I recently had the opportunity of testing Vodafone's latest high speed download packet access (HSDPA) PC card in my laptop PC, and although I was impressed, the 3.5G (as in, one step up from 3G) service still falls short of delivering the reliable fixed line Internet experience on a wireless mobile connection that every roaming employee craves.

As has been the case with GPRS and 3G before it, the excessive per megabyte cost of mobile data transmission is the biggest bugbear with HSDPA. Those familiar with mobile data tariffs have raised this point with mobile operators for years, only to be told that good value 'all you can eat' tariffs are just around the corner.

Some progress on fairer pricing has been made, but it still costs far more than it should for a month's access, and data transmissions are still capped at 250-500MB or even less in most cases.

The other doubt over HSDPA is how long it will remain the fastest cellular data link in town, with WiMax and other forms of so called fourth generation (4G) mobile services expected within the next couple of years.

Will the HSDPA PC card or handset you buy now, or in the case of the handsets in the near future, be able to attach itself to next generation mobile data networks when they appear? It seems unlikely, meaning another scrapped investment in two years time.

Posted by Martin Courtney on September 12, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)