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Mobile Broadband in a nutshell …. but is it right for me?

Are you keen on accessing the internet whilst on the go? Do you want internet access without a landline? Do you want to use a truly portable device without a tangle of wires?

What is it? Mobile broadband is basically what it states on the tin. Internet broadband which is mobile. It is also known as mobile internet broadband, wireless internet broadband, 3G mobile broadband or mobile broadband services. Mobile broadband technology uses 3G technology of mobile broadband networks on existing mobile phone networks to connect your PC to the internet, hence it is currently being provided by mobile phone providers. You can even use it abroad, but as with roaming mobile phones, the charges can be fairly high, in fact some providers now request you contact them before you go abroad to arrange your access in order that you don’t unwittingly run up high bills when away.

Will it work anywhere? This then gives you total freedom to use your laptop whenever you want, wherever you want, provided you can receive a mobile broadband 3G phone signal. You can check if your street has a good signal by logging on to the mobile phone providers websites to see if there is a mast in your area. The closer you are to the mast the quicker your connection will be. If you cannot access the 3G mobile broadband technology then it will revert to the 2G service. However, like mobile phone coverage, if you live out in very rural areas then you might find the service patchy. You really need to check first.

What do I need to get? The hardware you need is a modem either called a broadband stick, a mobile dongle or a wireless USB or more recently a data card (they all do the same thing) which you plug into the USB port of your laptop or computer. You don’t need to install any software onto your PC if the modem comes with software embedded into it. If it does need software installed it will automatically install when you plug it in for the first time So, just plug in click connect! When you are finished just unplug or click disconnect. What could be easier? Once connected you can personalise your settings to restrict either data download or set a time limit for time access, its up to you. You can also allow a pin code for access to the internet.

Connectivity speed and data download allowance. How fast do you want pages to appear? This is called your internet connectivity speed. Mobile broadband currently gives you internet access speeds from 3.6Mb up to 7.2Mbs.

How many pages do you need to access and what type of pages do you need to see? This is called your download allowance. i.e every web page you open you are downloading data, each email you receive you are downloading data and this is the same for each song or video etc.

You get a monthly download allowance which starts at 1Gb up to 15Gb. The following is an approximate guideline of what you can do with certain allowances. 1Gb of data lets you send 650 emails (plain text) and surf the net for 30 hours, download 30 x 2min videos and 60 music files. 3Gb is equivalent to roughly 2,000 emails, 100 hours, 100 videos and 200 music tracks and 7Gb is 4,500 emails, 200 hours, 200 videos and 400 music tracks respectively. However, these limits are definitely set to increase as technology advances.

What type of packages are there and who should I get it from? Which mobile broadband tariff or mobile broadband service should you use? Well, you can choose pay as you go packages on a rolling one month contract or you can sign up for a 12, 18 or 24 month contract from wireless mobile network providers. Basically it’s a similar deal as with a mobile phone. The more you want in a package, the more its going to cost. The yearly or more packages average out at approximately £12 pm, some even offer ‘free’ laptops as an incentive, but be careful that the cost of this is not incorporated into your monthly payments. Check the deal really is competitive as it might really be cheaper to go out and buy a laptop!

As a general guide most mobile broadband providers offer three user levels. The most recent package from 3, a forerunner in mobile internet provision, is a Lite, a Plus and a Max. At the present time these range from £10 a month for 1Gb of download up to £25 a month for 7Gb of download. These are for 12 month contracts. For 18 month contracts the higher download data sized packages are reduced in price. But as with everything, read the small print as usually the more they give you the longer you are contracted for or the more you pay! Also check the charges if you go over your download limit as this will be your biggest expense out of your contracted cost.

For pay as you go mobile broadband from mobile service providers you pay a one off fee for the modem and then pay as you go for data download. This amounts to paying approximately £50 for the modem and the packages once again are vary from around £10, £15 and £25 for 1Gb, 3Gb and 7Gb respectively per 30 days.

You can also get starter kits where you pay for everthing up front including the modem. There is a maximum download amount and a maximum flexible amount of time for you to use this in and so it differs from the pay as you go mobile internet broadband. i.e. The 3Gb broadband starter kit is 3Gb of download which is valid for up to 3 months and currently costs in the region of £70. The 12Gb starter kit is 12Gb of download valid for 12 months and costs approximately £100 and the 24Gb starter kit is 24Gb of download valid for up to 24 months and costs approximately £250. These obviously have the benefit of nothing else to pay so make ideal presents.

So if you are a casual user of the internet, using it to access your favourite sites and to email friends then the cheapest package of mobile internet broadband definitely could be for you and it may be worth checking out the options out there. However, if you are a heavy internet who needs greater bandwidth and total connection reliability then home broadband would probably still be your best option at present, but watch this space as things are developing quickly.

What’s next? This technology is relatively new in the UK and various packages are available at the moment, so always use a product comparison site to compare the products and packages available. To ascertain if mobile broadband is for you the most important factors to consider are connection speed, download and usage limits in relation to what type of contract best suits you. Current suppliers of mobile broadband are 3, O2, Vodafone, Orange, Virgin Mobile and T Mobile. However, great advances are going to be made with mobile broadband in the future so it might not be a good idea to tie yourself into a long contract at the moment. Analysts are even predicting that by 2010 mobile broadband will even outperform home, fixed-line broadband.