Perhaps I was a bit hasty to slam O2 on their endeavours into the wireless broadband market. After reading an artilce on RTE news I see that they plan to introduce mobile network speeds of upto 3.6Mbps by December 2006, and ramp it up to 14.4 by the end of 2007. How available this will be and whether there would be covergare on the Limerick-Dublin and Cork-Dublin railways is uncertain, as this is where it would be most useful in my opinion. However I’m still wary, if they’re currently charging €129/month for existing 3G service what kind of prices will they slap on this new network?

O2’s super-fast network plans

Finally! We have anywhere anytime high-speed Internet access. Vodafone were first of the mark earlier this year with their combined WiFi/3G data cards for laptops. O2 were slow to respond and did not quite capture my imagination as much when I saw their price tag! Vodafone offer their unlimited flat fee 3G data service at speeds of up to 384kbps (seldom hitting that figure, but fast enough to work without waiting too long) for €49, a fair price. O2 after recently launching a similar flat fee model charge a a stonkingly outrageous €129! I have been a long-time O2 customer, but don’t feel justified in splashing that kind of cash for data mobility..

O2 Data Tariffs
Vodafone Data Tariffs