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	Hardware	Setup	Monthly price	Contract	Speed (Up to)	Downloads
Sponsored link	223 reviews	Unlimited browsing (3GB fair usage but no extra charges) just £10/mth for the first three months (then £15) on an 18-month contract. Comes with T-Mobile's Night In offer: movie/game rental + snacks for £5					Go Check coverage>
1	395 reviews	FREE	£15	24 months	7.2Mb	15 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	Broadband (15GB)	Exclusive Genie offer (Ends 07 Sep): £50 Naked Wines voucher from Broadband Genie (ONLINE ONLY) Extras: Free delivery plus 14-day money-back guarantee.
2	395 reviews	FREE	£12	18 months	7.2Mb	5 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	Broadband (5GB)	Offer: £3 per month off for the whole contract use voucher code 3MBB3OFF Extras: Free delivery plus 14-day money-back guarantee.
3	190 reviews	FREE	£15	1 month	7.2Mb	3 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	Starter 3GB Broadband	Extras: Flexible Starter plan with no long-term commitment
4	395 reviews	FREE	£23	24 months	3.6Mb	15 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	MiFi Broadband (15GB) + iPod Touch (8GB)	Extras: iPod Touch (8GB) . MiFi router connects up to five devices to the internet at once, wirelessly. 80 free text messages/mth. Free delivery plus 14-day money-back guarantee.
5	395 reviews	FREE	£20	18 months	7.2Mb	15 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	Broadband (15GB)	Extras: Free delivery plus 14-day money-back guarantee.
6	73 reviews	FREE	£35	18 months	3.6Mb	20 GBper month	Go 0800 2947338Check coverage>
	Panther	Extras: 14 day guarantee. Orange Wednesdays 2 for 1 cinema tickets.
7	395 reviews	FREE	£7.50	18 months	7.2Mb	1 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	Broadband Lite (1GB)	Offer: Was £10 Extras: Free delivery plus 14-day money-back guarantee.
8	73 reviews	£49.99	£15	1 month	3.6Mb	2 GBper month	Go 0800 2947338Check coverage>
	Dolphin	Extras: High-performance dongle plus free 8GB MicroSD card. 14 day guarantee. Orange Wednesdays 2 for 1 cinema tickets.
9	395 reviews	£4.99	£15	1 month	7.2Mb	5 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	Broadband (5GB)	Extras: Free delivery plus 14-day money-back guarantee.
10	395 reviews	FREE	£17	18 months	3.6Mb	5 GBper month	Go Check coverage>
	MiFi Broadband (5GB)	Extras: Connects up to five devices to the internet at once, wirelessly. 20 text messages/mth. Free delivery plus 14-day money-back guarantee.

Wireless dongle guide

If you're on the lookout for mobile broadband then before you do anything you should spend some time comparing wireless dongles. The wireless dongle is the small plastic device that looks a little like a USB memory stick. It plugs into an available port on your laptop computer and acts as the bridge between the mobile laptop internet signal and the machine itself.

As you'll see from our comparison table above, there are plenty of these available from all of the mobile network providers (Vodafone, 3 Mobile, O2, T-Mobile, Orange). A wireless broadband dongle will allow you to stay online just about anywhere you go, although they have limitations because not all geographical areas have mobile 3G internet coverage. Nevertheless, a USB wireless dongle should be able to get you online across a good percentage of the UK.

A handy way of finding out if your chosen dongle will be able to meet your needs is to use the coverage checker link on the right hand side of the comparison table. A USB wireless dongle will be pretty much useless if there's no coverage in the areas you plan on visiting. But if the check reveals a decent mobile broadband signal then you'll be good to go.

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Wireless dongles for laptops

The great thing about any wireless broadband dongle is that they basically have a universal fitting capacity thanks to the humble USB port found on most machines, from standard desktop PCs through to laptops and now, increasingly, the netbook device, which is like a smaller version of the traditional laptop machine.

Once plugged in via an available port you'll need to spend only mere minutes configuring the USB wireless dongle and it should then have you online in no time at all. With a wireless USB dongle in place and a mobile broadband signal transmitting to your computer you'll be able to access the web and emails just as you would on a normal landline-based broadband service.

As you'll see from our buyers guides throughout the site, it’s often possible to get a free USB wireless dongle, although most of these offers will be in relation to contract dongle packages. Pay-monthly dongle deals are comprehensively covered in our guides and comparison tables. You might find that going down the route of the contract deal might get you the best wireless dongle for your money.

