Onspeed, the company that promises to boost dial-up and broadband Internet connections using its compression technology, has now turned its attention to the countless numbers of frustrated mobile Internet users who are struggling to access websites via their phones.

Onspeed Mobile follows the same premise as the original Onspeed service. When you request a website via the browser, it's sent direct to Onspeed's servers where it is then compressed and sent direct to your phone.

The application is less than 100KB in size and installation is painless. Once you've registered, all access to the Internet is performed using the Onspeed Mobile browser.

The end result is a dramatic increase in speed. Using a Nokia N70 with a 3G connection we had to wait just over one minute for the full PCW site to appear, which involved downloading 305KB of data.

With Onspeed, this was reduced to around 15 seconds and just a 44KB data transfer.

Images look a lot more compressed using Onspeed Mobile, but we suspect most mobile Internet users will be happy to sacrifice image quality for an increase in download speeds.

Using what is calls MSR (mobile screen reformatting) Onspeed Mobile will also detect what phone you're using and reformat web pages on the fly so they're readable even on small displays. Sadly, a landscape view option is not available.

Many sites (including PCW ) include long category lists that would normally sit down the left side of the page. Using a standard browser means you have to scroll through these before reaching the main content.

However, thanks to the Go To Text option in the settings menu, Onspeed Mobile can be set to skip past these lists and go straight to the first bulk section of text. Page Up/Down commands and the ability to turn images off or select a smaller font are also available.

The service can't handle elements such as Flash movies, so those sites that make heavy use of these will cause Onspeed Mobile a fair degree of trouble.

How well the reformatted page appears also varies depending on each individual website, but there's no doubt you have a far better chance of being able to read what's on a website with Onspeed Mobile than with most other standard browsers.

Onspeed makes it clear that all access to the Internet via Onspeed Mobile isn't secure - it's therefore not a good idea to use your credit card on sites accessed via the browser. Similarly, Internet banking is not recommended.

The service is compatible with most Java-enabled phones - Onspeed provides a complete list of compatible devices. It will also work with any type of Internet connection (GSM, GPRS etc).

It's a subscription-based service, but at just £19.99 per year it's really not that expensive. If you're frequently accessing the Internet user on your phone, you may well find that you actually save money due to the decrease in data downloads.

In short, Onspeed Mobile works extremely well. It has its limitations, such as its insecure nature, but if you're frequently using your mobile to access websites it's well worth giving the 14-day free trial a go.

System requirements:
Java compatible phone
GSM, GPRS, 3G, UMTS, Wifi connection
100KB application