Cell phone providers offer different mobile broadband plans and services depending on your usage and type of mobile device. You may have an unlimited 3G or 4G data plans for your cell phone or smartphone, for example, but a metered or pay-as-you-go mobile broadband plan on your laptop or tablet.
Mobile Broadband Service Plans for Laptops
The Big Four cell phone services in the U.S. -- Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile -- all offer pretty much identical plans for wireless Internet access on your laptop (as of March 2011): $60 per month for data access up to 5GB per month, with 2-year contract. If you go over that 5GB, you'll be charged 5 cents for each additional MB of data. Also, if you roam outside of your network provider's coverage area, your data cap will be 300 MB/month.
There are also mobile broadband plans with smaller data limits, allowing up to 250MB of data for $39.99/month, for example.
Although 5GB of data will let you send or receive the equivalent of over a million text-only emails, thousands of photos, and hundreds of songs, the data limit on mobile broadband for laptops is a bummer, given the unmetered data plans you may be used to from your home Internet service or your cell phone data plan. With mobile broadband on laptops, you need to keep an eye on your usage to make sure you don't exceed the cap.
More: How To Monitor Your Mobile Data Usage
Prepaid Wireless Internet in the U.S.
If you only want to use mobile broadband once in a while (e.g., when traveling or as backup Internet service), another option is prepaid mobile broadband. Verizon offers prepaid options from 75MB to 500MB with rates from $15/day to $50/month with no contract. The downside to this is that you wouldn't get any discount on buying the mobile broadband hardware; retail prices are around $200 and up.
Virgin Mobile offers a no-contract prepaid mobile broadband service (favorably reviewed by About's Guide to Business Travel). At $79.99 for the USB modem (read review) and pricing starting at $10, this may be the least expensive mobile broadband option.
Clear is another wireless service provider offering 4G and 3G mobile broadband. Their service plans offer unlimited usage from $45 to $55 per month using their mobile hotspots or USB modems.
International Wireless Internet for Travelers
If you're looking for temporary mobile broadband service, you can rent a high-speed modem for your laptop from prepaid international mobile broadband services, which offer high-speed 3G service in over 150 countries around the world. These services send you the modem and offer pay-as-you-go as well as prepaid options.
Base your choice of provider and specific plan on how much data you need to use (and how often) and check the wireless providers' coverage maps to make sure you'll be able to access their high-speed service.
More:
- How much data do I need? Find out how much data is used for various types of online activities.
- How to Get 4G or 3G on Your Laptop
