Howzit guys and gals....

I need a litte help choosing a Mobile broadband sp and some hardware....

I've checked out who has sufficient coverage in my area and my options are

MTN, Vodacom, and iBurst

I'd like some of your personal opinions about who's average speed is the best and reliability...

Should i go MTN or Vodacom... does an HSPDA/3g cellphone give the same speeds as a USB modem, or should i just stick to the USB modem?

the minute you say "In your area" I get the impression that mobile internet is not what you need.

whats the point of mobile internet if you are not going to roam?

and then what difference does it make who you choose if you are planning to roam ?

If you are planning to roam about with a laptop, then the biggest consideration should be "Who has the widest overall coverage" which in this case would be Vodacom.

However HSDPA is frightfully expensive.

Iburst is way cheaper, however the mobile pcmcia card modem is highly lacking and you WILL NOT get optimal speed, iburst's desktop modem is far superior, but then you do not have the luxury of mobile internet.

The best way to figure out what is best for you would be to ask yourself a few serious questions.

What are your main reasons for wanting mobile internet?
Would mobile internet fulfill all your needs ?
Could you get by sufficiently with fixed line adsl ?
If your main reason for mobile internet is email access, would forwarding all mail to a gmail account and accessing your mail via gmail's mobile app via gprs or edge fulfill that need ? (www.gmail.com/app)
How much "work" would you realistically get done while being mobile?
Laptop battery power will last you only 2 hours working flat out, in which case you need access to a power point, and thus would an iburst desktop modem not make more sense?
Would a decent cell phone with edge or gprs not fulfill at least 90% of what you wish to accomplish ?
How much are you going to use your net connection ?
Do you wish to download? if so , how much ? Do you torrent or use any p2p applications?

Being mobile is nice, but there are limitations, in order to bypass those limitations there is a serious cost factor.

I get by more than sufficiently with my nokia e70 and edge, and my 4mb adsl line at home.
I use gmail's mobile app to view mails on the go, I browse pretty quickly via edge and most of the big sites have a mobile site
(eg: m.facebook.com, m.youtube.com) I have mxit and can't really think of anything I would need while being mobile.

If you are a gamer, latency on mobile internet (hsdpa, iburts, edge, gprs) is shit shit shit shit.

So at the end of the day, it's a question of priorities.

Not to mention the fact that we in South Africa are not ready for full scale mobile internet.


Best of luck making a descision

I'll be roaming but the internet would be used mostly (70%) at home, hence the phrase "in my area". I need around 2gig mostly for downloads, surfing the net, e mails, p2p, etc... not gaming really.

ADSL is not an option since i live with my parents .



For the others reading the post with a similar dilemma, this is not true iBurst is in fact more expensive (without modem), and practically the same cost with a modem (however you are obligated a to buy a modem with iBurst, so mtn/voda's data bundles for cellphone users are more cost effective)

MTN data prices No modem = R289 for 1gig = 28cents per mb with modem R349 = 34cents per mb
iBurst Data prices No modem = R369 for 1200mb = 31cents per mb with laptop modem R399 = 33 cents per mb



great tip... didnt know you could do this with Gmail...

Thanks Paul i didnt think of all the points you mentioned....

I use my cellphone for when i have to go online when i am at home.

I get pretty decent transfer rates, the cost per MB is just a bit high (over R1).

So if you use the web a lot, go with what already said, otherwise just use your cellphone as it is not that bad.

What i've done at home for now is this:

Got a prepaid VodaCom SIM
Purchased R300 airtime
Dial *111#
Bought 1GB for R289 (something like 19c per MB)
Connected teh HSDPA capable phone to PC and started surfing.

Least this way the bill won't run into millions and i don't have to pay however much for all those damn telkom line rental fees

vodacom is my choice. I used it and it coverage is fine no problem but as compare to usb modam speed little bit slow.



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