How can I be in the center of a major UK city and only manage a GPRS\Edge connection on the UK’s largest network? This isn’t the first time. I’ve been using my mobile broadband USB ‘dongle’ for the last six months and achieve a 3G connection less than 20 percent of the time.

To rub salt into the wound my BlackBerry is showing a 3G connection on the same network.

The industry has heavily promoted this technology in the last 12 months, but the experience (against the expectations set to me by the carrier’s marketing) is still sub-standard.

In this instance – surely it must be a faulty unit?