Mobile phones companies are desperate to get us to do more than talk and text.

They bet the farm on 3G services in 2000 – expecting us to rush to sign up for video calling and music downloads. But we proved sceptical – we loved our mobiles but saw little reason to embrace vision and data on our handsets. 

Things are starting to change. Mobile network 3 claimed to be a major influence behind Gnarls Barclay’s success as the first artist to get to number one on the strength of downloads alone.

But mobile firms need to get their act together. I’ve tried to use GPRS on my Vodafone mobile for months. Every time I’ve got the message: "GPRS connection not available". I’ve lost count of the number of Vodafone people I’ve spoken to in the hope of sorting the problem. Finally, today I was told I’m on a price plan that doesn’t offer GPRS. How could everyone else miss something that obvious?

No wonder Vodafone is in turmoil! Let’s hope new chairman Sir John Bond can bring some sanity to the company.