Great post here from Farmers Weekly – not on my normal feed list but could be one to add…  A farmer in the UK has been struggling to get decent mobile broadband speeds from his three dongle so he’s stuck it on a tube and hoisted it 6 meters into the air!

Read the article here

However, it’s not great news for mobile broadband users.  Although it’s unclear if the femtocell supports higher speed technology (HSDPA), the fact that it routes the data over your ADSL connection should be enough reason to rule it out.  If you’ve got ADSL at home, why bother using your mobile broadband allowance when fixed line is far cheaper and faster?

Last week BT  also announced that Starbucks will be joining Openzone – a double bonus for O2 customers.  You can now happily sit slurping your triple-shot-extra-hot-whitechoc-mochachino whilst using bumming around online with Starbucks WiFi – a small pleasure no longer just reserved for T-Mobile WiFi users.

This little jewel goes someway towards making up for O2’s mobile broadband challenges – they’ve currently got the smallest and slowest mobile broadband network, but this sweetener may just help ease the downloading pain.

Such is the significance of this announcement, we’ve upgraded O2’s prepay offering to 5 stars – for £15/m you get 3GB of mobile broadband data and free access to Openzone WiFi.  Bravo.  Now O2 just need to fix their extortionate £173/GB over charge for contract customers and we might think about increasing their contract rating too…

If you’re an O2 mobile broadband or iPhone customer you’ll be able to use BT Openzone free of charge from this Summer.

You can download the installer from M1’s website, or download a cached copy here.

Preparing for the adventure
As soon as I first laid eyes on the Mini 9 last year, I fell in love.  At the time, the Mini 9 featured much better build quality than all the other netbooks on the market – this was when the Eee PC and MSI Wind reigned supreme.  The Vodafone variant also had the bonus inclusion of a mobile broadband modem – just slide the SIM card in under the battery, hit connect and you’re away.

However, there were a couple of niggles with the Mini 9.  The 8GB SSD storage was feeble – I’m planning on being on the road for a year or two and 8GB just won’t cut it.  I couldn’t even fit a months worth of snaps on it – it had to go.  I ordered a Runcore 64GB SSD module from the States, popped open the back and replaced the 8GB module.  The Runcore module is much faster than the Dell factory storage device, especially for writing data – which gave the netbook a welcome performance boost.

The second niggle was the operating system – Windows XP Home.  I’m a Mac man, my weapon of choice back in the ‘real world’ is my wonderful MacBook Pro 17″.  I’d read a few articles on running OS X on the Mini 9, and decided to give it a go.  After following the instructions it installed perfectly.  This was in December – the machine had 6 weeks to prove itself well behaved at home before I’d be confident enough to rely on it for the big trip.  It was faultless – not a single kernel panic.  More on this shortly.  I popped everything I need to recover the netbook onto a selection of bootable USB pendrives – including the OSX installer, a copy of Ubuntu (as it can read OSX partitions) and Windows (should the very worst happen) – and tucked them into my bag.

Packing the rucksack
I left the UK in February – my gadget bag mainly consisted of the following:

• Dell Mini 9
  • Runcore 64GB SSD drive
  • 2GB RAM (upgraded)
  • OS X, with Aperture, Photoshop, Office, Native Instrument’s Traktor and a few other utilities installed
• Seagate 120GB USB powered hard drive – for time machine backups, plus USB pen drives for restoring the OS
• Super-lightweight Canon Rebel XT digital camera, plus a couple of luscious ‘L’ series lenses

Mini 9 in Action
The 9.1″ screen and compact keyboard took a little getting used to, but now it’s perfectly comfortable for extended netbook sessions.  I can quite happily sit on a train or in my room and type away for a good three hours without discomfort.  The performance of the Mini 9 / OS X is remarkable, for the majority of tasks it’s just as snappy as my MacBook Pro.  My favorite feature – that Windows just can’t compete with – is that it will quite happily sleep when the lid is shut and instantly spring back into life when the lid is opened up again.

I spend most of my time web browsing, importing and sorting photos in Aperture and building sites in Rails.  Performance is brilliant for most tasks – the most demanding app is Aperture, when crunching thumbnails and previews from the 4GB+ of RAW files that I shoot each month.  In which case I tend to download the photos and let the netbook do its thing for half an hour or so.  Once the previews have been built Aperture’s usable, although naturally not as responsive as the MBP – but the netbook is a tenth of the price!

