Mobile broadband is not for everyone

A few years ago I was questioning an industry analyst about the early mobile broadband dongles and services, and he was all in favour of them. His boss, too, thought they were the bee’s knees – until the bill arrived. After that the dongles were locked in a cupboard, never to see the light of day again.

Having just finished a group test of all the mobile broadband services available in the UK, I can honestly say the technology has improved significantly since those early days. High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) has improved download speeds, and trials of further enhancements, such as High-Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) are currently being performed.

For most users of mobile broadband, the technology being used to move their data does not concern them – as long as they have proper coverage where they work, they are happy. But as it happens, HSPA+ offers some hidden benefits that IT leaders will care about.

HSPA+ includes an option to move to an all-IP architecture, allowing mobile operators to connect their base stations to Gigabit Ethernet backhaul infrastructure. That could provide big savings on deployment and operating costs – and potentially provide a faster network at lower costs.

But even if the result is lower bills for users, the big question remains: Will the productivity benefits outweigh the cost?

Most of the mobile operators impose a 3GB per month download limit on their mobile broadband services, and punitive fees for exceeding that limit are likely.

Similarly, if users go abroad, charges can ramp up fairly quickly – charging more than £4 per megabyte is not unknown. Downloading a service pack abroad could easily have the finance chief reaching for your P45. Until Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, finally gets her way with data roaming charges, mobile broadband abroad is definitely a no-no.

The fact is, for many companies mobile broadband is still unlikely to generate enough cash through increased productivity to offset the cost of using the technology. And this is likely to remain the case until the nirvana of truly unlimited download data for mobile broadband devices finally arrives.

By Dave Bailey