Questions about BT Business Mobile Broadband

[Propaganda]

I'm interested in the BT Business Mobile Broadband offer for £15pm. I have a few questions. I ask them here as I have found the telephone sales team to be unable to answer these specific technical questions.

1: It is advertised as 7.2Mbs, can you tell me what the fastest possible UPLOAD speed is.

2: It says on your web page: "[comes with] easy to use package that includes BT Access Manager which will help you detect and select the best available networks." Does this mean 3G networks? Will it connect to Vodafone, or O2, or T-Mobile depending on location? Or is it linked to just one mobile network operator?

3: Does the modem come with software compatible with Apple Mac OS X or does it have a driver that will work under OS X?

4: It is advertised as "Unlimited Wifi Usage", but as we all know it is never unlimited, what is the total limit (in Gigabytes) of the 'fair use'?

5: What is the limit (in Gigabytes) of the 3G usage?

6: Finally, what are the costs for using the 3G data when abroad?

Many thanks. 

[Naishy · Accepted solution]

1: It is advertised as 7.2Mbs, can you tell me what the fastest possible UPLOAD speed is.

Download speeds are up to 7.2 Mbps, upload speeds are up to 1.92Mbps. This is dependant on network coverage in your location. See Speeds and Connections for more details.

2: It says on your web page: "[comes with] easy to use package that includes BT Access Manager which will help you detect and select the best available networks." Does this mean 3G networks? Will it connect to Vodafone, or O2, or T-Mobile depending on location? Or is it linked to just one mobile network operator?

BT Access Manager will help you by detecting and offering the best available connection, as in Private Wi-Fi (e.g. Home/Office), Public Wi-Fi (BT Openzone), Wired Broadband or 3G/GPRS. In the UK the BT Mobile mobile network is used exclusively.

3: Does the modem come with software compatible with Apple Mac OS X or does it have a driver that will work under OS X?

The modem contains a version of software for Apple Mac OS X, however the Mac OS X software client only manages 3G/GPRS connectivity.

4: It is advertised as "Unlimited Wifi Usage", but as we all know it is never unlimited, what is the total limit (in Gigabytes) of the 'fair use'?

According to http://business.bt.com/mobile/mobile-internet/broadband:

BT Mobile Data and BT Openzone are subject to our reasonable business use policy. To ensure quality of service for all customers, it is expected that you will not exceed a reasonable business use limit of:

a) 3072MB of BT Mobile Data (GPRS/3G/HSDPA networks) sent and received per connection per month; 

b) 4000 BT Openzone minutes per connection per month.

5: What is the limit (in Gigabytes) of the 3G usage?

See above.

6: Finally, what are the costs for using the 3G data when abroad?

Unfortunately charges for using 3G whilst roaming abroad are expensive. More detailed information is available here, but you would currently be charged from £8 per MB with a minimum daily charge. Therefore if you travel abroad regularly you may wish to make alternative arrangements.

Tim

Message Edited by James on 11-05-2009 10:49 AM

[Propaganda]

Thank you for your swift and exacting response.

It is a shame that BT do not follow Vodafone's pricing model when it comes to roaming charges abroad (£8.50 per day for up to 50MB) and for this reason I will not consider the otherwise excellent offer. 

[JosephDM]

I know this is dragging up an old  post but its highly suprising that these EU tariffs have no been changed, especially considering the donor network's rates on the same data roaming.

Any headwind on this ?

[Frances]

Hi JosephDM

I sent your query to the relevant department and they informed me they are in the process of reviewing their roaming data rates at the moment. I wasn’t provided with any further detail as to whether or not they are likely to change. I’ll update this thread if I get further news.

Thanks

Frances

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