Before you rush off and purchase a pay as you go broadband dongle it is worth checking whether you can get good mobile reception where you intend to use it.

Check reception with a mobile phone

To check the reception you can either use (1) a mobile phone with a SIM card inserted from the mobile operator you intend to use for you mobile broadband contract. Simply take the phone to where you will most likely use the internet dongle and check the reception.

Alternatively (2) each of the mobile broadband providers has online coverage maps. Follow the links below to compare their respective mobile reception tools;

• Orange (visit the Orange website, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “postcode checker” link)
• O2 (visit the O2 mobile coverage map)
• T-mobile (visit the T-mobile mobile coverage map)
• Three (visit the Three mobile coverage map)
• Vodafone (visit the Vodafone mobile coverage map)

And don’t forget – check the mobile broadband coverage at all the sites you will use the dongle – e.g. home, work, college, gran’s etc.