The best public broadband network: BT, O2 or The Cloud

We took to the streets to find out just how useful is public Wi-Fi. We paired up with our friends at Broadband Genie and signed up to the three major public Wi-Fi networks: BT Wi-fi, O2 and The Cloud. Armed only with a laptop, we sent five testers on to the streets of London, setting them a series of timed web-based challenges, each to be completed at the same time in the same place. For the full story read: How good is public Wi-Fi? We test The Cloud, BT and O2 to find out if you really need 3G or 4G connectivity.

The five contenders included three testers who were allowed only to use their chosen public Wi-Fi network, BT Wi-fi, O2 or The Cloud. We also had a wildcard tester who was signed up to no accounts, but able to use any public Wi-Fi network that didn’t require direct payment. As a control we had one tester using 3G, with a dongle from Three.

This was not a scientific test. To an extent it required ingenuity and flexibility on the part of the individual tester. Consider this more of an anecdotal piece: in part we wanted to test just how much thought was required to find a usable connection. The user experience is an important part of all consumer tech, after all.

Our nine tests took us all over London, and involved tasks as varied as streaming video, finding turn-by-turn navigation and download image files. So how did we get on?

How good is BT public Wi-Fi

In general our BT tester thought connectivity was okay, but the user experience wasn't great.

We weren’t impressed with the apps – the hotspot map wasn’t very good, for instance. And, on a laptop, it seemed as though you couldn’t go back to BT page if you’d already been there but failed to login. It would open the first time you opened the browser, but if you didn’t sign in and restarted the browser it disappeared.

Our BT tester found he had to log in too many times, and there were too many different networks to choose from. He thought it should be much simpler. But crucially he could get online almost every time.

How good it O2 public Wi-Fi

O2 Wi-Fi was generally good. Setup online was easy, but adding a laptop as a second device proved a pain. From then on, when in range both our tester's smartphone and laptop connected to networks and the performance was great, just like being at home.

Coverage was consistently good in London, although when you’re not near a hotspot the smartphone app and mobile data is required to find one.

How good  is The Cloud public Wi-Fi

Since The Cloud boasts of thousands of hotspots around the country. Frequently, though, it seemed that major areas were bereft of connectivity, even when other networks were available.

The Cloud generally was nearby, but this almost always involved walking to a café or restaurant. That’s fine if it’s not raining and you can stand outside, or get away with sitting in there while checking your email, but not many restaurants will let you take up a seat without paying for something.

The Cloud smartphone app proved useful for quickly locating hotspots and seemed generally accurate. One oddity of The Cloud network highlighted by the app is the clustering of the connections – you can walk for ages and not find anything, then there will be three or four in a very small area, often in adjoining coffee shops. It would be more useful if they were spread out, although it does mean that if the place you’re in is very busy you can try next door’s connection.

All devices should be registered with The Cloud ahead of time as this part of the process can be painful on a busy connection. The device-management screen can take a little while to load up and behaved strangely when the link was slow. Once that was done, though, both smartphone and laptop instantly latched on to the hotspots instantly without any further fuss. See also: The UK's best mobile networks revealed: mobile broadband group test.

source: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/videos/3490222/whats-the-best-public-broadband-network-bt-o2-or-the-cloud/