Review: Vodafone's 3G Data Card

Oh yes, 3G is here.

After years listening to friends, neighbors, co-workers, and "industry experts" bellyache and whine about how 3G will never happen –- and will be junky even when it does happen –- you could say I was overeager for a test drive when Vodafone UK's new 3G data card service launched last month (see Vodafone’s 3G Outing).

And, umm, it works. So stick that in yer pipe and smoke it.

The setup is ultra-simple –- just run the CD, plug in the PC card, press a few buttons, and hey hey, you're online. Next, test the data rates... and yep, everything is more or less as advertised: In London, where I live, the service delivers a consistent 300 kbit/s on the downlink and somewhere around 40 kbit/s on the uplink.

So here's the thing: 3G works well enough -– amazingly well, compared to GSM dialup -– but it's still a ways from perfect.

What's great is being able to go anywhere you want (well, OK, anywhere in London) and get connected pretty much as though you're at the office, at home, or at a hotspot. And in this respect, there's no doubt that 3G delivers -– it's a good service.

It means more flexibility and less time wasted looking for overpriced hotspots and figuring out the weird login and billing systems used by hotspot providers.

And because it's new, 3G is great for showing off at wireless industry events, where less-enabled punters are chugging along with GPRS, mucking about with hotspots, or looking for an Ethernet jack. Even my wife is mildly impressed (although she doesn't see how it's much different from wireless LAN).

What's not great is the slow uplink, which makes sending big files a chore, and for business bods using an IPsec VPN –- which requires extra bandwidth –- a meager 40-kbit/s uplink is pretty lame.

How much does all this cost? That's what everyone asks.

The card and subscription I used was provided free by Vodafone for the duration of the test. The real prices are on the high side and, tragically for the subscriber, are based on the amount of data you use.

For now, 3G data is more of an executive toy than a mass-market phenomenon –- which is exactly why I really don't want to give my test setup back. Maybe I can get Unstrung's financial controller to pay. Eeeek!

— Gabriel Brown, Chief Analyst, Unstrung Insider