On a ridiculous journey from Kerry to Dublin and on to Galway last Sunday, I noticed when I was in the Ballinasloe area of Galway that my Blackberry happily said it was now on the EDGE network from O2. I thought this was an anomaly, but then I thought about who was most likely getting the iPhone for Ireland – Telefonica’s operated O2. As I was driving at the time, I didn’t get the chance to check if there was any improvement in speed over GPRS.
However I as in Mount Bellew a few days later in North East Galway and tested the EDGE connection – but to my dismay it wasn’t faster or slower than GPRS. But this is significant. O2 has the best network coverage in Ireland at present (especially in rural areas). But O2 has one of the slowest networks in Ireland (not unlike AT&T then!). O2 recently launched their HSDPA broadband modem, but the coverage is only in urban centres, unlike 3 Ireland who have nationwide coverage almost. So for O2 to upgrade networks and run trials here already, iPhone looks set for the European September launch promised by Steve Jobs last July. So at least it’s not Vodafone!
diarmy
