What is Mobile Broadband

On this page I will try to give you a comprehensive understanding of what mobile broadband is and how you can use it. This page will be split into the following sections.

1. What is it?
2. Who supplies it?
3. What should I expect to pay?
4. Mobile Broadband Vs Home Broadband & Mobile Broadband Vs Wi-Fi
5. Are there any hidden costs, or things I should be aware of before signing up?
6. Can I use it abroad?
7. How hard is it to set up and use?
8. The technical jargon explained!

What is it?

Mobile broadband is fantastic for all the times you are away from home or the office and want to use the Internet. Whether you want to check your email, download some music, check out a new film’s trailer - whatever, with mobile broadband you can access the Internet and do these things away from your standard Internet connection.

Mobile broadband does not require you to be in a wi-fi zone or be able to plug into a land line phone. Mobile broadband is Internet access using the mobile phone network. Therefore you can access the Internet more or less anywhere that a mobile phone signal will get to. At the moment the top providers cover anywhere around 80-99% of the country.

When you are in more built up areas, chances are you will be connecting to the Internet via the 3G network. The 3G network can give you broadband speeds that are similar to your home broadband package.

To access mobile Internet you will generally use a modem or dongle. This is a USB stick (similar to a memory stick) that you can connect into your computer. The dongle has a SIM card in which accesses the Internet. Some mobile broadband suppliers offer deals where you can purchase a laptop with the plan. It is quite common for these laptops to have a built in Sim card.

Mobile broadband is accessible through a laptop or computer, as apposed to Internet broadband which is the general term for being able to access websites via your mobile phone.

Who supplies it?

The main mobile phone networks supply it. This includes Three, O2, Orange, Virgin Media, Vodafone and T-Mobile.

What should I expect to pay?

Depending on what sort of plan and contract length you go on will change the price. For pay monthly plans you should expect to pay from £10 to £40 a month depending on your data usage. Most mobile broadband plans come on either a 12, 18 or 24 month contract. The majority of pay monthly schemes will offer you a modem stick or dongle for free or an initial charge of up to around £50.

Most suppliers also offer a pay as you go scheme. With these schemes you will be expected to pay an initial fee for the modem stick or dongle. You will then pay up front for whatever usage you decide to use.

A few of the main suppliers at the moment are offering mobile broadband for £2 a day.

If you are expecting to be a frequent user of mobile broadband I would recommend signing up to a contract in preference to a pay as you go scheme. Be aware though, that the prices of mobile broadband is changing and if you opt to go for a longer contract, you may be kept paying a higher tariff even when mobile broadband becomes cheaper and more accessible.

Mobile Broadband Vs Home Broadband & Mobile Broadband Vs Wi-Fi
The alternatives to mobile broadband is home broadband, or using wi-fi hot spots. Home broadband is that which you use at home which you need a phone line for. Wi Fi hot spots are generally places where you can connect to the Internet for free. Pubs like the Wetherspoons and fast food joints like McDonalds are introducing wi-fi spots. There are companies which offer wi-fi hot spots in many major areas for a pay monthly fee.

I should start off by saying that mobile broadband probably isn’t at the stage of taking over from home broadband. Especially for heavy Internet users, as most mobile broadband plans do not offer the same download capacity as a standard home broadband connection. If you’re not a massive Internet user then mobile broadband may be a possibility. Virgin Media have a helpful calcuator to give you an idea of your usage. If you do go over your data usage limit you will be liable for what are generally, quite expensive data usage premiums. It really does pay to check what extra data usage costs when you over use.

The main disadvantage of home broadband is that you can only really use in the home, maybe in the garden and a little bit down your road if you have a wireless router. With mobile broadband you can use it in and around the home, at the park, at the seaside, when traveling on the train…as long as you can connect to a mobile phone network. Therefore, if you do a lot of traveling or are not always at home a mobile broadband connection may be suitable. A mobile broadband connection won’t compare against a home connection if you love downloading large files, streaming videos (such as using iPlayer), playing online games and so on.

The other main competitor to mobile broadband is the use of wi-fi hot spots. Depending on where you would use your mobile broadband, it may work out cheaper and easier to rely on wi fi hot spots. Wi fi hot spots are places where you can access the Internet through a wireless connection. It is important to point out that you cannot just use any unsecured wireless connection without permission! It is illegal just to sign into someone else’s wireless Internet connection without their permission. I mentioned before that the pub chain, Wetherspoons, offers free wireless Internet in all their pubs and McDonalds are introducing it in their restaurants. Some towns are introducing wi-fi hot spots, either as a paid service or for free.

If the main place you would use mobile broadband are in places that have wi-fi hot spots, I would and use them either for free or the fee they charge. This is because wi-fi hot spots will allow for a much faster Internet experience than mobile broadband.

Are there any hidden costs, or things I should be aware of before signing up?

The main thing to be aware of is over use charges. This is when you use more than you allocated amount of data usage in a month and you are charged for the additional data downloaded. Sometimes this can be quite high, so you either need to be aware of what the charges are or make sure you don’t over use on your plan. If you do start to over use, the best idea is to upgrade your account.

Another, very important thing to check is the provider’s coverage. Make sure that you can recieve the mobile broadband connection in the places you want to use it. Most companies have a part of their website where you can check coverage - otherwise phone them and ask about it!

Other than this, the other main things to do is to have a look around the large broadband supplier’s websites for the latest deals and offerings. Make sure you pick a contract length that is suitable for you. There is no point choosing a 24 month contract as it is the cheapest if you move abroad and cannot use your mobile broadband

Can I use it abroad?

Generally speaking yes, but in the same way that using your mobile phone costs more abroad, so does mobile broadband. There have been some shock stories of people using their mobile broadband abroad to download some TV shows and coming back with bills of up to £27,000.

Mobile broadband carrier, Three, now requires that customers phone them up before going abroad so that they can make them aware of the data charges. It is a good idea to check with your carrier about the costs involved of using mobile broadband abroad!

How hard is it to set up and use?

Mobile broadband is a lot easier to use than home broadband. Most of the dongles just require you to insert the Sim card into them, and insert the dongle into a USB slot in the computer. This makes it easy to swap your mobile broadband between a few computers.

The technical jargon explained!

Hopefully this article has been clear. If you’ve got any other questions feel free to leave a comment. Here are a few terms that can be a bit confusing.

Dongle / Modem stick - This is what you put into your computer to be able to receive the broadband connection.

Data card - Some companies will provide a data card. It does the same thing as a dongle/modem stick, other than it is built into the computer.

3G - This a type of mobile broadband connection which allows for fast downloads.

HDSPA - This stands for High Speed Downlink Packet Access…basically it allows you to download large files at a similar speed to your home broadband connection.

Still confused?

Leave a comment below and I’ll try to reply/I’m sure someone else might