Virgin Mobile Tops UK Mobile Broadband Tests

The results are now available for the first Mobile Broadband Genie Road Trip Awards. The exercise directly pitted dongles provided by six of the UK's mobile broadband suppliers (O2, Orange, 3, T-mobile, Virgin Media and Vodafone) against each other on a 350-mile rail journey over two days.

According to providers, mobile broadband is the answer for people who want to access the internet 'on the move'. Broadband Genie decide to put these claims to the test to see if consumers can expect to get what they're paying for. The results were decidedly mixed, with Virgin Media (Winner) and Vodafone (Runner Up) performing best overall.

Virgin Media is an MVNO that runs over the T-Mobile network.

Broadband Genie editor Chris Marling said: "Mobile broadband has come a long way in a short time, but consumers need to be aware of its limitations. We feel the service is often oversold, which can leave customers disillusioned and likely to turn their back on mobile broadband.

"We would like to congratulate Virgin Media, as well as runners up Vodafone, who both performed admirably. They completed the majority of challenges and maintaining reasonable average upload and download speeds throughout. However, both still suffered disconnects and long periods of downtime in rural locations."

Armed with laptops, plus dongles supplied by all six providers, Broadband Genie staff took a train trip from Cambridge to Bournemouth, including a stop at London King's Cross, putting the dongles through their paces all the way. This was an on-the-spot exercise using the kind of frustrating conditions consumers find them themselves in every day. The results echo the general reaction Mobile Broadband Genie gets from its visitors when it comes to mobile broadband: we expect much more than it is currently able to supply.

• Road Trip Downloader 2009 winner: Virgin Media runner up: Vodafone
• Road Trip Uploader 2009 winner: Vodafone runner up: O2
• Road Trip's Most Stable 2009 winner: O2 runner up: Orange
• Road Trip Coverage 2009 winner: Vodafone runner up: Virgin Media
• Dongle Software 2009 joint winners: T-Mobile and Virgin Media

Posted to the site on 28th May 2009