Mobile broadband static at a miserable 1Mbit per second

If you live in a notspot and were hoping that mobile broadband could be the answer to your prayers, then think again. According to an Epitiro study, the average download speed is closer to 1Mbits/sec, not the supersonic speeds advertised by some of the companies — 7.2 Mbits/sec, anyone?

Epitiro performed 1.4 million speed tests on 1,300 volunteers and uncovered some pretty depressing stats:

• UK mobile broadband users get speeds of just 24 per cent, compared to what the companies claim is in the tin.
• Web browsing is 34 per cent slower than via an ADSL line of equivalent speed.
• The average ping time for mobile broadband is 150ms, making it three times slower than fixed-line connections.

The report did seem to suggest that the increasing popularity of mobile broadband had something to do with it. For example, if you fire up your mobile broadband at 3am during the week, you may get a speed of 1.8 Mbits/second (that’s contention, baby).

There was, however, a tiny little kernel of good news buried in the report. In HSDPA areas, download speeds hit 3 Mbits/second, which is way above average — something that Epitiro CEO Gavin Johns sees as a positive. It is, he says, “confirmation that mobile broadband technology is capable of much more.”

[PC Pro]