All 3 Mobile Broadband contracts have had a dongle upgrade! They have replaced the ZTE dongle with the new, sleeker Huawei E1750. The E1750 is no available, free of charge, on all contract tariffs, although pay as you go mobile broadband packages will still include the ZTE MF627 dongle.

The Huawei E1750 is a “next generation” dongle, and is typically twice as fast when uploading files such as photos and large email attachments. It is also 50% faster for general website browsing. It is compatible with both PC’s and Mac’s and has a plug & play design, making it incredibly easy to use.

If you are due an upgrade now or are looking to make a purchase, it is worth bearing in mind that another new dongle is due to be released in March, the Huaweu E122. This promises to offer even fast speeds, so is definitely worth keeping an eye out for in the coming months.

It may have surprised some industry observers that connection ‘management’ has not been a bigger part of mobile broadband up until now, but 3 has taken the plunge and announced restrictions during peak periods for its mobile broadband customers starting from November 16th.

Official sources have revealed that peer to peer networking will be the only online facility managed under the new rules. Although there are no figures relating to the number of mobile broadband users who download files using P2P networks, the number must be significant enough to warrant the enforcement of such limitations.

It is understood that only the most congested mobile broadband cells will be subject to the limiting of P2P downloads, which means urbanised areas and city centres during peak time will suffer the most. The purpose of the management is to provide a better service to all customers rather than allowing P2P users to consume excessive bandwidth to the detriment of download speeds across the network.

Observers believe that a combination of falling mobile broadband package prices combined with more generous data allowances may be spurring on users to download files via P2P networks. It is also anticipated that many more mobile broadband providers will jump on the connection management bandwagon as mobile broadband use continues to grow. Low package prices in conjunction with deals such as the Orange mobile broadband free laptop could see mobile congestion and peak period throttling becoming more commonplace.

Experts have expressed some doubt as to 3’s plans to manage P2P traffic, explaining that many P2P users will simply switch to other methods such as file sharing sites and VPNs run by businesses to continue to download larger files via mobile broadband. There are also fears that the newly implemented connection management system may have some growing pains to endure before it operates correctly.