The new T Mobile broadband service will not allow users to make VoIP calls using its network. The super fast 3G HSDPA service is still in an internal testing phase but analysts doubt that T Mobile can sustain this ban without offering a VoIP service of their own.
A flat-rate version of the data tariff will be aimed at business users initially and marketed as the Web’n'Walk Professional 3G service.
The service is the first HSDPA data card to be offered by a major network in the UK, but it’s also quad-band and has integrated Wi-Fi. The card is currently being offered by T Mobile along with a voucher offering free use of its Wi-Fi hotspots for 12 months.
T Mobile expect to roll the service out over the summer months in the major UK cities where good network coverage and Wi-Fi hotspots are commonplace. Speeds are likely to start at 1.8Mbps and increase to over 7Mbps by the end of 2007.
This kind of speed would seem ideal for VoIP and instand messaging but T Mobile are quick to point out that this is not allowed – any user caught running the applications risks expulsion from the network.
T Mobile admits that this is a commercial decision – they simply are not charging enough to make including VoIP viable. Once the service has been launched T Mobile will be in a perfect position to release a VoIP client of their own to a captive market.
Tony Lock, chief analyst at Bloor Research, believes that the launch of a T-Mobile VoIP client is a possibility.
The Web’n'Walk data card is free with a new 18- or 24-month contract, £50 on a new 12-month contract and £170 SIM-free through T-Mobile itself. Existing customers with an older 3G card can upgrade to the new technology and tariff for £99.
Using the data card on the Web’n'Walk tariff will cost £17 + VAT per month, while simply adding the data service to the voice tariff on an HSDPA-enabled phone will cost £8.50 + VAT per month.
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If only this decision had left them with a useable service! I’m on my 3G modem at the moment, and from what I can tell, I’ll be lucky to even be able to submit this post. VoIP? You’d be lucky to use this service for morse code with bits.