Any frequent HSDPA Users in the UK?

[Guest]

[jallsopp]

I'm considering buying an HSDPA enabled OQO e2.  I need a machine that is as portable as possible and the OQO is a perfect in this respect.

I need access to the Internet 24/7 for website support and configuration. With the fairly cheap availability of HSDPA on Three and T-Mobile this seems to be a good option now.

Is anyone currently using an HSDPA e2 in the UK? XP or Vista? Any comments on setting up and reliability? Does the fallback to GPRS work OK when there is no HSDPA coverage?

Any comments appreciated before I spend a large sum of money!

Thanks

John.

[JBaguley]

I use HSPDA on an almost daily basis with mine.

The HSDPA coverage on my O2 (corporate, no choice, but free) contract is not bad, and the fallback to GPRS works perfectly, it even will reconnect quite well after losing signal completely.

I have found that you really do have to have the antenna poking out all the time, as the signal quality when hidden away is woeful at best.

Go for it!

[jallsopp]

Thanks for the comments - very positive - which is what I was hoping for.
Any views on whether XP or Vista is preferable when using HSDPA. I guess that it's down to drivers and support applications?
I use Apple Macs and Unix servers on a daily basis and so I have no preference over XP or Vista personally and can live with either.
Thanks.
John (soon to be OQO owner)

[elbowz]

I use both T-Mobile and Vodafone's services regularly although through a tethered modem or mobile phone.

Service is patchy but most metropolitan areas (Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, London) have pretty good HSDPA service, with fallback to 3G where necessary working well. However GPRS is unbearably slow - even plain old vanilla 3G feels pedestrian after using some of the faster connections. I'm very much looking forward to the nationwide rollout of 7.2Mbps

[rogerspictures]

I use Vodafone HSDPA in London and the South East. It's been great with the oqo. mostly I don't need to extend the antenna, but when you've only got one bar it can make a difference. When you get full HSDPA the speed is amazing - rivals my 2mb ADSL.

I had Vista ultimate, which I 'upgraded' to XP Tablet. The speed increase is noticeable. But I suffered from the oqo manager problem where the wireless dashboard didn't recognise the wifi or WWAN hardware. This meant I couldn't tum the radios off when not in use. The fix was posted here:

http://www.oqotalk.com/index.php/topic,1892.msg13562.html#new

Still can't turn off the WWAN, but there should be an official release from oqo soon. This only affects models when you've re-installed an OS from original disks (not oqo restore disks).

I would recommend the HSDPA version in the Uk, but with XP tablet.