Bargain mobile email packages launched by 3

Two pounds fifty a month

Can it last?

It's either a high risk, spectaular marketing coup. Or it's.... I don't know what it is

Act now, before they sober up
For just �2.50 a month you can get access to all your personal email on your mobile, attachments and all!.

Is this one of those fly-by-night offers that gets you hooked, then turns you into the dealer’s bitch until you can cure your addiction?

Possibly not. It’s brought to you by 3, the UK 3G operator that made mobile broadband affordable a year ago today with its £10 Pay-as-you-go tariff. Now they want to repeat the trick with mobile email and surfing, according to telecoms guru Tony Dennis.

The service is handset based which is probably why the company can offer the attachment facility. Dennis argues that once 3G dongle owners are offered the same service they'll sign up in their droves. Gone are the days of worrying over the monthly megabyte bill.

Talking of megabytes, the price includes 10 MB of web surfing, too. Plus there's a £5 per month version aimed at business users which will enable them to access corporate email.

The list of mail servers apparently includes both Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes and for the money they also get 1 GB of web browsing.

The service starts on September 10th. The offer appears to cover regular POP3 mailboxes not just a 3 mailbox but it is currently restricted to handsets.

But what if you to put the SIM from such a handset inside a 3G dongle? Would it work?