 Technophiles need more roads to the internet than flies in summer: outdoors, no wires, no setup times, global roaming – anything to feel like Julie Andrews with a laptop. Life is complicated when you can’t be bothered to actually meet someone, post a letter, or look up an item in an Oulu shop.
Matti Mc Cambridge tests the latest in wireless internet connections.
If you’re restless or believe technology is its own exciting reward, the latest connection ‘craze,' 3G broadband, might just be the sugar for you. Mobile phone operators with millions in high-capacity WCDMA network are eager to find home computer users to fit their running costs. And who can blame them? Only so many executives are peering at previews of John Rambo on their N95s.
Elisa, DNA, Saunalahti, and Sonera all offer the internet through a 3G mobile phone network for between 10 € to 30€ a month, which puts them in direct competition with landline broadband. The big draw is no wires and no setup times: a 3G connection can -in theory- be set up immediately anywhere from a bedroom to an outdoor bathroom. For those in Oulu city centre with access to PanOulu, that’s nothing new, but most of us have to plug a modem into a telephone socket to read our email.
This 3G broadband is an odd fish. The box contains a USB dongle that hot-plugs into any computer via a USB port and its own preinstalled software. That means no wall-plug, cd, or global warming payload. Inside the dongle, a SIM card registers itself with a 3G base station and the connection is ready to use. Enter the PIN code, wait a few seconds, surf: simple as that.
In practice, despite promised ‘1 mbit’ and ‘2mbit’ speeds, 3G connections were substantially slower than we’ve come to expect from ‘normal’ landline broadband. An Elisa vendor claimed differences occur because “the network prioritises 3G mobile telephone calls,” but in most places we tested, signal strength simply didn’t match the advertised rates. The experience was akin to using a 2G mobile phone ten years ago, when coverage differed wildly and was never perfect. Videos on YouTube, for instance, just don’t stream well – or much at all after six o’clock.
Claims of national internet roaming are also certainly exaggerated. We tested the connection on a train journey from Oulu to Helsinki, and viable 3G networks were only available in the major stops at Vaasa, Tampere, and Seinäjoki.
Another comfort the average family has come to expect – multiple computers connected for the same price – is void with 3G internet, as the dongle won’t connect to a WLAN router (though it is easily moved between computers). Another concern is almost certainly rapidly declining prices: use the service now and you’re subsidising thousands later.
Considering all these shortfalls, it’s cruel though unsurprising that, to secure your custom, most operators will force you into a two year contract, or one year if you buy the overpriced dongle at 130€. For the average casual user, 3G internet is a waste of time and money. However, for the convenience and portability – should you need it and can live with the speed fluctuations – this mightn’t be a bad investment. Those moving house frequently, for instance, can now bring the web with them: in such circumstances, 3G fits a comfortable, if imperfect, niche.
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