Three Takes Gold in Broadband Genie Road Trip Awards 2012

CAMBRIDGE, England, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Mobile network Three is the proud winner of the Broadband Genie Road Trip award 2012. This coveted prize is awarded to the network which provides the best mobile broadband experience on the move.

The Broadband Genie Road Trip, now in its fourth year, was created to find out how mobile broadband actually performs in real-world conditions. Broadband Genie took six dongles on a 250 mile round trip by rail from Cambridge to Exeter, pitting them head to head in a series of challenges along the route which saw Three come out on top.

For the 2012 Road Trip Broadband Genie tested dongles from O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange, Virgin and Three. The challenges included speed tests using Broadband Genie's own speed test tool, file downloads from the BBC and Download.com, streaming high-definition video from YouTube and Vimeo, and music from Spotify. The dongles were not only judged on pure speed but the stability and coverage offered by each network and quality of the dongle and software.

Mark Brewer, head of mobile broadband devices at Three said: "We're thrilled Three's premium dongle took out this unique Broadband Genie challenge. The premium dongle boasts network speeds of up to 40% faster than its competitors, making it the perfect companion for road trips."

In addition to Three's win, Broadband Genie also gave Road Trip Recommended awards to T-Mobile and Vodafone which both showed a strong performance, providing a steady connection which allowed them to complete a large number of the challenges and demonstrating impressive speed in downloading, uploading and speed tests. A T-Mobile spokesperson said "We plan to invest over £1.5bn in the next three years to further improve our network and introduce fast 4G LTE mobile broadband services."

Broadband Genie editor Matt Powell said "The Broadband Genie Road Trip is about real results, not ideal conditions or laboratory testing. Consumers have certain expectations of how mobile broadband should perform and our aim is to show which providers best fulfil that promise. Three was the clear winner for the second year in a row, completing more tests than any other network with excellent speeds across the board."

Links to details of the results and award images:
Winners
Analysis

Previous Road Trip winners: 2011 - Three; 2010 - T-Mobile; 2009 - Virgin Mobile.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Broadband Genie is the UK's leading independent broadband, mobile broadband and smartphone comparison website, providing consumers with an unbiased source of information on prices and contracts and allowing them to compare providers in an independent environment. Broadband Genie was launched in March 2004 as the first dedicated consumer comparison site for broadband, while Mobile Broadband Genie was the first independent mobile broadband comparison site, launched in October 2007. The sites were combined in 2010, with the addition of smartphone comparison. The site is one of the most popular in its field, regularly featuring in the national press. http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk

2. All queries and interview requests should be directed to Matt Powell at Broadband Genie: matt.powell@genieventures.co.uk