Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

I've been working on a 3G Broadband project at work, which involved me looking at the price, coverage and speed of the various 3G Broadband deals on the market.

I thought I'd add the info on to my website in a comparison chart, which might be useful to anyone looking to buy mobile broadband.

Here it is:

3G Pay As You Go | Mobile Broadband - 5GB, 7GB, 15GB - Free Laptop

What are your thoughts regarding readability? It's a lot of info I know!

Cheers

Anders

HankScorpio

It's certainly useful but a lot to take in. Must have taken ages to get all the info together.

Not sure if it's in the scope of what your doing but if you had drop downs for each field, the user could pick the features they want and then be left with options (like an excel autofilter).

Only other thing I'd like to see on a site like that is the penalty charge for going over your limit, t-mobile is much more friendly than 3G in that respect.

Good work though, those are nitpicky points.

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

Cheers for the feedback. I was thinking of making it database driven, to allow people to search by criterior, but it's a lot of work . I'll expand on the out of tariff data charges - as you say, useful to know.

I've asked the providers about support for VPN clients etc, so I can add that field too. I know Three don't allow it on their consumer product, but they might on their business offering.

Did you check out the 3G Routers page? This should be useful for people that want to failover to 3G if their ADSL fails:

3G Router | 3G Wireless Router - 3G WiFi Router - HSDPA

Anders

HankScorpio

This is quite neat output:

HTML Table Filter Generator v1.7 - Large HTML table

And can do a sort as well:
HTML Table Filter Generator v1.7 - Large HTML table

Homepage:
Max Guglielmi | Personal Website | HTML Table Filter Generator

I think those would ft your page well.

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

Nice

Watch this space...

Scooby Soon!

How about FTP although its probably the same as SKype I know Tmobile didn't allow it before. I took out 3GB with Three for £15inc a month then they offered me a second one for only £5inc per month and a free modem!

Sometimes THREE 3G drops out and wont work for about an hour but I have found it quite good overall.

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

That's not a bad idea. I could list if they are blocking any ports, although it would probablt be aimed more for IT managers and techies. Different port numbrs are used for different applications - for example web is port 80, FTP is port 21.

I'll have to ask all the providers to see what there policies are.

Anders

RoadrunnerV2

It would be interesting know which ones offer public IP (only require single) and VPN support. I know T-Mobile support VPN as our customers use it on their tarrifs. However T-Mobile do not assign public IP's which is a major issue with one of our customers

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Anders, its very readable, the only thing I find rather laughable is the 3G broadband speed (you may find 1.8 is top end for all mobile broadband just now).
The biggest factor for the speed is the equipment used, AFAIK to increase the speed of mobile broadband you have to use more channels on a cell, this technology has only just come on the market from the equipment suppler to all 4 of the stated companies you have there, ie Ericsson.
All 4 of the above companies run the same HSPDA equipment, voda and 3 use ericsson bsc's, o2 and t mob use nokia, thats about the only difference in their networks, yet the speed hike is somewhat amusing between all 4 operators.
Im just wondering if they are including wifi in those speeds, if so then it should be clearly marked as such, otherwise it could be a little misleading.

Tony

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

Roadrunner, I'll list the public / private IP info too. I know Vodafone are public as standard, although you can have private if you run a private APN. A private APN is something that a business might do, but not a consumer.

Tony, 3G Broadband speeds will always be listed as the theoretical maximum, just as ADSL speeds are. My 4Mbit Telewest cable usually manages 2Mbit. 54Mbit Wireless LAN acheives around 20Mbit data throughput if your lucky!

Vodafone only list a small number of areas that offer the full 7.2Mbit. It looks more like a pilot project, rather than a full scale deployment.

7.2Mbit 3G Broadband - London districts:

• E1, E1W, E14
• EC1, EC2, EC3, EC4
• NW1, SW1
• W1, W2, W8, W9, W10, W11, W14
• WC1, WC2

Airports:

• Heathrow
• Gatwick
• Luton
• Stansted
• London City
• Southampton
• Bristol
• Birmingham
• East Midlands
• Liverpool
• Manchester
• Belfast City
• Belfast Int.
• Cardiff
• Norwich

Anders

darlodge

Really well put together,

I'd love to see the maximum upload speeds and also as Scooby Soon said, the providers that support FTP.

Darren

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

I've just updated the table, it now includes:

Out of bundle charges
Max Upload Speed on some of the providers
Updated VPN support list
Added blocked ports and IP assignment page

Cheers

Anders

Ian Cook

Looks good, only comment i will make on Firefox 3 Beta 5 (Mac Leopard) the Why 3G mobile broadband heading is in the middle of the text below where it should be. Must have taken some serious work to get all that lot together !!

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

Ian, thanks for the feedback - my sister reported that her Mac running Safari displayed it strangely too. I did check both Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows, but I don't have direct access to a Mac. I've downloaded the Windows version of Safari to see if it displays the same problems that my sister reports.

Cross browser support is always a pain and I'm no web design expert, which doesn't help things either!

Anders

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

The site was updated last night - it now includes the Orange Mobile Broadband offerings for consumer and Business

kernel

Great resource but I see you only mention IPSEC for VPNs, I don't suppose you ever checked PPTP? I can't seem to get this to work on my 3 connection

Could be my router config but as far as I can tell everything is forwarded properly. Laptop connects OK using the LAN.

HankScorpio

I've been using this a lot lately as I've been working on new stuff...
Test your web design in different browsers - Browsershots

VERY handy tool and loads of options for things like screen size and colour depth.

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

I haven't got round to testing PPTP, as all the stuff I've done has been with IPSEC to date. Are you using SBS Server for the PPTP? Is it seeing any inbound connection attemps from the WAN interface?

For anyone else that's interested in sharing a 3G dongle via wireless, you can buy from the online shop now:

3G Router | 3G Wireless Router - 3G WiFi Router - HSDPA

Cheers

Anders

kernel

I've simply created a network connection in XP Home from the advanced option. Incoming PPTP basically, I've forwarded port 1723 and enabled port 1723 and GRE in the Zyxel's firewall section.

If I telnet to port 1723 from the laptop via the 3 dongle then it appears to connect but I get nothing in the XP's Event Logs to say a connection was attempted.

If I connect via the LAN I get a message to say it's happened.

Sadly I don't have an IPSEC server and as this is purely me mucking around at home the solution needs to be free or at least dirt cheap

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

Awesome, great link

TopBanana

You need a chart

Anders_WR1

iTrader: (8)

Port 1723 (TCP) and GRE should do the trick. Do you run any software firewalls? Make sure the router is trusted if so.

You could try downloading this utility, which allow you to monitor the IP connections on your computer. Connect from the LAN and look at the active connections and do a print screen, then do the same from 3 dongle and compare the connections.

TCPView for Windows

Anders