Is mobile broadband (4G) any good for using in-home?

[bigblue235]

Hi, folks.

Can mobile wi-fi be used satisfactorily instead of a typical home internet connection?

The reason I ask is because I'm due to take out a new contract with our local (Jersey)provider, but I'm looking for a faster connection and they're rather frustrating to deal with.

Our building is wired with fibre, and we're on what's called Next Generation Network which has d/l speeds of up to 1gigabit, but trying to get any info about when I can have it is like getting blood out of a stone.

They've also just launched 4g wi-fi, with a claimed speed of 'up to' 42mb. That is tempting, bearing in mind the fastest I can get otherwise is 20Mb. But, having never used mobile broadband other than through a phone, I'm worried that it won't be terribly reliable.

It would be a bonus to have it when out and about, but my priority in the home connection.

Any thoughts? Ta muchly!

 

[bigboss]

I have no idea what's the deal in Jersey. It varies from country to country. Can you be more clear about the type of broadband? 4G is different & wifi is different. Never heard of "4G wifi". Is it mobile WiMAX or mobile LTE?

 

[bigboss]

Ok, looks like its faster 3G which is being advertised as 4G:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-16490272

Only someone living in Jersey will be able to advise. If it's not more expensive than your current provider, it's probably worth a shot. Can you not arrange for a 30-day trial before committing to a long term contract?

 

[Paul.]

I used to use mobile in my office as it was an old building with no phone wiring, and the wifi couldn't reach my rooms yet the peculiar electrical system ruled out home plugs. It was perfectly fine, I was on HDSPA of some variety clocking around 7 Mbps. The thing to be wary of is download limits, it can get very expensive if you want to use streaming video services etc as the 'unlimited' services usually have a fair use policy around 2GB. Can't speak for jersey though?

 

[bigblue235]

Thanks chaps,

I wasn't so much curious about the service, I'm happy with the cost and download limits etc, I was more wondering whether it's actually viable to use it full-time? Like, if there's any typical drawbacks or whatever? I just don't really know the ins and out of mobile broadband, I've never used it.

I think the current 42Mb thing is a stop-gap service, they're seemingly rolling out 4g at the mo. There were trials a couple of months back which were on the BBC news, I think running at about 100mb.

They've been doing trials at our building, but only one person actually has it installed. Probably someone who works for them. If you saw it on the news or saw any of the publicity you'd think we all had it, but it's all smoke and mirrors. Part of the reason we took an apartment here was the 'Fastest residential broadband in Europe' hype, so it's rather frustrating.