Smartphones rock, mobile internet sucks

LTE will save us, won't it?

It was only 1999 when I had my trusted companion in the form of the Nokia 3210, the iPhone of its day. By today's standards, the handset was a brick and had the equivalent of just three apps: Memory, Rotation and, everyone's favourite, Snake. Still, I loved it as it didn't drop every other call, like the iPhone.

But before I am attacked by Apple fanboys, I should point out that I appreciate the iPhone. It helped to usher in a new era for handheld devices, and forced other manufacturers to up their game. Smartphones in general are great little inventions and, in 100 years, historians will look back and mark them as a true turning point in technology. If Siri hasn't taken over the world by then.

Since the iPhone's release in 2007, smartphones have improved dramatically and we probably wouldn't be able to live without one now. They are the jack-of-all-trades in the technology world. You can get a desktop-like internet experience, read and send emails, update Facebook or Twitter, take hi-res pictures, make notes, listen to music, and the list goes on.

The only thing preventing me from getting the most out of my smartphone is the terrible excuse we have for mobile internet. OK, I exaggerate a little bit. In most urban areas, 3G is pretty decent so I can look up Google Maps or browse the web without a problem.

However, on the overground train to work, it really is bad. The internet connection for the first 10 minutes of my commute into London is decent, but the connection between Harpenden and King's Cross is patchy, and that's before we start shooting in and out of tunnels.

Smartphones rock, mobile internet sucks

LTE will save us, won't it?

I was pleasantly surprised then, when I had one of the best mobile experiences I've ever had on the train a week ago. I managed to stream the highlights of the Manchester United vs FC Basel Champions League match on an HSPA+ capable device. The joy of watching those Red Devils lose over a 21Mbit/s connection was immense. In fact, I couldn't quite believe I was sitting there watching the footy on the train, and it left me craving more.

Unfortunately, I was given a reality check when I reached Harpenden and had to resort to waiting for articles to load painfully slowly. Usually at this point the mobile data connection is so bad that I switch to playing Angry Birds or try to grab a copy of Metro that might be lying around.

Considering the extortionate amount that commuters travelling into London pay for a ride in a cattle cart (read: carriage), would it be too much to ask for companies such as First Capital Connect to provide complimentary Wi-Fi for standard class passengers?

It would have really made my train journey on 7 November into work much more bearable when we were stuck outside Hendon for approximately two hours owing to 'signal failure'. Alas, the likelihood of this is zero so I'll soldier on like many of my fellow commuters until high-speed internet arrives.

I've been reliably informed by my colleague that high-speed mobile internet, commonly known as Long Term Evolution (LTE), is to roll out in the UK during 2014, and it can't come soon enough. This feels like an eternity and, by the time it is activated, allowance limits might be squeezed even further as more people use smart devices.

To be honest, the rollout probably won't be smooth sailing anyway, and I wouldn't bet against some BlackBerry Server fiasco in the future. At least I'll always have those 10-minute windows of service and a trusty Metro.