The Whole Truth

Perhaps one of the fastest growing ‘next big things’ in this country right now is Mobile Broadband. TV adverts are full of deals comprising of unlimited GB allowance and free Netbooks. Perhaps some of these adverts may have tempted you…

Many people however ignore the critical first steps whilst choosing a package, these are the same people who then seen to miss out on the best deals that are available to them.

Very Web Blog have put together an excellent sort of how to guide to help choose the best package for you.

Network Coverage The area covered by the signal of your mobile broadband provider is know as coverage and this determines the accessibility of their service in any given area. If a provider doesn’t have coverage for the area you want to use mobile broadband in, you won’t be able to connect and access the internet.

Fortunately, over 99% of the UK has some level of coverage, so there’s little chance that you’ll have no connection at all. However, not all areas have the necessary coverage for true broadband internet speeds, so check that a provider has 3G or HSDPA coverage (as opposed to just 2G) for your area.

Data Mobile broadband usage is measured not by time – like mobile phone calls are – but by data transfer, which refers to the amount of data that you transfer via your mobile broadband connection. Data allowance is the amount of data transfer that is included with your monthly contract, or your pay-as-you-go credit. Some providers may refer to this as ‘download limit’ or ‘data limit’.

Much of the time that you’re using the internet you will be transferring data. If you’re uploading photos or sending emails, you’re uploading data. If you’re browsing the web or watching a video, you’re downloading data this all counts as data transfer. If you’re just reading a web page like this one, with no video or anything playing on it, you’re usually not using your data allowance, as no data is being transferred.

Cost Much like with mobile phones, there are two different ways to get mobile broadband. There are contract payment plans, for which you pay a set monthly fee and receive a set amount of monthly data allowance – there’s usually a per megabyte charge if you use more than your allowance. The other option is a Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband plan. This works in just the same way as it does for mobile phones – you buy top-up credit which allows a certain amount of data transfer (with most providers this credit expires after a certain amount of time).

Comparison Sites are generally the best way of checking before you decided to purchase. I am all for taking out a device with every network and trying out the signal for roughly 3 days before deciding and returning the device’s which don’t give the desired speeds back to the store.