An independent study undertaken by SIRODA in Jan 2010 across 150 UK locations revealed that O2 provided the speediest mobile broadband music download speeds. In London, O2 also achieved the swiftest webpage access times.

The largest dissatisfaction on this year's Road Trip needed to be the performance of O2, regardless of whether it was not utterly unexpected. Another Huawei E160 turned up on our stoop - the same model that had performed OK, if not brilliantly, last year. Simply installing the software was the complete opposite of the simplicity offered by each other dongle taking part, either this year or last, and things never truly improved.

O2 Mobile Broadband Services costs the same as most other mobile broadband services at £15 a month. But the monthly charges includes unlimited WiFi access from 7,500 WiFi hotspots, and O2 are also offering cheap home broadband as a part of the deal. O2 also supply a " Contentment Guarantee" which means you can cancel the contract without penalty in the first fifty days if you are not happy. Last years trip saw us praising O2's stability, while its download speeds took runner-up and the software also got an honourable mention. Sadly , while its download speeds were still something close to respectable ( averaging a little under 0.9Mb in 4th place ), the E160 failed to pick up any awards or runners-up accolades at all this year. Its upload speed was also extremely poor, averaging about the same speed as Orange in equal last place ( about 0.3Mb ).

We like O2 at Broadband Genie, but the load on its network,which can not be being assisted by the info hungry iPhone, is truly showing. It appears to be making an attempt to lessen this by consistently - and annoyingly - making an attempt to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots, which wasn't likely to win it points on a trip.But if you are going to be near some and are looking generally to employ a dongle in places like cafeterias, or on campus, this could well still be a very good choice for you - just take a look at your coverage before committing. But on the road, we just can't advocate this above any of its rivals.

Even three ( with its good upload speeds ) and Orange ( with good stability ) offered something, but O2's previous powerful points appeared to have deserted it. The dongle's software - even once installed - irritated. Poor coverage sent it attempting to find all sorts of other connections, but none ever came to the end.At this time, this truly isn't one for the road.