Battery life is good – I’m currently getting 2.45 – 3 hours, and I usually push the machine quite hard in that time.  WiFi reception is great, very handy for the plethora of free hotspots in Asia.  I’m also using the built in mobile broadband modem, the quality of the service varies depending on which network I’m connected to.  It’s varied from a frustrating but usable crawl in India, through to super-fast mobile broadband speeds in Singapore.

The Mini 9 with OS X is proving to extremely reliable – I’ve had just one kernel panic in five months, and that was only when I was tinkering with some new hardware.  It’s rare that applications crash – even ‘pro’ applications such as Aperture and Photoshop very well behaved, given the lightweight power of the Mini 9.  Time Machine is working well – I tend to plug in my external bus powered hard drive every week or so and let it catch up on the changes.

Conclusion
I guess it’s pretty obvious that I’m getting on well with the Mini 9.  I’ve clocked up over 500 trouble-free hours so far, and at no point have I had to reach for my ‘recovery’ kit.  I’m really pleased with the performance and the machine itself is compact and tough enough to be thrown into a rucksack and hauled onto the roof of an India bus.  As much of a Apple fan I am, a little sinister part of me is really enjoying putting two fingers up at Cupertino following Tim Cook’s (Apple CEO) comment on netbooks – “When I look at netbooks, I see cramped keyboards, terrible software, junky hardware, very small screens. It’s just not a good consumer experience and not something we would put the Mac brand on. It’s a segment we would not choose to play in.”

I think you’re missing a trick, Tim.

Click here to pick up a deal on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9

Hats off to Samsung, they’ve done a wonderful job with the NC10 – congratulations from MBBR.com.

There’s a few mobile broadband deals from O2 around at the moment for the NC10.  Take a look here for the deals – they start from £29 per month.

The Mini 10 has a 10.1″ screen, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive built in webcam and wifi.  It runs XP Home.

Get the details on this great offer here.

All of the UK mobile networks are now offering competitive mobile broadband deals, but if you’re a first time buyer, where do you begin looking?  Here’s the mobilebroadbandrocks.com five point guide to finding your perfect mobile broadband deal.

Find your perfect data bundle, and know your overage costs

When you buy mobile broadband, you’ll have to choose a data bundle size to go with it.  This bundle is usually sold as a gigabyte (GB) per month allowance – ranging from 1GB a month to 10GB a month.  As long as you use less than your allowance you won’t get charged overage.

How much data will you need?  Well, that’s a difficult question – it depends on how much time you’re planning on spending online, and what you’re planning on doing.  For example, if you’re planning on using mobile broadband for 5 hours a week for email and light web browsing, then 1GB will be fine.  If you’re planning on spending 20 hours a week browsing YouTube, then you’re going to need 10GB.

Now here’s a big gotcha that you need to be aware of: overage charges. If you break your bundle (i.e. go over your usage limit), the networks will hit you with a charge.  This ranges from £15 per GB for Vodafone and Orange, through to over £100 per GB for Three customers (yes, one hundred pounds).  Make sure you’re aware of the overage costs, or better still make sure you buy a bundle that you won’t break.

Here are three valuable tips when choosing a mobile broadband bundle:

• First – an average mobile broadband customer uses around 1.5GB per month
• Second – the mobile networks make it really easy to upgrade to a larger data bundle if you need to, but they won’t allow you to move down easily.  Most users should start with a 1GB or 3GB bundle and upgrade if they need to.
• Third – T-Mobile don’t charge overage.  If you use too much data they’ll give you a call about moving to a larger plan, but they won’t automatically charge you.  Don’t underestimate how valuable this is.

Check your network coverage

Mobile broadband works in a similar way to a mobile phone: it uses the mobile networks base stations that are scattered across the country, and therefore it’s prone to the same coverage problems you’ll get on your phone.  If your mobile phone doesn’t work in your back bedroom, don’t expect mobile broadband to work there.

