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On 9 October 2010 20:06, Dan Dart <dandart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Sorry, I was confusing it for a broadband replacement! Do any of the networks really market it as such? 3 might be pushing things a bit with their 15GB usage allowance, but really, if you're expecting terrestrial broadband performance out of it you might be expecting too much. It's only really useful if you need the mobility - if you are using it in a single location and there is an alternative (such as ADSL), you might as well go for the latter. As for your previous email, you may want to rethink what you said about the US having no usage limits. They certainly do - because CDMA2000 (as used by Verizon) is actually even worse than UMTS (that we use for 3G) is in terms of speeds. AT&T's network (which is GSM/UMTS, like the UK) seems to collapse because of all the iPhone users, and they have usage limits too. > Me too generally but I miss downloading stuff. Then you're expecting too much out of the current technology. > The whole thing badly needs a redesign :( We may get 4G sometime, but it is unlikely that it will extend any further than the city limits of a few token cities for a while. Especially if 2.6GHz is used - it's already a huge expense to roll out countrywide 3G on 2.1GHz (signal doesn't propagate as well, you need more masts to cover the same area), there's no way that they are going to blanket the country. Also, 4G doesn't appear to be quite the same "quantum leap" that GSM to 3G was. 3G to 4G will be "already fast to a little bit faster", not like going from dialup to broadband that the former was. What can be done is to implement faster HSPA speeds. I think all of our networks are running at 7.2Mbit now, with 14.4Mbit in other European countries and 21+Mbit in Australia (where it really is used as an alternative to landline broadband, in rural areas). Oh, and speaking of coverage, you may want to consider 3/T-Mobile (same 3G network) or Orange if you intend to expect 3G coverage outside of towns/cities in the SW. Vodafone are useless, O2 even more so (provided the network hasn't collapsed again). Shaun -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq