Pay As You Go Broadband

Pay as you go mobile broadband is now half price! O2 broaband is now offering half-price mobile broadband on it pay and go broadband service. The offer is avaibable until midnight on the 17th November 2009.

The price of a pay as you go mobile broadband dongle with o2 is £14.67 for this limited time offer – that is a bargain!

• Pay as you go daily price = £2 for upto 500MB of downloads
• Pay as you go weekly price = £7.50 for upto 1GB of downloads
• Pay as you go monthly price = £15 for upto 3GB of downloads

Some users of the 3G mobile broadband dongle with a laptop have found that their browser seems unable to display any web pages at all.  What, if anything can be done?

The Problem

Although mobile phone networks market 3G data-connected dongles as ‘broadband’ they are usually slower than wired broadband. The speed of the 3G connection and its ability to load web pages is affected by your location and how busy the network is at any given time. 4Mps is needed for landline broadband and the speed of your 3G connection in built up areas will probably be between 1Mbps-2Mbps.

Only one month after Tesco announced record sales in pay as you go mobile broadband, sales appear to be slowing. Latest industry figures show that since students have gone back to university sales in mobile broadband have slowed down.

The whole broadband market had been following the growth of mobile broadband – it was deemed that mobile connections would replace fixed broadband connections (at the home of office). Business users in particular were lined up for taking up mobile broadband – because of the flexibility it would bring business users whilst they were out and about.

The question is, “Does pay as you go mobile broadband cost more or less than contract broadband?” Well it depends on who you ask. At first glance it simply doesn’t figure why a pay as you go deal would cost less than a contract. Afterall, what would the benefit of the contract offer? – cheaper prices you’d hope.

The guys over at Broadband Choices have had their calculator out. They reckon that just £15 can buy 3Gb worth of data download – around 2000 emails or three full length movies. Not a bad deal.

More than one billion people around the world will be accessing the internet by mobile broadband. These are the latest predictions for mobile broadband users by 2012.

Slightly worrying however, is the fact that in Europe the current uptake on mobile broadband and internet dongles has caught the operators out. The number of new mobile subscriptions are rising so fast that the mobile networks are struggling to keep up.

In the UK, the mobile broadband operator Vodafone (visit the Vodafone website) is increasing its mobile network speeds up to 14.4Mbps – more than double the current speeds.

Vodafone and Apple have confirmed that they have reached agreement to bring iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to the UK and Ireland in early 2010.

Beginning today, Vodafone UK and Vodafone Ireland customers can register their interest in the iphone at www.vodafone.co.uk/iphone (visit the Vodafone website for more information – the iphone link is on their front page). Pricing, tariffs and availability information will be announced locally in the future. Vodafone now offers iPhone through thirteen of its operating companies.

There is surely going to be a pay as you go offering. I hope so anyway. And the more mobile phone operators that sell the iphone, the better the prices will be, as they become more competitive.

As widely reported, Orange will soon be offering the Apple iphone in its UK stores. The exclusive iphone contract which had been held by Telefonica’s O2 is coming to an end.

Orange – who already have the iphone contract in over 20 countries across Europe – will be able to offer both the 3G and 2G versions of the mobile phone. Orange has already been importing 2G phones from outside the UK to sell in its British stores, but by thismlatest move, Orange will be able to sell the iphone in a range of contracts and pay as you go guises.

The UK telecoms watchdog is keeping an eye on mobile broadband in the UK. When marketing its mobile broadband products the UK mobile industry is tending to be a little on the optimistic side regarding the implied speeds of internet access.

Ofcom’s recent research shows that consumers are increasingly using mobile networks to access the internet on their computers via a dongle or 3G datacard. There were over two million new connections to mobile broadband between February 2008 and February 2009.

Mobile network coverage in the UK is generally good but some problems persist, particularly in rural areas. Ofcom is focusing on persistent so-called not-spot areas and working where it can to facilitate better mobile coverage.

Thousands are signing up to mobile broadband deals which allow them to connect to the internet on the go – without having to rely on a landline.

Tesco has reported a 71 per cent increase in pay-as-you-go mobile broadband deals, as the appeal of being able to use the internet anytime, anywhere grows. The mobile internet is here to stay.

Visit the Tesco website for further information and to purchase you mobile dongle – they have some good deals.

It’s easy to see the appeal – all you have to do is plug an “internet dongle” into the side of your laptop, or computer, and in a couple of clicks, you’re surfing the net.

From under £5 per month, existing Orange broadband users could be accessing the internet from anywhere. The “Orange internet everywhere”  dongle simply plugs into your home PC or laptop. Visit the Orange website for further information.

“High-speed mobile broadband from £4.89 a month”

This is not a true pay as you go mobile broadband service, but at just under £5 per month it does offer the cheapest monthly mobile broadband package on the market.

“Available on an 18 month contract, this great value package comes with a usage allowance of 500 Mb per month and download speeds of up to 3.6mbps. Perfect for those who have low usage needs and just want to email and surf the web.”