I'd like to use my new laptop to access emails via a mobile phone, while travelling, but companies only offer fixed contract terms on a monthly basis. I am aware that data cards are costly to buy, but as a light user, I could accept this if I only paid for the megabytes that I used. Peter Johnson
In June, Vodafone finally launched the Vodafone Mobile Connect Prepay 3G data card for £199 plus VAT, which included 10MB of data usage. Hurray! Data then cost about £3 per megabyte in the UK, and £9 internationally. Boo! However, it seems the service was immediately renamed Vodafone Mobile Connect Broadband, and the prepay cards disappeared. (A Vodafone press officer thinks there were some available "in the reseller channel, not to consumers".)
Now Vodafone's UK site only offers contracts, such as Vodafone Data 250, with 250MB of data for £30 per month, and Data Unlimited for £53 per month. ("Unlimited" means "up to 1GB".) It's an interesting reflection on the price per megabyte that the £30 per month deal gets you £750 worth of data.
T-Mobile has a cheaper deal called Web'n'Walk Professional, which costs £20 per month for unlimited use. (In this case, "unlimited" means "up to 2GB".) Further, you can use your notebook PC with Wi-Fi in more than a thousand T-Mobile hotspots. However, you are forbidden from using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and instant messaging.
The cynic in me wonders if the mobile carriers intend to discourage consumers from using GPRS/3G data services until they become obsolete - much as BT did with ISDN. Under the circumstances, I suggest you use a cable (or Bluetooth) to connect your laptop to a mobile phone and access email slowly and unreliably until WiMax becomes widely available. If it ever does.
Backchat: AA Macbeth says he's using an Advent Wireless Modem PC Card on special offer from PC World with the Easymobile PAYG Sim card taken from his mobile. "I get about 115kbps and charges are about £3 per megabyte," he says.
