Broadband

[Macy]

Just got a 3G mobile, and notice that our house is just about in coverage for 3G (well I can get it upstairs to full reception or 2 bars in the front of the house). It got me thinking about getting a modem for their broadband. My operator is Vodafone.

Basically my options are

1. 3G Broadband from Vodafone
2. Expensive, high contention wireless (if I'm even in the coverage area which would mean testing and potentially high number of drop outs) from regional broadband
3. Sit it out and wait for eircom to enable the exchange and hope even then I can get it (supposed to be done months ago so should in theory be on the way)

So my question start with which of the 3 above is the best option?
Is the mobile broadband any good? I'd only really be downloading music and general surfing - I wouldn't be playing games over it.
And finally, how long can a USB lead be - does the signal quality degrade with length? Could I have the modem upstairs and run a cable down to the PC (I guess a run of about 8ft) or would I be restricted to off my lap top in the front room?

I aint that technical so go easy on me, just getting really fed up of being stuck with dial up.

[anto1208]

I've only got 1 friend who got this kind of broadband (3g) he said its fine untill 6 pm when every one gets home then it goes very slow and drops off untill about 9pm then its ok again.

I have digiweb wireless braodband 6mb line (35 euro a month )its fine for surfing/gaming i have 2 laptops on the wireless network and a ps3/xbox360 wired in with a LAN cable ( think thats the one you want rather than USB) it handles all that fine, the cable is 50m as it has to go up one side of the house and down the other but it works with out any problems or delays.

Only problem with digiweb i have is a 30GB traffic limit for downloading i smash that constantly and i dont download a lot so im now looking into getting UPC 20mb line as it has unlimited traffic limits.

I would check with UPC or digiweb see if they can help you, after that 3 g then if all else fails you ll have to go with Eircom but id prefer a dial up than go back to eircom

[Macy]

The wireless option is €35 for 1mb download (512k upload) with a contention of 30:1. That is it in terms of none mobile options as things stand, apart from Satellite which I believe is bottom of the list...