Mobile broadband, also known as ‘High Speed Down Link Packet Access’ (HSDPA) allows you connect your laptop or your computer to the internet wherever you are. It works using either a small portable USB modem, or a data card which stays in the computer all the time.
Mobile Broadband is forecast to become the dominant broadband platform by 2011 according to Informa Telecoms & Media.
USB modem:
Portable USB modems or ‘modem dongles’ are compatible with the majority of home computer equipment (both PCs and Apple Macs), and conveniently dispense with lots of wiring and mess. You just plug it into the USB port of your computer and away you go.
At the moment you can get a standalone USB modem from the internet from many household named manufacturers (Sony, Belkin, Samsung), but it’s often easier to get the product through your chosen service provider: in the UK this includes 3 mobile and T-mobile (courtesy of the Carphone Warehouse), Vodafone and O2. Once you sign up to the package many providers throw in the USB dongle free of charge. However, if you think that you would like to access your mobile internet on a pay-as-you-go basis with no lengthy contract to abide by, most providers will ask you to pay for your USB modem up-front.
There are two common types of USB modems - the USB stick and a USB modem, generally the USB sticks offer faster download times.
Data Card:
Data Cards are compatible with PCs and now some newer Macs as well. Data cards allow you to slide the sim card from your network provider into a bay on the side of the card - which can then be slotted into your laptop. Newer generation laptops come with a specially designed plug for this, but the data cards come with an adapter for use on older PCs. Data Cards are becoming less common place in favour of USB dongles.
When you initiate your mobile broadband dongle sometimes it does take a little while to find a signal. However, this is a better alternative if you have had problems signing up to broadband due to your location from the telephone exchange. You may find that speeds vary according to your location, just like reception can change on your mobile phone depending on where you are, so those in large blocks of flats may find their speed is a lot slower due to possible poor reception.
Hi
Does anyone know if this mobile modem will work in Spain??? Thanks in advance!
USB or a Data Card?
I’m going to go for the USB card and this is the reason:-
You are on the move so you can use the USB card to get on line.
At home you can plug the USB into a desktop computer and use that to gain access to the Internet should your normal broadband service becomes faulty.
what’s better data card or usb dongle?
We have 4 laptops in house-can you buy one dongle and the rest of the laptops pick up wireless signal from that one dongle? cheers andy
@andy
The laptop with the USB dongle in it can be setup to share internet access (via ethernet or a wireless network if you have it) with the other laptops (using Microsoft’s ICS or Internet Connection Sharing software built into their networking config, for example).
The dongle itself is NOT a wifi network interface, it’s your interface to the mobile phone networks, so other computers can’t latch on to its signals/protocols directly.
Just route through to it via the network already estabilished between those machines.