What is mobile broadband?

If you've ever wished, as an assessor/verifier/coordinator/observer/etc., that you could get on with some online work while on the road or out of the 'home-base environment', mobile broadband could be a life changing piece of technology.

Mobile interent allows users to connect to the web wherever they are, regardless of whether they're in a Wi-Fi hotspot or near a phone line. The information isn't received through a fixed-line modem, so users...

• don't have to worry about line rental and
• don't always have to connect to the net using the same computer.

Normally users have what is known as a 'dongle' (or stick) that plugs into a USB socket on a laptop or PC. In the same way a mobile phone works, users can access the internet all over the country as long as the service provider (the mobile broadband company users sign up to) covers the area that they're in.

Just as a mobile phone connection sometimes gets weak, making the call break up or even cut off, wireless mobile broadband coverage can be a little temperamental as well. The good news is services are improving all the time. In a lot of built-up areas the mobile internet service connects to a 3G mobile broadband network. This means users can surf the net with speeds that are sufficient to easily use modern internet facilities such as the Skype.

"If Learning Providers sign up to a mobile interent service their provider will supply them with the USB dongle required to get you online (although some deals now include a subsidised laptop, which have a data card inside instead of a dongle, that does the same job). Sometimes you get the dongle thrown in for free, especially if you are subscribing to a contract that's 18-months long or more. Otherwise you'll have to pay for your dongle separately, which can be anything up to £60."