Whether it’s the phone itself, the innovative pricing, or the promotion of the device and the abilities it has, but according to an mobile device survey by Admob, the 3 SkypePhone is now the number 5 mobile internet device in the UK, based on the number of adverts served to mobile devices. The top 10 are:

• Sony Ericsson K800i
• Nokia N95
• Sony Ericsson W810i
• Sony Ericsson K610i
• 3 SkypePhone
• Nokia N73
• Sony Ericsson W850i
• ZTE F866
• Nokia 6120c
• Nokia 6300

It’s also interesting to note the ZTE (a USB modem) is in there too, and mainly only on 3 UK in the survey too. The 3 SkypePhone came straight into this survey in 5th place, with 2.7% of the market (by ads served). No wonder 3’s data usage has increased by so much.

Although nothing is firm, 3 mentioned today at a briefing, that they are looking at providing a home router with a 3G modem built in, to allow people to connect their whole network via 3G, instead of just a single laptop or desktop via a USB dongle. 3 also said they will expect sales of dongles to drop as more laptops come with HSDPA built in over the next few months. Of course, they’ll still make their money from the contract, and won’t need to provide hardware, so it will be interesting to see whether they offer a SIM-only data deal, and what pricing they offer.

Finally, they also talked about speed of 3G connections, and whether companies are over-selling their services. Mainly aimed at Vodafone, 3 are claiming customers should be more worried about signal strength and the impact of other traffic, and not just the headline connection rate. To help counter this, 3 are planning to increase the number of mast sites from 7,500 to 9,000 by 2009 as part of their mast sharing deal with T-Mobile. This will also help increase population coverage from 90% to 98%, which will also help.

Scrolling around the 3 intranet the other day, we noticed that 3 offer a 7 day unlimited trial to Spinvox. Spinvox offer a voice to text service, so your voicemails are provided as SMS. You simply divert your phone to Spinvox, instead of the more usual 3 voicemail option. Once the trial is over, you move onto their chargeable, but low rate, service; although there is a limit to the number of messages you get before incurring more charges. What 3 fail to mention is whether the cost of the call diversion is chargeable or not, and we believe it is, which we feel 3 should state.

To signup, simply use Planet 3; if you can’t find it, head to Services, A-Z, and then select Spinvox.

Spinvox should work with any UK mobile, although for other networks you’ll need to sign up at Spinvox.

T-Mobile now offers it’s USB Modem on PAYG for £99.99 with a £4 per day offering. It’s advertised as unlimited, but it’s Web’n'Walk Plus, which doesn’t offer all services (VOIP is not allowed on this tariff, for example), and compared to 3’s £10 for the whole month doesn’t sound such good value if you would use it more than twice a month. Also, we could not find out whether T-Mobile actually meant unlimited, or had a fair usage policy on this service.

So, O2, T-Mobile, 3, and Vodafone all openly promote good data deals (although some of them could do with keeping their web sites up to dates with their latest deals and T&Cs), Orange stand out as only promoting their pay monthly service, and not a PAYG service.

According to an article by Fresh Plastic, the 3 SkypePhone is now available at both Woolworths and Sainsburys at just £39.99 on PAYG. Even better value, this includes a £10 TopUp credit, reducing the real cost. We’ve been a fan of the 3 SkypePhone since launch, and since then 3 have made a small, but significant change to Internet Access. For 50p a day, £2.50 a week, or £5 a month you have always been able to access the Internet direct from the phone, but for the last few months, 3 have opened up a new option for customers; Mobile Broadband.

Mobile Broadband costs £10 per month, but importantly allows you (under the T&Cs) to connect your PC through the 3 SkypePhone to access the internet. Technically, the cheaper Internet Access is limited to direct access from the mobile itself, and this limitation is removed for the Mobile Broadband option. Now, some people question whether this is worth the extra £5, given the fact that the same £10 also buys you 30 days credit for a PAYG USB Modem too. Well, remember that it also gives you free Skype access on the 3 SkypePhone, and with the ability to configure the phone to provide the PC access via Bluetooth, then you can have the same access without anything attached to a Bluetooth capable laptop. For many, this Skype access makes the 3 SkypePhone better value. Even if you only topup with £10 per month, and use this all for mobile data (ie you don’t use it for phone calls) the device will feel useful because of the Skype access. Of course, looking at the other point of view, the 3 USB Modem will get higher data speeds, so that may be a deciding factor for that option instead.

