O2 mobile-broadband pay as you go (brief review)

Desperate for some sort of broadband when I stay with my parents in Brighton (England), I bought a pay-as-you-go dongle from O2, which allows you to buy a day, week, or month's broadband. This uses the mobile-phone system, not wi fi, so I wasn't expecting much. The signal where I stay varies from low to good, and in the morning the speeds are just about tolerable provided all memories of a good wi fi connection are forgotten. By late afternoon we are well below my worst memories of dial-up Internet. Even a google text search may hang or take minutes; pages are often blank; and sometimes I get an error message. Much of the time gmail simply cannot see the server, which gives one an idea just how poor O2's service is.

O2 makes no promises, of course. But I do have a signal, so the problem seems to be one of bandwidth, which is clearly extremely limited. At present mobile broadband is primitive and only worth having because it's better than nothing.

If that's not damning with faint praise, I don't know what is!