Home vs mobile broadband

As mobile broadband sales soar, a new focus on this high-growth, increasingly competitive broadband market has emerged. The big question now is whether home and mobile broadband can co-exist or whether mobile broadband will supersede it and become the dominant connection type.

Compare mobile internet packages at our mobile broadband comparison page.

3G mobile broadband, which is the current standard for mobile connections, has a maximum speed of 7.2Mbps. This is enough for most mobile applications, but for home use is a little slow. In addition, the download limits are much lower for mobile and mobile internet packages. Most home packages offer unlimited download allowances, but these are much harder to come by for mobile broadband.

Round 1… fight!

The case for home broadband is currently very strong, and at present home connections excel in the following areas:

• Price
  The cheapest home broadband packages are generally less costly than the cheapest mobile broadband products, but will have more extra costs, like BT line rental.

• Bundle options
  TV, calls and broadband can be bundled together to save money.

• Download allowances
  Unlimited download packages are available, which are great for heavy users, but even the most restricted home packages are 10 times higher than their mobile counterparts.

• Speeds
  Although speeds always vary, the slowest home connection is up to 8Mbps, and the fastest is currently up to 100Mbps (depending on location)

Compare our best-selling home broadband packages at our dedicated home broadband comparison page.

Mobile broadband has the edge on home broadband in the following areas:

Price
Odd as it is to have this as a pro for both, the price of some mobile connections can be incredibly cheap, and they don’t include the hidden costs that ADSL (BT line) or cable (fibre) connections do.

Flexibility
Mobile modems, such as dongles and MiFis, are completely portable and can be used anywhere there is mobile phone coverage (in the UK and abroad)

No landline needed
As mobile broadband runs over mobile phone networks, there’s no need to pay a costly installation fee and month line rental on top of your broadband.

Simple installation
Just plug in your mobile broadband dongle or MiFi and connect to the internet. No wires, no routers and no worries. With built-in connections, there’s not even a separate USB dongle - the laptop just works out of the box.

Easy to buy and switch provider
You can have as many as you want and switch them at any time. No need for MAC codes.

Compare the latest mobile broadband packages here.

Round 2, 4G and the future…

One key aspect of mobile broadband is the dongle or MiFi unit - mobile broadband providers offer a range of dongles or USB modems to allow you to access the internet on the go. Each provider has its own design of dongle.

Compare all the latest dongle designs and deals at our USB internet comparison page.

4G is the latest in mobile internet connection technology. It promises speeds equal to the fastest home connections, outperforming even fibre-optic packages. It is currently being trialled in various parts of the country, but promises download speeds of up to 100Mbps wherever there is mobile signal.

This will seriously threaten the dominance of ADSL (BT line) and cable (fibre-optic) broadband. Why would you settle for a fixed line when mobile is cheaper, faster and 100 per cent mobile?

Check out our uSwitch guide to fibre-optic broadband for more information. Of course, this is not to say that home broadband will become entirely redundant, but the days of expensive line-rentals and poor speeds will be well and truly over when 4G introduces an element of serious competition.