Price drop story courtesy Fresh Plastic [Via 3mobilebuzz]

Although we first announced it a couple of weeks ago, today 3 finally reduce the price of the ZTE and Huawei E220 USB Modems to £49.99. The new USB Modem Stick (E169) remains at a higher price though. Go and buy your PAYG USB Modem here.

If you want to use your 3 USB Dongle on an Asus Eee PC, then head over to Dale Lane’s blog where he has written up exactly the steps required to get it working on the little device. It all revolves around the dongle being a composite device, presenting both a CD-ROM image (to load the Windows / Mac drivers) and also being the modem itself. The main extra utility you need for the Eee is a USB Switcher application, which allows you to choose which part of the device is available to the OS.

[Via 3mobilebuzz]

After the launch of the Skype Mobile Beta last week, Darla Mack has given the software a thorough review, which can be read here. As Darla is in the US, the prices are all US prices, but you’ll still get a good feel for the application. Of course, you may decide a 3 SkypePhone is a better option, and certainly offers a cheaper way of bringing Skype to a mobile phone.

After a long wait, Skype have released a beta version of their mobile client. This is a Java app, which gives them a good range of compatibility across many handsets, but does not provide an integrated solution for Symbian or Windows Mobile users that many would like. Also, although it uses the internet data connection for presence and IM messaging, it makes a traditional phone call to connect into the Skype infrastructure to get VOIP connectivity, so there is still a real cost to these calls (if only that they will come out of your inclusive minutes). Skype even advertise it as “no WiFi needed”, but fail to mention that it really can’t take true advantage of a WiFi connection, even if you have one. Overall, Skype themselves hint that the 3 SkypePhone might be a better solution for many, and right now, I think I agree.

More details direct from Skype.

On Friday O2 finally launched their competition to Vodafone and 3’s Mobile Broadband. For £20 a month you get a 3Gb allowance (with a handy text message at 2Gb warning you the allowance is running out). Over that, it’s 20p per MB. However, you do also get unlimited WiFi via The Cloud. One limitation - you must be an existing O2 customer, and it’s an 18 month contract. There’s a month-by-month option (a bit like PAYG) which is still £20 per month, but you’ll need to buy the USB modem at £120 first.

Unlike 3, the max speed on offer today is 1.8mbps, with O2’s 3.6mbps rolling out in June.

Certainly the unlimited WiFi deal is a bit of a differentiator, but compared to 3’s offer of half price broadband to existing customers; and with the trick of getting a 3 Skypephone on a 6 month contract just to become a customer, it’s not necessarily the cheapest way of getting online for everyone.

Some content courtesy of SMS Text News.

3 have made a number of changes to their mobile broadband USB modems today. The new USB Stick Modem is now the same price as the other USB Modems if you take out a contract (ie free on all contracts except Broadband Lite 12 months). 3 have also dropped the PAYG price of the E220 and ZTE modems by £20, although the USB Stick Modem stays at the same price. When we checked, the pricing was yet to appear on the website, but should do soon.

Even more reasons to go and buy one today….

Update: The PAYG price change will happen on 1st May, although the contract price changes are already up on the 3 website.

Here’s an interesting view of 3’s data usage. It’s interesting for two reasons; firstly as it’s rare for a network to release information like this, and second as it shows the impact the release of their USB Modem solutions has had on their network. The six month period covers the release of the 3 SkypePhone and the increased marketing behind their USB Modems.

In other news, the 3 SkypePhone is currently on special offer at 3 - you can (for a short time) get the phone for free on a 6 month contract (instead of the more normal 12 or 18 month contracts). Even better, this 6 month contract is enough to qualify you for half price mobile broadband, although you will need to keep the contract running to benefit from the reduced mobile broadband pricing.

Data network story courtesy of The Inquirer [Via Tech Digest]

Well, a week after we first mentioned it, we have one of the new 3 USB Stick Modems here. As with some other people, the first laptop we tried wouldn’t accept that the device was there, but on a second laptop it worked just fine (some software conflict that Huawei really need to find and resolve, or at least offer advice on).

