boards with names such as Internet Addicts Anonymous.

Dr David Lewis, the psychologist who worked on the YouGov study, believes broadband is to blame, suggesting that it is the ever improving availability and affordability of broadband that has fuelled Britain’s obsession with the internet.

Luckily, I have the miracle cures:

• 76% said they could not live without the internet (Simple cure - set yourself free with mobile broadband)
• 19% said they spend more time online than they do with their families each week. (Simple cure - get everyone involved with family friendly broadband)
• 17% said the longest they had been without the internet was less than one day (Simple cure – get unlimited broadband and surf to your heart’s content!)
• 20% pay more attention to the internet than their partners (Simple cure – start dating online and kill two birds with one stone!)
• 17% would miss the internet more than their friends (Simple cure – get a reliable service provider, so you’ll never be without the internet and then, who needs friends?)

So are you really addicted? Well, read the statements below and see how many apply to you…

• When someone tells a funny joke, I say “LOL” instead of laughing.
• I no longer type with punctuation, capitalisation or complete sentences.
• I have an identity crisis if someone is using a screen name that’s similar to mine.
• I double click my TV remote.
• When signing important documents I find myself signing my email address instead of my name.
• The only way my friends and family can really get my attention is with an Instant Message.
• When others are using my computer I pace nervously behind them.
• I reach for my mouse during sleep.

If any of the statements above apply to you then yes, I reckon you are addicted and you have my full permission to FREAK OUT.

*Disclaimer*

This is not a scientific questionnaire. Hazel is a joker, not a psychologist.

 Top floor for mobile connectivity…

Allow me to begin today by paying tribute to the undisputed screen legend Bernie Mac. If it wasn’t for Mac and his gargantuan talent, I’d have walked out of Transformers after 20 minutes. However, with mighty Mac at the controls, I was able to stay for 45. I nearly got my money’s worth. Thanks Bernie, you’ve gone to a better place.

Talking of value for money, how does £25 a month for 14.4Mbps mobile broadband sound? Tempting? Well, if 3 mobile get their backsides into gear, this scenario could be a distinct reality.

Talking with future tech gurus techradar.com, 3 mobile has revealed its plans to upgrade mobile broadband speeds to 7.2Mbps by the summer’s conclusion (which was last week I think). Moreover, developments are already afoot that will double these speeds to 14.4Mbps by early 2009.

Where 3 mobile are going to obtain this four-fold increase in performance from is anyone’s guess. The sensible thinker would assume mobile broadband technologies, being somewhat embryonic, are yet to evolve to their optimum level of development and functionality. In terms of extracting the highest level of performance from mobile broadband connectivity, 3 mobile are trying to be the pioneers.

However, 3 mobile are already trying to dampen expectations, so don’t start waving your dongle around like a lunatic just yet.

The existing 3.6Mbps mobile broadband connection actually equates to around 1Mbps in the real world, so doubling the performance to 7.2Mbps will only result in a real world increase to 2Mbps.

Higher speeds will additionally result in a more ‘sensitive’ network, with more dropouts and network difficulties anticipated as a result. In order to get the most from your connection, you’ll need to be within 200 metres of a transmission mast.

 What’s the outlook for mobile broadband?

‘Lies, damned lies and statistics’, a famous phrase coined by Benjamin Disraeli and popularised by Mark Twain to describe how inaccurate arguments can be given undeserved credibility by the inclusion of some persuasive statistics.

Factor in such variables as perspective, motives and spin, and it leaves you wondering just who is telling the truth?

I’ve read two very different angles on the same story today, the take-up rate of mobile broadband services since their introduction to the market late last year.

According to Ofcom, the rapid take up of mobile broadband is likely to accelerate the introduction of super-fast broadband networks in the UK, which is great news. Promising mobile take-up figures will be used as the carrot on a stick to encourage fixed-line operators to invest in next generation infrastructure.

However, over at Point Topic, researchers are concerned by their findings from a mobile broadband survey. Only 3 million broadband users in the UK are free roaming (about 6% of all adults questioned in a mobile broadband survey), with Point Topic suggesting it is only the privileged minority (young, well paid, well educated) who are plugging in their dongles and using their broadband connection on the move.

Based on these relatively underwhelming figures, how can Ofcom use mobile broadband uptake as ammunition to persuade industry figureheads to invest in fibre?

