Boards.ie 3G broadband triallists only use 1.8GB of data a month

According to Meteor, the average data usage per month by over 400 triallists on its new 3G broadband service is 1.8GB. That includes a large amount (according to Meteor) of members of Boards.ie, the community web forum that has almost 8,000 users per day.

This surprised me a little, as I think that 5GB may be a bit too pinchy on the data side for an otherwise competitive mobile broadband offering. But maybe Boards users aren't quite as data-hungry as might have been thought.

Anyway, here are the other salient details from today's Meteor launch.

It'll cost €17 per month (plus €30 up front for the dongle) for a 12 month contract, or €20 for a '30 day pass' (capped at 5GB) plus €80 up front for the dongle. There'll also be a one-day pass on offer for €3 (capped at 0.5GB).

Further details:

-- Speeds will be a minimum of 2Mbs and a maximum of 7.2Mbs for the time being. But sometime later this year, when Huawei releases updated dongles, the maximum will jump to 14.4Mbs.
-- Coverage starts in Cork and Dublin, as of today. Five more cities will be by the end of this year. 'Nationwide coverage' will happen sometime next year.
-- 'Nationwide' means "over 95 per cent" of the country's population. Larry Smith, the CEO, said that "everywhere you can get a Meteor 2G signal now will be covered by our mobile broadband". Okay, but Meteor roams with Vodafone in some far-flung places, doesn't it? Yes, said another Meteor executive, but it's actually a tiny proportion (less than five per cent) now. So it will be nationwide covergae on Meteor's own network.
-- Roaming will happen using Meteor's current roaming partners. The company will offer a one-size-fits-all 'pass' product for roaming in Britain. However, Meteor executives acknowledge that not all of Meteor's roaming partners will facilitate 3G roaming. There were no more specifics on that.
-- Meteor will observe Eircom's deal with Irma and the music industry on site-blocking and Eircom's three-strikes rule.
-- The data cap will be 5GB per month.

Comments

[Thomas Brunkard]

I used 3 in my own office in the day for mobile broadband and found similar usage rates. The reason for this was not that this would be my typical usage, it was simply because the service is far too slow to truly enjoy the benefits of rich media web content.

I suspect that when the boardsers had a go of youtube they adapted to the services limitations and used it for less intensive casual browsing then subsequently switching back to their fast home connections for the real deal.

Its such a shame the government didn't incentivise/invest in unbundling exchanges instead of throwing their support (twice it seems) on what is essentially a business product.

[Yourtech]

That's a very good point, Thomas. In fairness, the test one they've given us is ringing up at 4Mbs+. But I don't know what speeds the triallists actually encountered on a regular basis.