o2 Phone as Modem – Elf Knows It [ARCHIVED]

Con asked a question in the forum:

Hi Mark,
I was considering moving from meteor ready-to-go to o2 bill pay and getting a new hsdpa phone (my current target is the Nokia 5800) so I could use the phone both as a internet surfing device and as a mobile broadband modem (with a laptop).  However, when I made enquiries at an o2 outlet as to the feasability of this approach they were very negative about it, saying that my internet connection would be much slower for a laptop than if I got a seperate dongle style modem. 
I’d like to hear more about your own experience and what you think of these objections that the o2 sales staff were making.
Thanks,
Con

You can read the rest of the answer here: http://elfknowsit.com/forum/o2-phone-modem