[alanjrobertson]

Hi

My current O2 contract is coming to an end and I'm going to be moving to a K850i - I've got a K800i just now and I like SE, but even better the K850i has HSDPA support

I'm therefore looking for a reasonable data plan (something that couldn't be said for O2 in the past year). I've looked at the current deals on offer (see below) and it looks like it's down to T-Mobile and Three (for my usage pattern at least - I want both mobile and mobile-as-modem use (including ability to use Slingbox) and my voice/text needs are around the 300/50 level per month).

The main thing I was wondering was - does anyone have any first hand experience of 3 vs. T-Mobile's data services? For the past couple of months I'd been assuming I'd be going with WnW Plus but the new 3 plans look fairly good - slightly more expensive (£2.50/mo) than T-Mobile's, but less restrictive usage (I think!) with possibly better HSDPA coverage and slightly faster access speeds (3.6Mbps vs. 1.8Mbps). Any problems with blocked ports on either service?

Would be very interested to hear people's views.

Cheers

Alan

O2
Costs
- £7.50/mo for 200MB O2 Web Bolt On - modem access NOT permitted
- £30/mo for 3GB O2 Web Max Bolt On - modem access permitted
Restrictions
- O2 Web Bolt On - Instant Messaging, IP Telephony, Point 2 Point file sharing and file transfer, VoIP (e.g. Skype™), Video and TV streaming, Slingboxes; and Use in conjunction with routers not allowed
- O2 Web Max Bolt On - Instant Messaging, IP Telephony, VoIP (e.g. Skype™), Video and TV streaming; and Slingboxes not allowed

Vodafone
Costs
- £7.50/mo for 120MB - modem access permitted
Restrictions
- No obvious restrictions but £2/MB over monthly limit.

Orange
(very difficult to find information - eventually found at http://www1.orange.co.uk/entertainme...orld/terms.php)
Costs
- £8/mo for Orange World Monthly Access - 30MB of anytime access - no mention re. data modem access in T&Cs (cf. off-peak access) so appears to be permitted.
- £5/mo for Orange World Off-Peak Access - 1GB of evening/weekend browsing - modem access NOT permitted
Restrictions
- common to both plans: not to be used for other activities such, non-Orange internet based streaming services, voice or video over the internet, instant messaging, peer to peer file sharing, non-Orange internet based video

T-Mobile
Costs
- Web'n'Walk - £7.50/mo for 1GB - modem access NOT permitted
- Web'n'Walk Plus - £12.50/mo for 3GB - modem access permitted
- Web'n'Walk Max - £22.50/mo for 10GB - modem access permitted
Restrictions
- WnW - peer to peer file sharing, internet phone calls or instant messaging not allowed
- WnW Plus - internet phone calls not allowed
- WnW Max - no restrictions

Three
Costs
- Internet 10 - £2.50/mo for 10MB data - modem access NOT permitted
- Internet Max Add-On - £5/mo for 1GB data - modem access NOT permitted
- Broadband Lite Add-On - £10/mo for 1GB data - modem access permitted
- Broadband Plus Add-On - £15/mo for 3GB data - modem access permitted
Restrictions
- I've searched over the site and even the T&Cs at http://www.three.co.uk/personal/help...=1187800248881 don't seem to mention any services that are blocked - would be very interested to hear people's views.

(also posted on uk.telecom.mobile but looked like there were a good number of 3 users here so posted here too )

[Matt D]

I've got the standard Web 'n' Walk with T-Mobile.

Very good, & far better than O2's data tarrifs (even their new ones).

No experience of 3 / Voda / Orange.

[riaz]

with three, although the initial cost of modem may be more than tmobile. the speed is upto 2.8mbps so on average you will get around 1mbps as we have been told. tmobile are less with orange and o2 even more..
i use the service everyday and is brilliant. in the south however the coverge is still on the lesser 3g so running at 384kpbs until the mast are upgraded by spring 08.

[Mr Cable]

Riaz, can you do Instant Messaging, VoIP or Peer-to-Peer?

I'd guess IM was OK, and I do VoIP on my 3 Handset via truphone but not too sure about P2P.