Rodrigo Sepúlveda is always on now, thanks to a 3G connection card from Orange. The price: 70 euros per month. That's fairly steep, but competition will drive down prices over time. I have two observations.
1. As I've written before, mobile operators' walled gardens won't last. In competitive markets, we'll increasingly see all-you-can-eat data plans. These plans have to allow VPN access, so subscribers can access their the corporate LANs. But allowing VPNs punches a complete hole in any walled garden. Anyone can walk through that hole, indeed Google will help you.
2. As much as I love WiFi, there's an enormous advantage to an always-on service. No matter what your approach to WiFi, there are too many little obstacles. As Rodrigo says of his new service "no need to search for a Wifi hotspot anymore and try to figure out how to pay."
70 euros is indeed a bit steep. In Finland rate-limited flat-rate 3G/GPRS starts at 10 euros a month. If you want a service that's prioritized or won't get throtled to 64 kbps on a busy basestation you have to buy 100 MB data bundles at 16 euros a pop.
Posted by: Zed | December 22, 2005 at 02:57 PM
Hi thanks for your link. I need to update my post with more details on the offer.
However, FYI, the 70 euros plan only "allows" for web surfing, email + attachments (although you need to use orange's SMTP server) and a VPN to your intranet.
SSH, VoIP (ie. Skype), P2P, and streaming protocols are forbidden contractually. By if you get the proper router (such as the linksys WRTG 54GS)) it is very eassy to set up a VPN, and get access to everything with an extra few ms of latnecy.
Posted by: Rodrigo A. SEPÚLVEDA SCHULZ | December 22, 2005 at 06:39 PM