Since 3G was first announced back in 2001, it has taken many years to reach the market in an affordable and reliable format.

As with most technology, nothing stands still for long, and at the point that the general public are starting to adopt 3G, a new faster standard has emerged called HSDPA.

Sometimes referred to as 3.5G, HSDPA is a much faster variant of 3G and it's worth checking that any 3G device that you purchase has this technology on board.

The technology

Mobile broadband is a term that basically means the use of a 3G device to wirelessly connect to the internet. 3G was the technology introduced in 2003 but has taken time to become popular due to the high charges associated with its use.

Since 2007, the companies offering 3G have dropped their prices and introduced better devices that connect to computers using the USB port.

With the increasing popularity of 3G phones too, the ability to receive emails, attachments and browse the internet has become a lot faster than using the old GPRS technology.

A common misconception is that 3G is charged by the minute, when in fact it is charged for by the amount of data that is transferred. Many mobile phone companies now charge in a similar way to landline broadband, where there is a maximum limit of data that can be downloaded in a month.

If you exceed this limit you are normally charged per megabyte for the additional usage which can work out to be quite expensive so it's normally advisable to keep within the quota.

The devices

Initially, to add a 3G capability to your laptop you would have purchased a 3G PC Card as shown at the top of the images to the right.

These cards were only really usable on laptops fitted with a PC Card slot, but more recently this technology has been made available as a USB dongle or stick as shown on the right.

This is a far more flexible approach as the use of a USB connection means that the device can be added to laptops, desktops and routers.

In the case of routers, a 3G dongle can be used as a backup method of communication in the event of a landline failure.