Not an IT-man, but a user anyway, I could try answering ...
I'm using a 'Vodafone/ Mobile-TeleSystems Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Corporate' datacard. Rolled out at most of my main living/working locations (Europe/ Russia, North-Africa and parts of Asia), it serves me well.
Vodafone/ MTS 3G/GPRS Roaming adds $4/MB/month (MTS being a Russian/ CIS telecom operator); this card is part of a Vodafone/ Mobile-TeleSystems (MTS) deal.
p_n
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AlexPanzer Deactivated User
1593 Posts 6/03
Posted - Mar 4 2007 : 8:54AM
$4/MB is a expensive. If I were to download like 12GBs then my bill will be liek $12,000 or something.
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pinc_noiz Deactivated User
758 Posts 6/05
Posted - Mar 4 2007 : 9:57AM
this is when used outside either MTS or Vodafone network coverage (which is a large area), which otherwise will cost you $8-$10/MB (depending on Vodafone-partner or other network); inside it's only $0,3/MB (> subscription quantity)
downloading 12GB (or building a traffic this large) is not exactly why you use a mobile network, IMO
More importantly, is it reliable in its main zones of coverage? How spotty is it outside of the urban areas?
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AlexPanzer Deactivated User
1593 Posts 6/03
Posted - Mar 4 2007 : 11:12PM
Isnt there like an unlimited plan? Like: download all you want for a flat price.
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pinc_noiz Deactivated User
758 Posts 6/05
Posted - Mar 5 2007 : 3:29AM
It's speedy (for mobile it is, IMO: according to my laptop, around 300Kb/s), stable when used in core-coverage areas (cities, mainly), but somewhat spotty (weather and geography related, when I've to guess) when used in the countryside. MTS-covered Moscow is clean, but don't leave the city ... Vodafone covers the Nurnberg/ Regensburg area in Germany very good: in fact it's that good that my residence in the Czech Rep. (right across the German border) is covered too. When driving from there to Praha/Czech Rep, I drive into the covered area of Praha without loosing connection. Besides, Vodafone produces reliable estimates on where 3G can be used: going to Thessaloniki (Greece) for my work didn't face me with any kind of 3G-related problems. Mobile-TeleSystems delivers hit-and-miss estimates concerning their coverage-zones: when in Tunis/ Tunisia, my data went through 'Orascom Telecom Tunisia' via MTS, which was somewhat of a surprise. But then, Tunis too was covered (MTS was unaware of this beforehand ...). In Romania, coverage of Bucaresti is spotless, going to the east (Constanta) remains perfect, but going to the north (Brasow) becomes troublesome (as a result of the mountains?). Overall, I'm positively surprised, seeing the coverage offered (but then, I'm a "no sense fighting reality"-kind of guy ...).
p_n
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pinc_noiz Deactivated User
758 Posts 6/05
Posted - Mar 5 2007 : 3:32AM
Using 'Mobile Connect 3G', you've the possibility to choose a monthly subscription which includes a 'free-of-charge' traffic quantity according to your estimated needs (ie. "download all for a flat price"; 100MB-1GB of data, depending on the subscription-type you choose). The supplementary data traffic is charged separately (in this Vodafone-case, at a charged $0,3/MB for national-transferred traffic).