Well, the answer is quite simple, and this is where the damned lies and statistics come in. Despite Point Topic’s research presenting a compelling argument for slow mobile broadband uptake, the mobile broadband sector has actually experienced a period of unprecedented growth since spring 2008.

A recent YouGov report predicts a third of all broadband users will be hooking up via dongles by 2012. Moreover, as ISPs get wise to the mobile broadband growth spurt, faster download speeds, cheaper connections and more freebies/incentives will be established and offered. Mobile broadband will really become a force against the landline when these developments become commonplace.

So both sides are telling the truth, it just depends on whether your cup is half full, or half empty.

 It’s not big and it’s not clever

No, this has absolutely nothing to do with Gordon ‘Two Sea Bass’ Ramsey.

Nor am I referring to Edwin Van Der Sar’s quite magnificent expletive peppered response to winning the Champion’s League last night, captured by live TV cameras and microphones.

Edwin, I’ve been a little disappointed by the outcome of certain penalty shoot outs in my lifetime too, not least last night’s. There’s no need to revert to blue language though, even if you are so very, very happy.

Neither am I making reference to Fakenham, Flash Floods or Feng Shui.

The ‘F’ word in question here is…………Free!

‘Should all customer service and tech support helplines be free of charge and UK based’, that’s the burning question in the Consumer Choices forum today.

You can join the debate here:

Consumer Choices Forum - Hanging on the Telephone

So yeah, the Consumer Choices forum is up and running, with ample opportunity to comment on all matters broadband, finance, energy and insurance, or just hang out and chat.

All existing Consumer Choices subscribers are eligible to post, all you have to do is choose yourself a screen name and you’re good to go.

Is good customer service the key component of a worthy ISP? Are mobile broadband costs driving you up the wall? Is Virgin Media really the fastest mid range broadband provider?

It’s time to have your say.

 Umm…is it a wine rack? 

Question One: Cheap Broadband – Too Good to be True?

Answer: Invariably, yes.

Why so?

Well, on the face of it, you’re entitled to believe you’ve picked up something of a bargain. Super fast broadband for under a tenner each month? Sounds like a great deal, particularly when you consider some ISPs charge up to three times that amount for what seem like relatively similar products, but…..

Question Two: Is ‘cheap’ a byword for ‘value’?

Answer: According to some I’m sure it is, but in broadband terms, not a chance.

When approaching the purchase of a broadband product, as either a newcomer to the game or a canny veteran about to switch, it’s important to focus not only on the cost of the package, but also how well that package suits your individual needs.

Opt for a cheap entry level package, sit watching i-player all day, then observe in horror as the escalating costs roll in, and wish you were on a more advanced package for just a little extra expense. It’s happened to the best of us, even me.

Question Three: What are the hidden costs I should be looking out for?

Here’s a rundown:

(1) Free laptops. Looks like a great concept on paper, but the mammoth contract lengths mean you could end up paying for your ‘free’ laptop numerous times. Choose a more tailored deal and you could buy yourself a higher spec laptop and still save money.

(2) Downloading beyond your set limit can be very costly, especially when you’re free roaming with a mobile broadband connection. Anything other than a bit of e-mailing and light surfing abroad is a huge no no. For instance, using your dongle in Spain with Vodafone will cost you an extra fiver a day, and for each Mb you use beyond the 15Mb limit, you’ll be charged another fiver. Incidentally, Skype and Instant Messenger aren’t included in the ‘fair usage’ policy, and to use these will cost you…that’s right….five pounds each. Costly isn’t it?

(3) Download penalties in the UK vary between £1.50 and £3.50 per extra GB.

(4) ISPs are often afforded the capacity to offer cheap deals because they connect customers to local loop unbundled networks (LLU). However, if you wish to migrate from an LLU, it may cost you a cease and re-provide cost of £60, or a £125 charge from BT to be reconnected to their service. Effectively, the savings you made are instantly wiped out.

(5) A number of ISPs charge up to 50p a minute for technical support. Thankfully, the BT group has seen sense, and now BT Broadband, Be* Broadband and O2 Broadband all offer free technical support.

(6) Connection and cancellation charges are an inevitability, but some are easier to stomach than others. Having your Sky broadband installed on a weekday rather than the weekend can save you £30! All you need to do is box clever.

(7) Some ISPs send you a free modem, and then charge you for the postage. Therefore, it’s not free. Check first.

Last Question: How do I monitor my downloading activity?

Easy, with the broadbandchoices free download monitor of course!