Buy wireless dongles designed for contract use and you may find that they perform slightly better than a pay-as-you-go wireless mobile broadband dongle too. They’ll certainly offer much more flexibility than a PAYG dongle, and the mobile provider will probably allow you much more liberal data usage allowances than those found on non-contract USB wireless dongle deals.

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Pay as you go wireless dongles

Don’t rule out a pay-as-you-go wireless broadband dongle though. If you’re only a casual user who logs on occasionally to access your mobile broadband then a cheap wireless dongle with PAYG functionality will probably do the job as well as any contract package. If you see a USB dongle review listed then be sure to check the terms and conditions behind the prices, along with data usage information and the speeds you can hope to get. For example, most of the time you have to use pay-as-you-go data you've bought within 30 days - you can't save it for a rainy day!

Heavier users of mobile 3G broadband will be better off using the comparison tables to find the cheapest wireless dongle under a contract package deal. A contract will tie you in for a fixed period, and there will be a monthly charge for the mobile wireless broadband package that you go for. A mobile broadband contract package can last for a variety of time periods, commonly it's 12 or 24 months. However, there are often also one-month rolling deals.

People who buy wireless dongles and plan to use them quite heavily might also be interested in the free laptop packages that many of the mobile broadband providers now offer. A cheap wireless dongle and a 'free' laptop will get you up and running with mobile broadband and although you may pay more for the package over a longer period of time, this is a great way of getting started.

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The best wireless dongles

Whatever package you opt for, you'll find that a USB wireless dongle should offer you the ultimate in plug-and-play freedom. Dongles can be easily stored in a pocket or bag and then plugged in and be up and running in seconds. Remember though that a cheap wireless dongle is unlikely to be the best wireless dongle. A wireless dongle UK-wide, whatever the package it comes with, may be subject to erratic levels of service and a cheap wireless dongle may fall victim to this more than a contract one.

USB dongle reviews or checklist of features and specifications like those listed in the tables above should outline the sort of performance you could get, but be mindful that things like quoted speeds are rarely at the top end of what the mobile network providers suggest. PAYG wireless dongles won't always be as good in terms of offering optimum performance when you compare them to their contract counterparts.

Whether you go for a contract or a PAYG wireless USB dongle, you'll find that mobile broadband can become an invaluable tool for staying online, no matter where you happen to be heading. Many of the contract wireless dongles will allow you to use decent amounts of data too, although it isn’t really a replacement for home-based ADSL or cable broadband services. Even the best wireless dongle won't be able to match the sort of speeds you get from those types of services, so it’s better to consider a mobile broadband package as a supplement to what you have at home, rather than an overall replacement.

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Deciding on a wireless dongle

Decisions, decisions. If you take a look at the comparison tables then you'll be able to get a great overview of what makes the best wireless dongle to buy. Take a look at our USB dongle review listings elsewhere in the site too, in order to get a better idea and understanding of the sort of performance issues and conditions that can affect the way a wireless mobile broadband service can work.

Lookout too for the many and varied deals that crop up all the time to try and tempt people to buy wireless dongles. Mobile providers can throw in all sorts of different incentives and these can include anything from a free microSD card through to cinema tickets for nothing. Deals do come and go though, so the best wireless dongle deal this week might have disappeared again by next week.

The whole market is evolving on a daily basis, with new and improved products and services being released all the time. A wireless broadband dongle will give you a signal to one machine currently, but another option is to keep an eye on the comparison charts for the MiFi router deals that are appearing. This natty technology works a bit like a standard USB wireless dongle, but it has the capacity for distributing the mobile broadband dongle to several devices at the same time.

This is an exciting new innovation that enables one cheap wireless dongle to basically offer its services to several devices at the same time. You'll have to be wary though because if you take this route and the rest of the family starts tapping into your USB wireless dongle supply then your data usage limits or caps could be exceeded in no time. So be sure to pick a package that allows you the freedom to do this, or you could end up paying dearly for that cheap wireless dongle that you just acquired.

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Top 5 Mobile Broadband Help

• Mobile Broadband Beginners Guide
• Mobile Broadband Coverage
• Mobile Broadband Download Limits
• Using Mobile Broadband Abroad
• Mobile Broadband Awards

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