The "general packet radio service" - recently started by Bristol-based Orange - is everything WAP should have been when it launched a few years ago.

GPRS uses clever new technology to squeeze more speed out of the traditional mobile network.

Usually connection speeds are a measly 9.6KBps but GPRS can achieve theoretical speeds of around 170KBps.

Don't get excited, though. With current GPRS handsets and networks the speeds are much lower than that.

Quick connections

But does it actually all work in practice?

Being the technical gods we are at the BBC Bristol website, we have one of the first GPRS handsets commercially available on the Orange network - the Ericsson T68.

The service connected very quickly showing Orange's WAP homepage.

One of the great things you can do with the T68, is download custom backgrounds over WAP.

Hype aside, the one thing GPRS does do is make WAP bearable - and even usable.

With the T68 you have got a pleasant-to-use colour screen, and there's no more waiting and no more connection failures.

In short, it works.

It is especially useful for extended periods of use - since you now only have to pay for what you download, not the amount of time you spend online. Effectively, it's an 'always on' connection.

This is great for one of BBC Bristol's favourite uses for WAP - football matches.

The system worked remarkably well, and took away the frustration of having to connect.

When you look around at other people at the footy cursing at their mobiles as they try to get the latest scores, you can see the advantage of the system.

Bandwidth allocation

There are a few downsides and minor gripes with the system

You are not guaranteed any download speed, but you are allocated bandwidth depending on how many other people are using the network at the same time.

We found the speed was more like around 15KBps - although it does vary from one minute to the next.

You certainly notice those varying speeds when you connect your GPRS phone to a PC.

The speed does vary, and sometimes pages can see to take an eternity to appear.

The cost of the system also varies depending on how much you want to use it.

How much does it cost?

The basic package, half a megabyte of downloads a month, starts at £5. But if you go over your allocation, the prices can sting a little.

If you are intending to use GPRS for heavy computer use, then I would advise the HSCSD system (another high speed data service) instead.

For casual wap browsing, and collection of e-mail (which the T68 has an in-build mail client) I simply cannot fault it.

Both Vodafone and BT Cellnet (MM02) also operate GPRS services.

Chris Kelly