3G - Is it worth it?

Thinking of upgrading my phone and I see Vodafone are pushing 3G Services.
Anyone out there got it / tried it? Is it worth getting or just another gimmick to part Joe Public from his hard - earned sheckles??

From what I've heard the 3g network in the Republic is not yet up to scratch and the networks are blaming the handsets... Better to wait six months before taking the leap.

Looking at the 3G coverage map for Vodafone [broken link removed] it has very limited coverage at the moment (and probably for quite a bit into the future also). So if you want access to the full 3G "experience" all the time, you may want to check out the coverage in your area.

Looking at the 3G coverage map for Vodafone here it has very limited coverage at the moment (and probably for quite a bit into the future also). So if you want access to the full 3G "experience" all the time, you may want to check out the coverage in your area.

I have the Sony Ericsson Vodafone branded V800 and it is quite cool.

You can switch it to 2G only if you are in an area with no coverage.

I have used the video calling in the city centre and it works well enough.

I use the 1.3mp digital camera on holidays and was able to print out the pictures with reasonable quality.

Check out ZDnet's review of this phone and of Vodafone's 3G service in the UK [broken link removed].

You can switch it to 2G only if you are in an area with no coverage

Click to expand...

Which seems to be about 95% of the country at the moment? My point is that 3G is at present best suited to city/urban dwellers rather than those in rural locations, if you want the full benefit of it ie. higher data rates.
On the subject of data rates, have you used it much for data transfer, and if so, what sort of speeds are you getting, and does it vary much ie. reducing during peak times?

You can switch it to 2G only if you are in an area with no coverage

Click to expand...

Which seems to be about 95% of the country at the moment? My point is that 3G is at present best suited to city/urban dwellers rather than those in rural locations, if you want the full benefit of it ie. higher data rates.

Yes, it does seem to be best suited for city/urban locations, which is to be expected as 2 and 2.5G services were rolled out in the same way.

On the subject of data rates, have you used it much for data transfer, and if so, what sort of speeds are you getting, and does it vary much ie. reducing during peak times?

I have used Vodafone Live! to download video clips which has a typical download speed of 40 K / second.
Typically takes a minute to download a 2 meg file.

I suspect it will get faster as the network and services are optimised more.

As with GPRS, it can be tricky to get service at peak times.