Fastest mobile broadband?

PapaLazaru

PapaLazaru

PapaLazaru

Soldato
Joined
23 Dec 2009
Posts
18,267
Location
RG8 9
Hi chaps.

I live in one of these areas where the broadband is just terrible. There is nothing I can do. I have checked exchange and it is rubbish with no LLU operators. Apparently it is being fixed in Q4, but I do not believe a word of it.

The long and short of it is, I live with a max DL speed of 200Kbps. Usually it is around 175.

Is there faster DL speeds on mobile BB? I need unlimited tbf as I do download a lot of games off Steam etc.

Any help would be appreciated. :)
 
Mobile broadband probably wont help you as theres fare usage policies even on unlimited data plans. I would put up with your BB connection and wait for the so called repair.
 
Hi

I have done some testing of mobile broadband providers recently. Below I've cherry picked some of the very best results I've ever obtained. In reality, results at your location may be nowhere near as good. Also, service can be badly affected on some networks by the number of users, so the service can be badly overloaded during the day, and it speeds up in the dead of night. If you aren't in a 3G area, you can forget it - mobile broadband under GPRS is painfully slow.

Anyway, here are the results. Check T&Cs carefully as sometimes when they say "unlimited", they don't really mean it:

Vodafone:

Location: Southampton University Avenue Campus, SO17 1BF, Indoors
Coverage Map Says: 3G
Software Shows Signal Type As: 3G+
Speed test results at 19:05 on Sat 19 June 2010:
Download: 2.76 Mb/s
Upload: 0.34 Mb/s
Ping: 195 ms
YouTube Streaming Performance: Good, no pauses.
Number of disconnections during test period: None.

3 Mobile:

Location: Waitrose Car Park, Salisbury, SP2 7TS
Coverage Map Says: Optimum signal area, indoor and outdoor coverage.
Software Shows Signal Type As: HSPA
Speed test results at 11:34 on Weds 9 June 2010:
Download: 3.44 Mb/s
Upload: 1.44 Mb/s
Ping: 147 ms
Possible to browse basic web pages: Yes.
YouTube Streaming Performance: Good streaming.
Number of disconnections during test period: None.

T-Mobile

Location: Southampton University Avenue Campus, Indoors
Speed test results at 17.32 on Sat 19 June 2010:
Connection Software Shows Connection Type As: 3G
Possible To Browse Simple Web Pages? Yes.
Download: 0.83 Mb/s
Upload: 2.30 Mb/s
Ping: 93 ms
YouTube Streaming Performance: Good.
Disconnections During Test: None.

Orange:

Location: Southampton University Avenue Campus, Indoors.
Speed test results at 18.50 on Sat 19 June 2010:
Connection Software Shows Connection Type As: 3G+
Possible To Browse Simple Web Pages? Yes.
Download: 2.79 Mb/s
Upload: 0.65 Mb/s
Ping: 213 ms
YouTube Streaming Performance: Good.
Disconnections During Test: None

Virgin:

Location: Southampton University Avenue Campus, Indoors
Time: 18.33 on Sat 19 Jun 2010
Browsing basic web pages: Fine.
YouTube streaming test: Good, no delays.
Download: 0.50 Mb/s
Upload: 0.86 Mb/s
Ping: 120 ms
Connection reported as: HSPA

O2:

Location: Southampton University Avenue Campus, Indoors
Speed test results at 19.27 on Sat 19 June 2010
Connection Type Shown As: HSDPA, low signal strength.
0.41 Mb/s Download
0.10 Mb/s Upload
114 ms Ping
Web Browsing: Good.
YouTube Streaming: Good.

Rgds
 
Depends on your area. I have played COD via one, and have been using it as a main internet source for over a year now. It was ok, but very very unreliable some days it wouldn't even work.
 
Also, if you are used to say a fast home broadband connection of 6.5Mb/s, even a very good mobile broadband connection will feel a little laggy in comparison, mainly because of the longer ping time associated with mobile broadband. Fast mobile broadband connections are certainly usable for general browsing and video streaming, high FPS online gaming may be more problematic if not impossible.

Rgds
 
Cheers for the heads up chaps.

I primarily want to use it to download, but will probably use my line for gaming as it is stable and whilst slow, I do not get lag really.

Definitely going to have to look at unlimited packages but will check my area connection speeds in RG7. :)
 
The "unlimited" ones are usually FUP'd to 3-5gig and cost the earth if you exceed that.

20gig or so costs around £30-50/m - theres a few "unlimited" with 20gig caps but extra useage above that will cost approx. £20 for every additional 10gig.
 
all mobile broadbands have a download limit, e.g 1GB or 3GB.

my t-mobile one is unlimited but is a limit of 500mb, 1gb, 2gb depending on if i buy a day usage or a week or a month.
 
Last edited:
average speed for my 3 3g dongle is about 512k up and down, reaching maybe 2.5mbit late at night. ping is crap no good for games. £15 for 3gb..

work out what is wrong with your adsl and fix that, sync speed ok? ip profile ok? crap isp?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom