Student Guide to Mobile Broadband

What is mobile broadband? How does it work? And why should we care?

Well, mobile broadband is a way of connecting to the internet which is a great option for students, who are often on the move.

You don’t have to pay line rental and you can connect wherever you are, providing you have coverage in the area you’re in.

It works by connecting you to the internet using via a USB dongle or data-card, which you purchase from a mobile broadband supplier and plug into your laptop – and away you go.

Sound easy? It really is.

First let's get the jargon out of the way.

You'll sometimes hear mobile broadband referred to as 3G - that's the service that allows fast mobile broadband connections, anywhere you go.

You might also hear talk about WiFi, but that's a different service, and requires you to find a hotspot like a WiFi cafe or bar, in order to connect.

The dongle we've already mentioned - it's like a USB memory stick, but it has the connectivity to get you online, and it's just plug and play.

And a data-card is the alternative version of this, which slots into your computer instead of sticking into a USB port.

So how do you get connected?

Well, the first thing you have to do is decide what sort of deal is right for you.

Will you be using the connection a lot? Do you want the freedom of pay-as-you-go, or the inclusive pricing of a contract?

The good news is, you don't have to trawl round shops or the internet to find out who's offering the best deal - you can just use a comparison website such as Mobile Broadband Genie.

They've collected all the information on the latest deals, including the freebies and giveaways added by the suppliers to encourage you to go for their service - up to and including a free laptop!

There are currently six main mobile broadband suppliers in the UK, which, not by coincidence are some of the big mobile phone network operators.

That is: 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin and Vodafone.

And there are some great deals on offer from all of them.

For example, 3 is currently offering a free HP550 laptop with its £30 per month 24 month contract; or if you already have a laptop they have Broadband Lite for just a tenner a month (18 month contract) - and everything in between.

O2, on the other hand, are currently offering a free Sony Ericsson T280i with some of their contracts - so that's well worth a look.

The small print - what to watch out for

There are a few things to watch out for when deciding on mobile broadband.

Firstly, coverage. Just like your mobile phone goes into coverage black holes, so does mobile broadband.

Check before you buy that you don't live in one. Then there's speed. Headline speeds can be attention grabbing, but no-one's going to offer you a guarantee that you'll actually get that speed of connection.

Then there's length of contract - long contracts often mean better deals, but it does mean you can't shop around later; and data allowance, which can have some pretty expensive penalties if you exceed them.

But again, a site like Mobile Broadband Genie will help you with all this - read the info, use the coverage checker and read the reviews - you should be able to get a pretty good picture.

So, get mobile broadband and get connected. It's as easy as that.