The REAL figures...

UMTS I have gotten 300k average (Motorola e770V as data modem)
384 theo MAX

HDSPA 800k average (Vodem, no optimiser)
3.6MBIT theo MAX

EVDO 650k average (sierra data card, Harrier PocketPC as Wmodem)
2.4 theo MAX

GPRS 32Kbps (i-mate PocketPC Tested 2006)
43k Theo MAX
(managed to stream a 32Kbps radio stream for 3 minutes before buffering)

EVDO Rev-a, (not tested)

The Telecom EVDO has better coverage, often pocketing much further than the maps suggest and better building penetration and better suited to mobile applications. The backup network is about 80Kbps.

but... your choices of devices (two datacards and all the PDA's IE: Harrier, apache, Treo, Falcon, Triton) and roaming is seriously limted, you cannot swap simcard and WAP usage is NOT included.

Vodafone 's offering is loaded to the simcard and can be shared about many devices and includes ALL data usage.
almost all handsets offer good data support via cable and data devices are chaper and much more plentiful.
Roaming is also straightforward and available in many contries in the world seamlessly, ($10 to $30 per MEGABYTE)

But.. the "backup" is GPRS which is very slow (34Kbit) and it performs not the hottest in rural/building coverage, it also quite often drops down to GPRS whilst moving.




Mods, Feel free to lock this up, the other thread was locked bethwen me replying.

[Moderator edit (bradstewart): Fixed title (/me slaps paradoxsm with a spell checker) and no locking here. Keep it above the belt all]