Mobile broadband joins the pick'n'mix

As if proof were needed that mobile broadband has now flown the enterprise-only coop, news arrives that pre-pay HSDPA dongles are being sold in Woolworths. Argos and Tesco are reportedly set to follow suit.

I remain unconvinced that mobile broadband will become more prevalent than fixed-line by 2010, but it seems clear that it's becoming very widespread, very quickly. It'll be interesting to see what impact this has on operators' networks, and on those business customers who had a certain quality of service when it was a business-only proposition, but now find themselves sharing bandwidth with, well, lots of consumers - especially if "netbooks" like the Eee take off like we think they will.