While the first iteration of 3G and HSDPA modems relied on the PC Card form factor, recent months have seen the arrival of USB alternatives for those users whose laptops are fitted with only an Express Card slot, or in some cases (such as Apple's popular MacBooks) no card slot at all.
There's also a bonus in the speed department. Like the USB modem of competitor BigPond Wireless Broadband, Vodafone's little white wireless wonder is rated for HSDPA at 3.6Mbps rather than the 1.8Mbps of its PC Card sibling. The trick is finding out where such speeds are available in Vodafone's admittedly patchy HSDPA network.
Design
Manufactured by Chinese telecoms hardware giant Huawei, Vodafone's USB modem looks more like a soap-on-a-rope, or at least soap-on-a-USB-cable.
The palm-sized modem uses the USB mini-plug most commonly seen on portable USB hard drives and as the combo charge/data connector on smartphones. A 10cm cable connects the modem to the PC, although the bundle includes a more generous 80cm cable with a second USB plug for instances when a single port can't provide enough power to drive the modem.
Features
The modem itself sports precious little in the way of frills and features. Most of the extra goodness in the Vodafone Mobile Connect package comes through the bundled software and the network's active data compression.
As detailed in our earlier review of the Vodafone 3G HSDPA PC Card, this pocket-sized puck works hand-in-hand with Vodafone's network to shrink some files — mainly pictures and documents — to a fraction of their size using on-the-fly compression.
Incoming files are automatically decompressed so there's no need to fiddle with third-party software. Users can also block bandwidth-bloating elements such as video, audio, animation and Web applets.
This enhances speed and makes the most of your monthly download allocation, although it's not ideal for everyone. For example, there's no way to prevent incoming data compression, which some Web developers have reported as an issue when working on the road. (You can, however, disable compression of files sent through your VMC card.)
We were also impressed by the card's software. With SMS and MMS messaging, address book management, connection profiles and a graphical summary of account usage, the console is easily the best client we've seen for any mobile data card.
Performance
As with the latest PC Card, achieving HSDPA speeds with the USB modem relies on the user being within the footprint of what Vodafone calls its "3G broadband" service, which is currently limited to "inner metro" coverage of Sydney and Melbourne.
Outside those areas, as well as inside them if HSDPA signal strength is too weak, the modem falls back to standard 3G and its 384Kbps peak — or all the way back to the painfully slow 60Kbps data stream of GSM.
There's a small bit of silver lining around the HSDPA cloud, and this is that some parts of the high-speed network are already running at the 3.6Mbps rate of the HSDPA 3.6 spec rather than Vodafone's standard 1.8Mbps (HSDPA 1.8). While the PC Card can peddle no faster than 1.8Mbps the USB modem is rated to 3.6Mbps, making it able to deliver higher throughput if you happen to stumble into of those enhanced hotspots.
And "stumble" is the operative word. Although Vodafone says it's flicked the switch on several 3.6Mbps transmitters as part of the HSDPA rollout, the company isn't exactly trumpeting where these souped-up cell stations are. They've admitted that parts of Sydney and Melbourne airport received 3.6Mbps base stations from the get-go, but the rest remains a mystery.
Testing the USB modem in Sydney's CBD and Lower North Shore delivered fairly stable connections over a surprisingly broad range of speeds — sometimes as low as 800Kbps, other times soaring to 1.7Mbps in the same location.
In several instances the USB modem kicked in with a stronger and faster signal than the PC Card when used in the exact same location.
However, Vodafone's biggest disadvantage remains the uneven coverage of its mobile broadband network. There were several times where the modem seemed to endlessly toggle between standard 3G and HSDPA (which the software flags as "3G+"), yet in neither state was the connection usable for anything more than instant messaging. Email downloads stalled because the software couldn't maintain a solid connection with the mail server, while the Web browser sat waiting for sites to respond.
We're sure that users would prefer a reliable connection at even 3G speeds rather than having the odd shot at HSDPA, regardless of whether it's 1.8Mbps or 3.6Mbps.
