Virgin Media has joined the mobile broadband party, offering a fairly
competitive package which is even cheaper for existing customers.
Certain existing Virgin customers can get Virgin Mobile broadband for just £5
a month, depending on which package they subscribe to, but this comes with a 1GB
data cap.
Although this should be enough for those just wanting to check email and do
some basic surfing, those doing anything more data intensive may soon exceed the
limit, which incurs an extra cost of £15 per gigabyte. Alternatively, non-Virgin
customers, or those wanting a higher limit, can sign up to an 18-month contract
at £15 per month with a 3GB data allowance.
Customers will also get a Virgin-branded
Huawei
E160 HSDPA USB stick, currently Huawei's most recent USB mobile broadband
modem. The unit is much the same size as a standard USB thumb drive, and
includes a microSD slot allowing it to act as a combined removable storage
device and internet connection. This will be particularly useful for netbooks,
which usually have just USB slots.
The device also has hidden LEDs, which light up through the casing to provide
basic information such as data speed.
Set-up is very straightforward as the installation software is stored on the
device. This means that users just need to plug it into a spare USB slot and run
the install program. Once complete a
Virgin
Mobile Broadband icon is placed on the desktop to launch the application.
The application is very simple to use, and provides a range of useful
information. As well as allowing users to connect and disconnect to the Virgin
Mobile network, there is a signal strength indicator and a very useful graph
plotting upload and download activity.
The main screen also provides a range of details including time connected,
current upload/download speeds, and session, daily, monthly and yearly data
usage, vital to making sure users do not exceed their data limits.
From the menu, users can also send text messages to up to 20 people at a
time, at 10p per message, as well as manage address book details for up to 200
contacts stored on the SIM. The management menu also gives the user access to
diagnostics and PIN tools, as well as a user guide in PDF format.
Virgin promises speeds of up 4.5Mbit/s, but in most areas we were only able
to get an average of around 1.5Mbit/s with spikes of up to 2.5Mbit/s, and very
occasionally 4Mbit/s when we could maintain a 3G signal. Although not nearly as
high as the advertised speeds, nor as high as Vodafone's purported maximum of
7.5Mbit/s, the connection was stable and fast enough to do email, surf and even
comfortably stream clips from YouTube or BBC iPlayer.
As with all mobile broadband services, the quality of the connection will
depend on where you are, and from our own usage we had a pretty good signal in
most places around London.
We would always advise anyone considering using one of these to check what
coverage is like in the places they will most commonly use the device. Virgin
Mobile says its 3G network covers over 85 per cent of the UK, and has an online
form where people can check the coverage in specific areas or post codes. Most
providers will usually give out this information, as will some broadband
comparison services.
Unfortunately, unlike some other mobile broadband providers such as O2 or BT,
there is no included connection to any Wi-Fi hotspots, so customers will be
entirely reliant on the mobile data connection.
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