Broadband allows you to access the internet at higher speeds than dial up. It is a continuous, fast, and independent service that allows you to send emails, download items, and access PCs remotely. Broadband can be found with cable, phone line, or wirelessly. With cable it just means the internet signal is sent over a cable style wire rather than a standard phone line. Phone line internet is known as DSL. It uses the same phone style plug; however, the actual line is an optic wire that allows for a higher speed signal to be sent meaning that one receives the signal faster than on the old style phone line. Even with DSL your home phone line is not interrupted. It is actually two different signals so that you can have phone and internet at the same time. Wireless options allow you to connect without any wire connected to a modem. The signal acts more like a radio wave in that it is in the air and all you need is an antenna to access it.
When discussing wireless technology, inevitably the discussion becomes one about mobile broadband. Mobile broadband requires an antenna like device to receive the signal that is being broadcast so that you can be mobile while you are getting internet access. This is usually called a dongle.
To be more specific mobile broadband is used with laptops, iPads, phones and other mobile devices. You are still getting a broadband signal like you get at home, but you are able to move around as needed and still be connected. If you have an iPad or smartphone you can access the mobile broadband network with 3G or 4G technology that is built into the phone. In other words, you access the internet via a wireless signal much like your phone signal. You have the option of signing up for a contract mobile broadband service or you can go for a pay as you go plan. If you want to look at the options you can compare pay as you go mobile broadband plans on this site. If you are in need of a larger screen when you are on the go a laptop can be the better choice as your mobile device.
A lot of laptops are coming in built with a wireless card; however, the card will only work if you can tap into an unsecured network or have a password for a nearby secured network. You have to be really close to the hotspot for the laptop to work with its wireless card. This is why most individuals choose to have mobile broadband via an internet dongle with their laptop.
An internet dongle can work like a standalone modem picking up the 3G or 4G signal and making it easier for you to access the internet away from known hotspots. You are actually tapping into the internet service provider’s network, which exists much like radio waves, so wherever there is a tower sending out the 3G signal you have internet with a dongle.
It is possible that mobile broadband will replace the traditional home broadband when the internet speeds become more affordable. For now, most still use home broadband options rather than replacing it completely with their mobile options, though you could in theory have mobile broadband at home and everywhere else instead of a home line.