broadband news

Mobile Broadband Technology

Mobile internet uses 3G or 3rd generation mobile broadband technology. With the expanding interest and popularity of mobile broadband, here's a more scientific insight into mobile broadband internet technology.

3G technologies

All mobile broadband uses 3G mobile technology, so mobile broadband could realistically be called 3G broadband. This technology is provided by the mobile phone network operators such as Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile, Orange and O2. These organisation have been investing more time, money and effort into 3G broadband than virtually any other area of the industry in an effort to provide consumers with mobile broadband services.

There are two complementary technologies that make mobile 3G broadband possible: HSDPA (high speed download packet access) and HSUPA (high speed upload packet access).

Supposedly these 3G broadband technologies should provide 3G broadband users with download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps and upload speeds of 1.76Mbps. However, these 3G broadband access speeds are only available in very specific areas of central London and in various UK airports, but 3G broadband with these speeds will almost certainly become more widely available in the near future.

The most common way for users to access mobile 3G broadband is by using mobile broadband dongles and data cards, but laptops with 3G broadband built-in are also becoming popular. The interest and growth in this area of 3G broadband means the technology is improving all the time and it is predicted that mobile 3G broadband will account for over 50% of home and mobile broadband sales by 2010.

Download restrictions

Those 3G broadband users who keep an eye on download limits will have noticed that most mobile 3G broadband packages have download allowances that are generally quite prohibitive. The download limits on 3G broadband deals vary from between 1Gb to 10Gb per month. There are a couple of reasons for this that also explain why you won't see 'unlimited 3G broadband' deals available just yet.

The first reason for the restrictions on mobile 3G broadband downloads is because of the high cost of transferring data across 3G broadband networks, which is more expensive than across ADSL or cable broadband(the home broadband technologies).
The second reason is because 3G broadband providers are concerned that if users had unlimited 3G broadband download limits the service would become overloaded, creating major problems across the 3G broadband mobile networks.

The future of 3G broadband

There are inherent restrictions in the existing 3G broadband technology that limit the speed and number of concurrent users. It is these constraints that is holding 3G broadband back from surpassing home broadband as the standard consumer choice, but this could change very soon as 3G broadband technologies develop into 4G broadband. It is already predicted that by 2010 the next generation of 3G broadband (Super 3G or 4G) and other technologies will deliver mobile internet access speeds up to 100mbps.

In the meantime, if you don't rely on mobile broadband too heavily then a £10 3G broadband package delivering 1Gb of downloads a month should be fine. But those wanting more from their 3G broadband service should choose the higher subscription options that can deliver much greater levels of download capacity included in the monthly cost.

Click here for CompareBroadbandUK's:
mobile broadband packages
Our latest broadband deals

27/05/2008
Author: CompareBroadbandUK staff writer

Next broadband news story

Mobile broadband speeds that are increasing, and coverage is too.
- With the rising interest in mobile broadband the rush is on among mobile broadband providers to increase not only download speeds but mobile broadband coverage as well.
02/06/2008

Read all our broadband news stories

Sign up to our broadband newsletterStay updated with our free broadband and mobile broadband newsletter.