Mobile/Cellular Step Up in Switzerland

I have to start this by saying I have no idea how any of this information compares to mobile data availability and speed anywhere else in the world. My intention here is just to relate what is happening in Switzerland, and hope that it might be indicative of other places.

I have mentioned previously that I have a Swisscom OEM cellular data card, which is actually a Sierra Wireless 880 with Swisscom stickers on it. Swisscom released a new PC software update for it this week, what they call their "Unlimited Data Manager" package. So I downloaded and installed it, and took the opportunity to test the speed again.

The last time I tested it, I got approximately 800 kbps upload and download, although the UDM software reported that it was an HSDPA connection. Since this was obviously not HSDPA, I suspected at the time that the software simply didn't know about HSPA, or didn't know how to report it, and that now seems to have been the case. The new software reports an HSPA connection when I am sitting in my office.

The really good news, though, is that both Visualware and Speakeasy report the upload and download speeds both to be 1.1Mbps! That is by far the best I have seen yet, and at those speeds video chat is easy. Visualware also reports that the quality of the connections is good enough to support VoIP.

I'll be testing this a bit more during my commutes over the next few days.

jw 27/5/2008