Connect to the Internet with dongle or a phone?

Instead of connecting your phone to your laptop, you can more easily connect a dongle. These little devices are amazing bits of technology when you consider that simply plugging them in and waiting a few minutes gets you connected to mobile broadband far quicker and easier than either configuring your phone or indeed connecting your PC, router and ADSL modem to a wired connection.

In my experience the maximum speed you can expect to connect to the internet using a dongle is about 2Mb/sec if you happen to be in a 3G area. While cruising along the coast or sitting in most marinas I would anticipate speeds of around 1Mb/sec.

	Make Ovation MC930D Max speed achieved 440k/sec Average speed achieved in 3G area 318k/sec Average speed achieved out of 3G area 348k/sec
	Make Huawei E169G Max speed achieved 2.6Mb/sec Average speed achieved in 3G area 1.6Mb/sec Average speed achieved out of 3G area 1.0Mb/sec
	Make Option Icon 225 Max speed achieved 1.3Mb/sec Average speed achieved in 3G area 650k/sec Average speed achieved out of 3G area 320k/sec
	Make Huawei E170 Max speed achieved 2.1Mb/sec Average speed achieved in 3G area 2Mb/sec Average speed achieved out of 3G area 964k/sec
	Make Huawei E172 Max speed achieved 1.9Mb/sec Average speed achieved in 3G area 1.3Mb/sec Average speed achieved out of 3G area 890k/sec

So the installation is easy and the speeds are fine for down loading email, GRIB files, and even browsing the web – the real problem is the cost. Prices in the UK are coming down – you can get access for £10/month and you can get roaming across Europe for £10/day – elsewhere the prices are many times higher…well the Telecoms companies are so poor aren’t they?