BBC is accidentally first super-fast 3G user

IN A strange twist of fate, the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) became the first commercial user of Manx Telecom's super-fast 3G network. It borrowed a wireless Sony laptop and sent out a live broadcast using Skype.

Owned by British network operator, O2, on November 1st 2005 Manx Telecom became the first European company to offer commercial support for HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access). It's such a silly acronym that everyone's started to call it super-fast 3G instead.

The BBC had turned up at a Manx school expecting to find a 2 Mbit/s ADSL link to carry its broadcast. As Manx Telecom is the Isle of Man's only telecoms provider, they were asked for help. And Manx Telecom promptly lent the Beeb a Sony Vaio laptop fitted with the first commercially available HSDPA compatible PCMCIA card from Sierra Wireless.

Curiously O2's CTO, Dave Williams had spent time telling assembled journalists that super-fast 3G wasn't really intended for VoIP usage. But the Beeb obviously didn't know this.

In essence, HSDPA is W-CDMA's answer to CDMA2000's EVDO. It offers faster download speeds but the fun starts when you try to establish just how fast it can go. At present Manx users will experience a peak download rate of 1.3 Mbit/s but the upload link on runs at a mere 128 Kbit/s.

The reason for this lies with the fact that the network has been built with equipment supplied by Lucent. Presently it's capped at 1.8 Mbit/s but by January 2006, the uplink will be cranked up to 384 Kbit/s.

However, by Q3 2006 O2 and Lucent expect to have raised the download speed to around 3.6 Mbit/s - rising to 7.3 Mbit/s by Q1 2008 and 10.2 Mbit/s by Q4 2004-Q4 2009.

Does all this matter, though? The INQ got to play with one of the Sierra Wireless equipped laptops and it genuinely felt like having a regular ADSL link. The difference being that the laptop was in a coach travelling back to the airport at around 30 mph!

As Dave Williams was fond of saying, HSDPA delivers the kind of 3G we were all promised in the first place. Whether it'll sound the death knoll for commercial Wi-Fi hotspots as he says, is a matter for debate.

O2 definitely has an HSDPA enabled handset on test but refused to name the supplier. The INQ suspects that given the Sierra Wireless card is using a Qualcomm chip, it's probably a proof of concept device built by Qualcomm. They did the same thing when regular W-CDMA was launched.

More intriguing is the prospect of an HSDPA compatible version of the Ovation from Novatel wireless. Basically it's a portable Wi-Fi hub which creates an instant hot spot. The Internet connexion is supplied by 3G. Manx Telecom hopes to have such a beast in time for the famous TT motorcycle races next year [2006].

When will O2 offer super-fast 3G on its other networks? Probably around Q3 2006 and in Ireland before the UK.

How much does it cost? Well, Manx is offering bundles. You can buy the Sierra Wireless Aircard 850 for £49 (inc VAT). You'll need to sign a Pronto Connect Max contract. For the first three months rental is free. After that you get charged £39.95 per month for 100Mb of data.

Pricing will probably be similar in the UK. µ