3G shunned

The Guardian reports that Vodafone is struggling to attract phone owners in Britain to 3G. According to sources in the phone trade, Voda has pulled in fewer than 200,000 customers to the all-singing, all-dancing multimedia extravaganza. Many of those apparently were existing users whose tie-in contracts were expiring and presumably were just rolled over onto 3G on the same tariff.

No one, except maybe the network itself, should be surprised given the cost of the services and their general unreliability. Vodafone UK refuses to confirm the figures and, from past experience with their Irish counterparts, it would be pointless to ask how 3G is performing this side of the Irish Sea.