Question by Cutey McPretty: How does a mobile broadband work?
I am living in university residence halls and my internet connection is really slow and sometimes i don’t get internet at all..so i was thinking about getting a mobile broadband..how does it work?
Best answer:
Answer by David D
The same was as a cell phone does – with radio waves.
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Hey McPretty,
I’ve written a 14 lesson free E-Course on this. Here’s a quick excerpt from the first lesson:
Think of wireless broadband, (WiFi for example) like a cordless phone. It’s good for around the house. Mobile broadband, however is like your cell phone. Good just about any and everywhere.
So, if mobile broadband is like your cell phone, then there must be multiple providers and different kinds of mobile broadband right?
You bet there are.
As a matter of fact, they’re the same people that provide your cell service. In the United States, there are 2 main ways to get mobile broadband:
1. Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) provided by Verizon, Sprint & Alltel
2. High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) provided by AT&T
So How Do You Connect Anyway?
You’ve got two options (well, 2 and a half if you count tethering):
1. Cell Phones
2. Mobile Broadband Cards
Broadband Cards
Mobile broadband cards are little devices you can plug into your laptop (which part it plugs into depends on the type of broadband card). One benefit is that it works like a mobile DSL connection for about $60 a month.
Cheaper plans are available with some carriers but it’s not usually worth the time of day due to really low usage caps (40-50 MB/month = less than a music album).
There is one downside.
Most carriers cap usage at 5 Gigabytes per month. For most people that’ll kill the option of using this as their only connection. Fortunately, Alltel still provides an unlimited plan. The catch 22 is they’ve been purchased by Verizon who does cap use at 5 GB per month.
Depending on how you plan to use it, 5 GB may be enough for you. This might be a secondary connection or you simply don’t drain the internet of all life at each use.
Hope this helps. If you like this, check out the course. It’s free and it’s helped a lot of people
you buy a dongle (with top-up), or get one on contract, take it home, plug it in via USB, install their software, and the rest is pretty much done for you. it works very easily, and you pay for how much you download, not how long you use it for (unlike a traditional modem)
Mobile broadband is effectively a type of wireless internet – but one that differs from Wi-Fi. It allows you to gain access to the internet anywhere at any time of day without having to be in range of a hotspot. This means that you can set up your laptop and get online whether you’re on the train, in the park, wherever.
It also known as ‘High Speed Down Link Packet Access’ (HSDPA) allows you connect your laptop or your computer to the internet wherever you are. It works using either a small portable USB modem, or a data card which stays in the computer all the time.