There are two ways to check your coverage – first, hop online and use your mobile network’s coverage map.  Make sure you’re checking mobile broadband coverage, not just voice.  The mobile network may call this map 3G or HSDPA coverage.  The second, and more accurate way is use a 3G phone to check your coverage – make sure you can get good 3G coverage at home – your phone should say 3G next to the signal bars.  If you don’t have a 3G phone, ask your friends over for a cup of tea / beer and check out their phones.

Links: our guide to mobile broadband networks

Pick the best mobile broadband dongle

Not all dongles are created equal. The mobile broadband dongle has been around for almost three years.  During that time the technology has progressed significantly, with improvements made in the speed, reliability and overall performance of the latest generation of dongles.  Unfortunately, not all mobile networks have kept up with these changes.  Orange and Three are notorious for selling cheap, older modems with poorer performance to match.  Vodafone and T-Mobile on the other hand sell the latest generation modems, and they’re not that much more expensive.

When choosing a modem, look out for the following features:

• 7.2Mbps download speeds or higher
• ‘HSUPA’ or upload speeds of 2Mbps or higher
• Features such as ‘equalisers’, ‘receive diversity’ or ‘twin antennas’

Links: fastest mobile broadband dongle deals

Always buy mobile broadband online

If you buy mobile broadband online you’re covered by the Distance Selling regulations here in the UK.  This gives you a seven day ‘cooling off period’ where you’re entitled to return the dongle to the network without further charges.  Why would you want to return your shiny new dongle?  Well, one in six dongles are sent back to the networks – the top two reasons are lack of coverage and compatibility issues.

If you buy your dongle on the high street from a network’s shop and find it doesn’t work with your computer, or you don’t have mobile broadband coverage, then tough.  Legally, the mobile networks don’t have take the modem back – the contract that you sign in the shop will make sure of that, and you’re not given the safety net you get when you buy online.  Sure, many networks will allow discretionary returns on the high street, but it’s not a guarantee.

So when you find the right mobile broadband deal, make sure you maximise your protection and buy online.

Research and compare mobile broadband deals

There are currently dozens of mobile broadband deals on the market – ranging from £10 month bargains, though to uber-data bundles or deals that include a netbook in the monthly charge.  My final advice is to shop around – compare the mobile broadband deals, ask your friends for recommendations and sign up – you won’t regret it!

Links: mobilebroadbandrocks.com mobile broadband deal finder

About the author

For the last five years, James Poyser worked for Vodafone where he was the product manager responsible for mobile broadband.  During his time at Vodafone, James launched the UK’s first mobile broadband service, the first USB dongle and 7.2Mbps mobile broadband.  James left Vodafone in January 2009 and is currently traveling around the world (with a mobile broadband netbook) blogging about mobile broadband on mobilebroadbandrocks.com

Here’s our pick of the top deals this month.

HP Compaq Mini 700, £30 per Month
With Three, includes 5GB of data
The Mini 700 is a stunning netbook – it’s got a 10.2″ screen and the keyboard is larger than most, making for a comfortable ride on longer surfing sessions.  Three’s price plan includes a generous 5GB of data, which is fine for heavier usage.  This deal is for an 18 month contract, rather than the usual 24 months.

Samsung NC10, £29.38 per Month
With O2, includes 3GB of data and free WiFi
The NC10 is proving to be a popular netbook pick with those in the know.  You’ll get great build quality combined with a stellar battery performance (7 hours).  O2’s price plan includes a generous 3GB allowance, plus free access to O2’s WiFi network.

Dell Mini 9, £20 per Month
With Vodafone, includes 1GB of data
The Mini 9 is one of the few netbooks that has the mobile broadband modem built in.  You won’t need to carry around a separate USB dongle with this netbook.  The built in modem is better than most, supporting speeds of 7.2Mbps and high speed uploads too.  The only let down with the Mini 9 is the 8GB hard drive, which looks a little stingy compared to it’s competitors.

Acer Aspire One, £17.50 per Month
With Three, includes 1GB of data
What a bargain – the Aspire One is one of the original, and still most popular netbooks on the market.  It’s got a great spec – including a 160GB hard drive and well-groomed good looks.  At just £17.50 per month you’re effectively paying only £180 for the netbook – bargain.

That’s just a selection of this month’s free netbook deals.  For a full list, take a look at our deal finder.

Head over to http://deals.mobilebroadbandrocks.com