Update: how was your Christmas for mobile data access?

At the beginning of December, I wrote a piece about the different perspectives on Christmas that people may have, based on whether they are retailers, network operators, or customers.

My view on the customer side of things was that if you are getting a nice new smartphone (for example) in your stocking this year, then you wouldn’t be alone (!), and consequently the very peaky rise in data that we see each year would be especially high this year. I’ve seen a few anecdotal reports that suggest there have been some network problems, but nothing stating out and out that networks were failing catastropically.

Having worked for Mobile Network Operators, and actually having been on support over the Xmas/New year period too (!), it never ceased to amaze me how the power that be didn’t better prepare for what they new was going to happen each year. Previously, it was the inability of the SMSCs to handle rising numbers of text messages, but now that focus has moved somewhat to mobile data – basically, can you get on the network with a data connection, and use it at a meaningful speed.

There’s no point in me commenting on things from a home perspective, since my data access is always terrible – I live on an EDGE/3G border (3G is always dropping out, forcing handset to go to EDGE), and as such my iPhone is always hopping between the two – slowly! But I was wondering, how did IntoMobile readers find things on Christmas Day, and now, around the New Year?

Related News from IntoMobile:

• Will there be a new network menace this Christmas?
• Is it going to be a Merry iPhone Christmas in the UK?
• Evolved EDGE: No operator supports it, but should they?
• RIM BlackBerry Javelin – BlackBerry Bold styling, EDGE data speeds
• iPhone Tethering: mine is pretty slow, how’s yours?