Mobile broadband providers in the UK are fiercely competitive and all claim to be the best. This brief survey of the top 5 mobile UK broadband providers reflects the latest industry survey at the beginning of June 2009. All providers offer similar packages ranging in price from £10 to £20, depending on features and length of contract. A performance survey by P3 Solutions during the first quarter of 2009 named T-Mobile Broadband for the third time as the leader for its e-mail reliability, quick uploading speed, and fast Web browsing ability. A similar survey by YouGov ranked T-Mobile first in six categories of customer satisfaction, including network coverage (all broadband users note that service outside 3G areas is slower than dial-up).
Sharing second place were Vodafone Small Business, voted Best Wireless ISP by industry peers at the 2008 UK Internet Industry Awards, and Vodafone. The former offers a free USB modem stick as a deal sweetener, while the latter provides a Dell Inspiron mini notebook. O2 Mobile Broadband was rated third, but customers said that its service staff was reasonable and easy to reach.
Fourth-ranked 3 Mobile Broadband tries to entice customers with a free USB modem, but users report slowdowns when apparently too many people log on at the same time, suggesting a lack of network capacity. Users also complain about poor customer support. Some of fifth-ranked Orange Mobile Broadband’s customers who use laptops report having to reboot in order to activate their USB dongle connection.