Remember video calling and live mobile television? When mobile phone networks paid £22.5 billion for the rights to 3G phone frequencies back in 2000 we were promised a future of smooth video chat and high-resolution TV broadcasts on powerful new phones. And that was when £22.5 billion was worth something.

Instead we’ve suffered eight years of grainy, jerky video calls, sluggish downloads and 3G connections that fade the minute you leave a city centre. So should we get excited by the long-overdue upgrade to the UK’s mobile network now being rolled out? Perhaps. The upgrade, called HSDPA by geeks (high-speed downlink packet access) and “3G plus”, “3G broadband” or “3.5G” by the networks, delivers mobile internet access at speeds approaching home broadband.

In practice it means video calls of acceptable quality are possible for the first time, as is watching live broadcast TV on your phone via the internet. Those aren’t the only benefits either: the quality of conventional voice calls improves, web pages and e-mails load faster and users can enjoy streaming live music direct to their phones.

Britain’s big five networks – Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile, O2 and Orange – currently offer HSDPA in major cities and promise that 90% of the population will be covered by the end of the year. Already the must-have accessory for the nation’s laptop warriors is an HSDPA modem allowing them to surf and e-mail on the move without being tied to a wireless hotspot. However, the success of HSDPA will depend on a new generation of high-powered – and probably high-priced – handsets.

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Imagine the sighs of relief in the industry, then, when we bought more than 1m of the UK’s first mainstream HSDPA-capable mobile phone, the Nokia N95 8GB, last year. This year the Motorola Z10, LG Viewty and Sony Ericsson W980 have followed in the N95’s wake. Almost all HSDPA handsets have front-mounted cameras, allowing you to make video calls.

Sadly, Apple’s 3G contribution, the revamped iPhone that could have kick-started the video-phone revolution, doesn’t have a camera on the front (see Test Bench review pages 16-17), which is odd, when many Apple computers come with a front-facing camera for use with its iChat video-calling software.

A few other things must change before we all start video-phoning as they do in Tokyo. First, the networks need to include video calls in free-minutes deals. Second, we have to put away our natural British reserve and get used to the idea of holding a phone out in front of us.

Mobile television should gain acceptance more quickly. HSDPA offers such a fast internet connection that users should be able to log on to TV streaming services and enjoy live footie action or reality shows while out and about. The necessary software is limited for now to a handful of phones, but it’s likely to become widespread as HSDPA gains in popularity.

There is a fly in the ointment, though: the broadband speeds enjoyed by early HSDPA users will slow as more subscribers share a signal. The problem is that 3G “just isn’t a good enough data network”, says Graham Currier, business development director at Pipex, the broadband provider. “Even HSDPA is still a data overlay on a voice network.”

Just a minute. Slow downloads? Network problems? You guessed it: someone is about to suggest a newer, faster mobile technology still – and unsurprisingly wants to call it 4G.

It’s early days for 4G, however, and several rival systems are competing for recognition. More important, the frequencies for 4G services have yet to be sold off by the government, because of delaying tactics from the existing network giants.

After having their fingers burnt in the original 3G auctions, the networks finally see a chance to get some of their money back, by persuading us that super-fast mobile web surfing, pristine video calling and mobile TV are just what we’ve always wanted. That may or may not be true, but at least this time round there’s a chance the services may actually work.

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