Is 3gig Mobile Broadband Enough?

[fxl0ver]

Hello to all,

Please I need some advice concerning Mobile Broadband. just moving home and dont have an internet connection in my new place.

My question is this. Is the 3gig mobile broadband here in the UK sufficient for day trading with the MetaTrader platform? If so, please which network would you recommend based on quality of service provided.

Please note that i'm referring to Mobile Broadband with a laptop and not a PDA.

 

[Vaco]

I have used it and it has been fine.

 

[Jack o'Clubs]

I would never rely on mobile broadband as my main trading connection. Most of the time it will work fine, particularly if you are getting a genuine 3Mb (in practice this will vary according to distance from the base station and number of other users at that location) but you get far more network outages on mobile than you do on fixed, whether it's because of base-stations being taken off-line for routine maintenance, upgrade and repair, or actual network faults. I wouldn't want to be trying to get out of a trade with 'network not available' showing on my laptop...

In terms of network quality - it varies enormously location by location so a standard recommendation may not be appropriate, although Vodafone probably has the most sophisticated data network in terms of architecture. One other thing - most of the tariffs have 'fair use' policies even if in theory they offer unlimited downloads. Might be worth checking that the amount of data sent to and fro with Metatrader won't cause you problems with going over the limit.

Depends how seriously you trade, but if you do take it seriously you should never begrudge spending the few quid you need to, to get the right tools for the job, and to me that would mean a good quality fixed or cable broadband connection.

 

[0007]

Agree posts #3, #4. I use Vodafone 3g dongle and it's a very useful backup or mobile facility. But it depends on your location - out of good 3g coverage you wouldn't want to trade with it unless you have a Warren Buffet-type of time-horizon!

For less then £15 / month the Vodafone with 3Gb download limit has been fine. Combine this with a Windows netbook and you've got a reasonable mobile solution.

 

[Vaco]

i live in london and have run it it with no problems,

I bought it when i first moved in to my new house and the builders were in, i do now have a fixed cable line so only use it as a back up as well.

if your trading style does not require you to be in front of the screen all day and you want it just to look at the charts and place orders periodically then its fine.