3's Shared Mobile Broadband for business under the microscope

3's just-released Shared Mobile Broadband Plans address one of the more obvious problems with trying to make mobile broadband a reality in the workplace: the wildly varying download habits of different employees, and the changing usage patterns mobile broadband typically creates.

The concept is fairly straightforward: if plans are shared across a business, then the combined download allowance of all those plans can be used by any staff members. If you have six employees each on a 3GB monthly cap, then it doesn't matter if one employee uses 8GB in the month and the others each use around 2GB -- you'll still be under the 18GB total available for all users. This in effect provides a way of getting cheaper data rates than 3's normal 10 cents/megabyte excess charge for high-volume users.

The option requires signing up for a 24-month contract, and will be available at $29 a month for 3GB or $39 a month for 6GB. The $29 plan also adds a $5 a month modem cost, while the modem is free on the $39 deal. 3 launched a similar business shared cap for voice calls in November 2007.

As with most mobile broadband plans, you'll get maximum value if you know what usage patterns individuals have, but in many cases the shared approach will work out rather cheaper. To revisit our example: using a shared plan, you'd be paying $204 a month for broadband. If you put the data glutton on a standalone 7GB plan ($49 a month) and the other five on 2GB plans ($29 a month), you'll get 17GB for a marginally cheaper $194. However, adding an additional gigabyte of data (to match the original 18GB total) will cost an additional $102.40 at 3's standard rate, and is considerably less flexible.

One potential disadvantage of the plans is 3's near-invisibility outside capital cities. Using mobile broadband via GPRS outside its coverage areas incurs hefty download charges (currently $1.65 a megabyte). 3 has promised to expand its network over the next year, and has signed a network-sharing agreement with Telstra that should give its customers access to the much more extensive Next G network in 2009, but pricing for that service isn't yet public.

Vodafone offers a similar shared service, though unlike 3's it has to be taken up in conjunction with an existing business phone account. It's also slightly more expensive at $24.95 for 1GB a month, $34.95 for 2GB a month or $39.95 for 5GB a month.