3G or not to 3G?

How dumb is this?
I’m in the market for a new mobile phone and a new contract. I’m a mobile data user (for example, this blog is written mostly on the move), so I’m considering going to a 3G phone and network. 3G is a high speed mobile data network, largely touted for mobile video calling. I don’t know anyone with a video phone, but I would like high speed, cheap data. If I could browse the web more easily on my laptop or PDA, I can make use of online science databases, like PubMed, and work more effectively on the move. This would make commuting slightly less of a pain in the ass.
So, what are my options? Mostly Vodafone, Orange and Three. Now, Three were the first to setup a 3G network, so I thought it would be worth rewarding them for this. Speaking to them on the phone though, I find out that although they have a high speed data network, you can’t actually send and receive any old data over it. Bear with me.
You can use video calling (if you have a mate also on a 3G video phone), you can download ringtones (oh, great), video clips (why?), and get various flavours of news and information (which you can do on a bog standard non-3G network). You can also send and receive bucket loads of emails, if that’s your bag, but you cannot connect a PDA or a laptop and browse the internet. You cannot access the huge source of information that the world relies on day to day. What’s that all about? With Orange’s 3G service you can access anything you like (they act as your internet service provider), and their current offer means you can transfer 1GB of data a month for 3 months. That’s a lot of internet use!
What the hell are you doing, Three? What use are you to anyone over the age of 18? I guess I’ll be buying a new contract from Orange. Check out the new Sony Ericsson.