In terms of speed, we’ve mainly seen connections at 3.6mbps, which is faster than our broadband. As well as offering a data connection, the software allows you to send and receive SMS text messages.

For those times when you are on the train, or have limited room for the stick modem to point straight out, it also comes with a short USB extension lead, but for most uses, it’s a straight plug in and work setup. The device also features built in storage where the software and drivers are stored, meaning you don’t even need to carry around an install CD.

As part of the launch of this new modem, 3 are offering some innovative pricing deals: for a start, if you are an existing customer, you can get the Mobile Broadband service for half price. Also, they have recently announced some very competitive tariffs, where you can get a free phone, pay a fairly reasonable monthly cost, and get a fair few minutes included as standard, yet also get unlimited texts.

Now, that means if you took the free phone, and then applied for mobile broadband, for a combined monthly cost of just £32.50 would get you a free phone, 500 minutes, unlimited texts, and mobile broadband with a 3Gb a month allowance. Note: the phone contract may be only 12 months (a bit of a rarity nowadays), but the mobile broadband contract has to be at least 18 months to benefit from the half price deal, although you still get the choice of all the USB modems (although the new USB Stick Modem will come with a one off charge to purchase unless you take a 24 month Broadband contract). This offer is only valid until the 31st May, so worth thinking through these options right now.

Although we’ve yet to try it, if you are roaming onto one of the 3 networks around the world, you still get the same deals and benefits - which means mobile broadband at no additional roaming costs.

Head over to the 3 Store now to look and order all these offers for unlimited texts and USB Modems.

Further to our announcement of the 3 USB Stick Modem yesterday, 3 have confirmed that they plan to offer the modem on a wider range of tariffs (12 month contracts and on Broadband Lite (1Gb)). These options are all likely to incur a small charge to buy the device, and aren’t available yet.

If you are a 3 user, they have signed a deal with Sony BMG to provide free music videos (free of all charges, including data download charges). This service will encompass a whole range of Sony BMG’s signed artists. The downside? There will be a targetted ads at the start of every music video.

This new USB Stick Modem has been released by 3 today. It’s currently available for FREE, but only on the two higher Broadband contracts (Broadband 3Gb 24 months and Broadband 7Gb 24 months or 18 months); there’s no word as to whether it will be available on PAYG.

There are rumours flying around the Internet that there is a new N95 8Gb firmware coming soon. The new v20 firmware will add Automatic Screen Rotation (a feature seen on newer devices), and a range of bug fixes.

Of more interest to our readers is whether this firmware is released for the branded versions - both 3 and Vodafone seem to take their time before they release these new firmwares (if ever), and of course due to the way 3 build their network and have their own custom apps, without the 3 branding and the additional security certificates they include, users often find themselves missing out on some of those free software addons 3 advertise if they move to an unbranded phone. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the new firmware, and also reporting back as and when the main UK operators actually make that firmware available (and also the impact of unbranding your phone)…

3 have reduced the price of their PAYG USB Modems from £99.99 to £69.99. The data Addons price has stayed the same, but is already very competitive. Head over to 3’s website to order.

Panasonic have just released this in Japan. It’s a Skype phone, but the interesting feature is that it also contains a FON hotspot and the handset uses WiFi to connect. This means once you configure this new FON hotspot, and add the details into the handset, you can take the handset with you and then connect via any FON hotspot and still make and receive Skype calls. It’s not got the convenience of the 3 SkypePhone, but does show a good example of technology convergence.

No details on availability outside Japan have yet been announced, but we think Panasonic will soon be selling this worldwide.

If you own a Nokia Tablet and a recent Windows Mobile smartphone, you’ll be aware that many Windows smartphones now only support PAN (Personal Area Network) to allow external devices (such as Tablets) to use the phone for Internet access. Unfortunately, the Nokia tablets ship with only Bluetooth DUN (Dial Up Networking) support built in, meaning that although they will work fine with Nokia phones and many other phones (including the 3 SkypePhone), they don’t work with the WM phones… until now.

You need to be running the latest OS2008 to be able to use it, but the application integrates nicely into the OS to make it appear like the functionality was always there.

Head here for more information. [Via jkOnTheRun]