Mobile Broadband Blog
Mobile Broadband Rocks Reloaded!
The eager-eyed readers out there will have noticed that Mobile Broadband Rocks has been a little quiet over the last few months, there's two exciting reasons why this is so - firstly I've been travelling around Asia since quitting my job at Vodafone in January and secondly - as you've probably noticed - I've redesigned and relaunched the site!
A bit of history
Mobile Broadband Rocks started as an unofficial mouthpiece during my time as Product Manager at Vodafone (the blog was called Mobile Connected back then), allowing me to publish tips, tricks and downloads that would have been difficult through Vodafone's normal channels (as the average Voda customer doesn't care about optimal TCP settings or flashing E220 firmware). Mobile Connected launched back in early 2007 and over the last three years traffic has been rapidly increasing and the site is now visited by over 60,000 people every month.
1 comments, last comment on Thu, 2010-01-28 09:44
Improving your mobile broadband coverage
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!
2 comments, last comment on Sun, 2009-11-15 04:08
Vodafone's femtocell won't improve mobile broadband
Vodafone UK have just announced the availability of thier new "3G coverage booster", aka a 3G femtocell. This little box of tricks plugs into your home broadband connection and routes calls over the internet and onto Voda's network. This is welcome news for those of us with 3G handsets who are unable to access data services or make reliable voice calls due to poor coverage.
4 comments, last comment on Thu, 2009-09-10 19:41
O2 bump up mobile broadband offering, including Starbucks WiFi
O2 are to offer free access to BT Openzone's WiFi hotspots, including BT's premier hotspots - excellent news for O2's mobile broadband customers. BT's WiFi network is huge - they've got over 150,000 locations covered in the UK, of which 3,500 are 'premier' hotspots in high-end locations.
Gadget show vote NC10 best netbook
Here in the UK, Channel 5's Gadget Show have just voted the Samsung NC10 the best netbook going, and I can't say I disagree. The NC10 has proved to be a popular netbook amongst those in the know, mainly due to it's lush 10" screen, comfortable keyboard and AMAZING 9 hour battery life! Hats off to Samsung, they've done a wonderful job with the NC10 - congratulations from MBBR.com.
2 comments, last comment on Fri, 2009-07-17 07:00
Dell Mini 10 netbook for less than £300!
This isn't strictly mobile broadband news, but PC World have a deal on the Dell Mini 10 netbook this weekend. It's £299.99 when bought online, whilst stocks last. For those of you who haven't yet played with a netbook, go check one out - they're the ideal playmate for a mobile broadband connection. I'm currently using the Dell Mini 9 and wouldn't swap it for the world :)
Finding your perfect mobile broadband deal
The last twelve months have been truly exciting, if not revolutionary, for the mobile broadband market. A year ago there were only half a million mobile broadband subscribers in the UK, with an average deal costing over £30 per month. Now there are over 1.5 million mobile broadband users in the UK alone, and you can even pick up a cheap mobile broadband deal for less than a tenner a month.
1 comments, last comment on Sat, 2009-06-20 00:09
Enabling GPS on Dell 5530 WWAN module
As you may know, the Dell 5530 WWAN / HSDPA module inside the Dell Mini 9 also supports GPS. A few users have tinkered around and got this feature up and running - here's the details on the AT commands you'll need.
If you're a Windows user, start up Hyperterminal, connect to the modem's serial port and enter the commands. If you're running OSX, you can enter the commands by entering 'screen /dev/tty.usbmodemfd62'.
7 comments, last comment on Sun, 2009-10-25 22:13
O2 Mobile Broadband Promotions
Following O2's recent mobile broadband launch, they're currently running a promotion where anyone buying mobile broadband will get a free Sony Ericsson T280 prepay handset (worth £49). The promotion runs until Christmas Eve.
8 comments, last comment on Thu, 2010-02-25 16:39
Virgin Mobile Broadband for £5
Just a few weeks after the arrival of Virgin's mobile broadband service, Trusted Reviews have announced that Virgin will be offering discounts when you take mobile broadband with a fixed line broadband subscription. From next Monday, Virgin broadband subscribers with XL, L or ADSL 1 packages will be able to add mobile broadband from as little as £5 per month. Customers with M or ADSL 2 can pick up mobile broadb
1 comments, last comment on Wed, 2009-03-11 07:00