Ian Morris

Wednesday 29 August 2007, 1:22pm

TV on a phone is rubbish, and a waste of money

I'll admit it, when I first got a 3G phone, I signed up to Vodafone's trial of the Sky via mobile service. I was intrigued by it and wanted to see if it was possible to derive any enjoyment from watching TV on such a small screen, at a bit rate so low it would almost shame some of the cheaper Sky channels.

Mobile TV was everything I expected. Namely, it was a bag of cack, sitting in a barrel of excrement floating in a sea of detritus. Where I was living at the time, 3G coverage was patchy, so it wasn't really possible to watch there -- not that I needed to -- and at work I was, well, working. That left the train. And anyone who has used a phone on a train will probably tell you it isn't the most reliable experience in the world.

Now I've discovered that T-Mobile has launched a new mobile TV service. However, instead of the £5 the Sky on Vodafone service cost, it's possible to spend a great deal more on T-Mobile. For a start, there's a sports package that costs £5 a month. But there is also an entertainment package at £5 a month, and a music package for another £5 a month.

By my calculation, and I'm no maths genius, that's £15 a month on top of your phone bill -- which to get a good phone is bound to be £35 a month. If you are a football fan, might I suggest you get a Slingbox and an unlimited data plan and stream TV from your Sky box at home? It's a far better all-round experience, plus you get more channels that way. If you must.

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