Hot-Spot or Mobile Broadband

Here’s my jargon-buster or glossary for the worlds of mobile broadband and wi-fi hotspots. Please feel free to suggest additions or revisions.

Mobile Broadband

Mobile Broadband is the term used by the mobile phone operators (e.g. Vodafone, 3, etc) to describe a service which allows you to connect your PC to the internet via a mobile phone network instead of via a wired phone connection. As the name suggests the service is mobile, meaning you can connect your PC to the internet whilst out and about via a USB modem that connects to your laptop. You could also sign-up to a mobile broadband package for use at home if you move house regularly or don’t want a phone line at home.

Wi-fi Hotspot

Wi-fi Hotspots are locations, such as a coffee shop, which have a wi-fi connection available for people to connect to the internet via their own laptop, or other wi-fi enabled device (e.g. iPod Touch). In the UK you normally have to pay an hourly, daily or monthly fee for access to a particular wi-fi hotspot operator. Popular wi-fi hotspot operators include T-Mobile, BT Openzone and The Cloud.