Coverage checkers
Coverage, and more particularly the type of service available, is the most important thing to think about when choosing a mobile broadband provider.
All the mobile broadband companies provide online coverage checkers. They are indications rather than guarantees of what service is available. Other factors, particularly the number of other local users and the type of building you are in, have a big effect on the speeds you'll actually experience.
We think coverage checkers could be improved quite easily. We'd like to see all coverage checkers be completely open about the type of service available, and for them to all use the same terms to describe each level of service.
In August 2009 we gave our vote for best coverage checker to Orange. The only odd thing about it is that it describes the best service level as '3G+' whereas it is usually referred to as 'HSDPA'.
The coverage checkers are available via the following links (opens in a new window):
Orange's mobile broadband coverage checker