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UK: 3G USB sticks taking more than 15% of contract sales

Categories: Devices, T-Mobile, Three, UK Retail
By: , IntoMobile
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 PM

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You may remember I’ve mentioned about these USB sticks before (here and here), however, this post is regarding how well they are selling – and the answer is VERY!

Apparently nearly 20% of 3 and T-Mobile contract sales are for these 3G USB sticks, and in some locations that figure is closer to 40%!

Interestingly, it’s not just post-paid contracts that are selling well, but pre-paid customers are also snapping the dongles up too. Such is their success, that they are now being factored in to business plans in a much more centralised fashion.

Now I don’t know about the IntoMobile readership, but I’ve not yet (although literally on the tipping point) taken the plunge with Mobile Broadband yet – partly because this activity (and resulting competition) is going to produce some more cracking deals, but also because of the question of consistent coverage.

So here’s your chance readers, fire us some comments back if you have a dongle (!), and let us know how you get on with it – who it’s with, speed, coverage, cost, that kinda thing!

:smile:

[Via: Mobile Choice]

About The Author

Ben Robinson

Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.

  • rahul dhawan

    I use my treo 700 as a modem and pay 15 a month to verizon wireless for that service

    its great because it is just like having a wireless card. EVDO is very fast, and im glad i get this service (although I cant wait till verizon goes SIM so I can bring the latest phones from INDIA)

    miss you guys YO YO YO

  • Steve Rowlands

    I use my N95 as a modem, with a Three PAYG SIM in it, and it works perfectly.

    Three’s HSDPA coverage is getting better than it was, and with the announced merger of T-Mobile and Three’s 3G data networks, the future is definitely bright for this, especially as the costs are now in the reach of the mainstream. Previously, with the PCMCIA cards only really businesses could afford the data packages.

    Hopefully soon, there will be a bluetooth version of these modems, so they can stay in the laptop bag, instead of the currently USB offering dangling at the side of your laptop, like some kind of cling-on.

    Steve

  • Snidely

    I have a 3.2 USB modem with Vodafone UK. The service is excellent when in HSDPA coverage – nearly as good as my home broadband. The new 7.2 Mbps modem is supposedly even better. The only thing you have to watch is the fair use policy. Most of the time, the fair use on a wired broadband is much higher than on wireless. I think VF’s is something like 3 GB per month, which seems like a lot, but if you watch TV or doa lot of YouTube downloading, you can go over 3 GB pretty quickly.