USB mobile broadband modems + macs - Why are they so tricky to work ?

I know this is just not me. There is so much wrong with all of these pricey modem sticks. For starters they stick out from the USB port on a laptop. But the real and utter mess is the software.

Last month I felt like I was battling with Vodafone on a weekly basis as no one seemed to have any idea how the software worked on a mac. The software on the modem crashed leopard the software ( and get this its priceless) on their website software could only be downloaded to a PC, and then I shot myself in the foot by upgrading to Snow leopard and boom it all stopped working again.

After a little research a found a German company novamedia who write lots of great little USB modem software packages and have unlocked SIM modems. I am going to be testing one in Portugal, Sweden and the UK this month. But any user experiences MAC and PC with these little sticks would be great to hear about..