So while Vodafone's pricing plans are keen and carefully structured — from AU$29.95 per month for 100MB of data (both downloads and uploads are counted) to AU$99.95 for 1GB — road warriors may find that the Next G-based BigPond Wireless Broadband USB Modem is a better bet, if only for its more consistently reliable connection.
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Hotty
02/09/2008, 04:40 PM
rating
1/10
My connection hangs at 0bps for pretty much 95% of the time, and the modem shows it is connected to HSDPA with two bars in the Mornington, Victoria area. Vodafone claimed it has only been a problem since mid August and reimburssed me 3 weeks pro rata - and claim their engineers are working on it. Following back this thread this has bee occurring fore at leas 6 months!
Pros: when I first got it it worked fine for three or four
Cons: It is now a useless paperweight
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flea_21
14/08/2008, 09:24 PM
rating
1/10
i am totally glad its not just me with these discusting internet conections from vodafone ledalone the support from people who not only telling u that they are trying to fix the problem but, they told me that it would be fixed a the start of august and well if you call a conection of 30 seconds good ha. never again, 24 months worth of bull sh*t is what i got.
Pros: what pros
Cons: hows about everything including the service, ohh and the fact im throwing money down the drain
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Gavin
11/08/2008, 11:55 AM
rating
3/10
When it works it is useful. Sometimes it shows two bars of signal but will not connect for up to about two hours and then without changing anything it will suddenly connect.
Pros: It is mobile.
Cons: Very unreliable.
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SALIBMAN
07/08/2008, 07:43 PM
rating
2/10
I just got out of the contract with vodafone today with 18 months to go, I have been on the phone day after day with these morons for just on 6 months, not only is the coverage and download speed slower than any dial up i have ever had, but the people behind the product know nothing about it, my 3 yr old nephew knows more about this than they do, I also found out that the call center is actually in egypt. How the F$#K would someone over there know whats going on, anyway my advice is put a complaint into the telecomunications industry ombudsman, or TIO as soon as i lodged a complaint with them, Vodafone packed thier undies. They Gave me 3 months worth of payments back and cancelled my plan with no penalty
Pros: Great for a door stop or to throw at a neighbour you don't like
Cons: Egypt is too far away to throw this stupid modem.
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sajin4
07/08/2008, 05:02 PM
rating
5/10
A 6 foot extension costs roughly $4.95 Id recommend 3 extension so you've got room to play...
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sajin4
07/08/2008, 04:50 PM
rating
5/10
i use to only get 2or3 bars but now i get 4 and i have had 5 like twice..I brought 2 6ft usb extetion's and i hang the modem out the front door in the open sky..Becouse its like a mobile phone yeah..
Cons: still drops out every now and again..
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Paul
07/08/2008, 10:52 AM
rating
2/10
OK if you like dial-up speeds and waiting forever for websites to appear, not to mention the drop-outs and lock-outs at congestion time. And I'M supposed to be in a good covereage area. I wouldn't describe this as broadband.
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designer
07/08/2008, 02:19 AM
rating
3/10
lol not just m then im a furious my aruement is that they advertise speedsup to 7.2mbps which i never expectedto get maybe 5mb or around thatfigure the service is appaling most of te time it is green which means 56kbps back to thesoneae or what bw yo can set it todetct 3g only which is wha i have done althoughthe connectioremains very weak and speed is ot improved all that much i think ive bee lied to about the actual speed of this produt and i a now stuck in 24month contract :(
Pros: broandband anywhere even on the loo lmao
Cons: vodafone are unrealistic about speeds and trouh 2 months of use id say it is uncapable of dowloading anthing othe than an image or text file, streming or gaming whichkills the prothat u an tae it anywhere but can do seet fawith it.
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Sjuniera
31/07/2008, 04:44 PM
rating
7/10
Its a good deal jus hv to be fixed with the coverage nd everything is gud i realy lyk this new device nd network
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NUNES
24/07/2008, 10:17 AM
rating
6/10
GOODGOOD GOOOD
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