Paul Tingey

Mobile Broadband dongles find success in UK

There seems to have many news stories about the imminent rise of 3G technology in the UK over the last few years. Looking back these stories would seem to have heralded repeated false dawns with 3G being relegated to little more than another mobile voice calling technology. However we now seem to have positive proof that 3G based mobile broadband is becoming a viable alternative to (or addition to) more traditional broadband technologies for UK users.

In a blog entry titled Mobile net takes off, Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC includes what he describes as "an extraordinary graph" showing how the amount of data crossing the 3 mobile operator's 3G network has increased 14 fold in just six months.

According to 3 this massive increase in the amount of data throughput on their 3G network is due to what they refer to as dongles - plug-and-play USB modems that use High-Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA technology (sometimes referred to as 3.5G) to enable laptops to use mobile broadband. 3 launched their dongles last October and immediately saw a huge increase in the traffic crossing it's network.

The dongles are being offered with a fixed price plan (for example 3GB of data for £15 a month) which has triggered a price war in the UK market with other operators such as T-Mobile and Vodafone competing with similarly aggressive deals.

The responses to Rory's post are generally positive about 3's mobile broadband service and it seems clear that possibly as many as half a million new users have signed up to 3's dongle and now use mobile broadband on their laptop (or desktop) machines.

Of course many of these users are likely to have made a choice between competing technologies which means that mobile broadband dongles may now be taking market share from, for example :

• traditional wireless LAN technology which, whilst fairly commonly found, is less pervasive and less mobile than 3G and is rarely provided as a free service in the UK
• fixed broadband services which often incur significant installation fees for new users and often require users to pay an additional monthly fee for a fixed phone service (a service which is itself under threat from low cost mobile payment plans)
• WiMax (or 802.16e) which may not have a significant market share currently but it's interesting to consider how the success of 3.5G/HSDPA based services may impact it's roll-out over the next few years

How this tangled marketplace of competing technologies evolves will become apparent over the next months and years but one thing seems clear - after several years of promise, 3G technology seems to have gained a significant foothold in the UK market.

Climber makes "worlds highest mobile phone call"

Mobile telephony reached another frontier yesterday when the British climber Rod Baber set a new record by making the world's highest land-based mobile phone call from the summit of Everest. According to his sponsor (Motorola) Rod Baber made a call from 29,035 feet (8848 metres) to a voicemail box. You can listen to his message via a link on the BBC website.

It would seem that the phone call was well outside of the normal operating envelope for both the caller (who dialed prepared speed dial numbers using a small pointer because it was too cold to remove his gloves) and the phone itself (Mr. Baber had to tape the batteries to his arm to ensure that they remained warm enough to operate the phone). Mr. Baber also called home to his family as well as sending the world's highest land-based SMS message reading "One small text for man, one giant leap for mobilekind – thanks Motorola".

The new record was made possible when China aligned a mobile base station just 12 miles from the summit and in line of sight with the North Ridge of Everest. This should make it possible for mountaineers to stay in closer touch with the outside world and for rescue missions to use mobile communications on the mountain.

This is one of a number of "stunts" happening during the current Everest climbing season of which the most dangerous is likely to be an attempt by the Dutch climber Wim "Iceman" Hof to climb to the summit wearing only shorts, boots, gloves and a cap. By the end of this years climbing season it is expected that approximately 550 people will have reached the summit of the worlds highest peak.

Hello from 3GSM in Barcelona

I am writing this during the third day of the of the 3GSM Conference and Show in Barcelona. Having walked the halls (or at least some of them) over the last couple of days it is apparent to me now just how huge this show is; in the region of 1,300 stands spread over six huge halls and approximately 60,000 visitors make for a very lively atmosphere.

If I had to choose the most "talked about" single technology then it would probably be WiMax. However, maybe that is because it's the most recently maturing of the "convergence enabling" technologies. And in truth, convergence is the strongest theme of the show with converged networks, converged handsets and even converged silicon featuring widely in the show. 

Aside from the Conference, the show itself is organized into broad themes within each hall. The large network infrastructure companies find their place in Hall 8 with, for example, Nortel, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson having huge stands around a central square. For sheer size however, Nokia-Siemens (still listed in the show literature as "Nokia and Siemens representing future Nokia Siemens Networks") wins the day. Not only do they have a huge stand on the main floor, they also have a separate two level stand best described as a business center incorporating meetings rooms, offices and a restaurant.

In Hall 7 the convergence theme is brought together by providers of mobile content and entertainment products. There is a particularly strong emphasis on mobile TV and this hall also includes a content theater and the 3GSM TV Studio.

Being 3GSM there is a strong focus on convergence at the physical handset. Many companies are showing their latest products supporting technologies such as 3G, HSDPA, EDGE and WiFi/VoIP. If visitor traffic is anything to go by the most popular handset manufacturer appears to be LG who are showing their beautifully designed Chocolate and Shine mobile handsets and who also, by the way, win my vote for the best quality carpet I've ever seen on an exhibition stand. The Blackberry stand also sees significant traffic by offering visitors the chance to try out the features of the newest Blackberry models. Other mobile device vendors such as Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, Nokia and Huawei are also showing their latest products.

As well as the halls, the central boulevard running through the venue is packed with trucks exhibiting hot new technology products as well as other items of interest such as stunt bikes and skateboarding. Luckily, as you can see in the picture above, the Barcelona weather has been very kind and makes it particularly pleasant to walk the outside spaces.

Day two of the show saw what was, for me, a particularly interesting headline in the 3GSM Daily (yes, this show is so big that it has it's own daily newspaper). Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, called in his keynote speech for technologies which formed foundations (i.e. the basis of long term returns for everyone) rather than ceilings (i.e. the end of the road for innovation). This was seen by some as a call to end the kind of restrictive technologies and methodologies which have hampered the development of a truly open web (e.g. DRM and walled gardens).

Of course, there has to be a downside and at this show it has to be the sheer size which offers some special problems. Aside from a good pair of shoes, visitors and exhibitors need lots of patience to deal with the crowds leaving the show at 7:00pm each evening. Taxis and the Barcelona Metro struggle to cope with the tens of thousands of visitors all leaving at a similar time.

And the upside?  Well, good food and excellent weather in a beautiful city is a good start. Isn't it?