About Verizon US:
Verizon is the largest wireless network and services provider in the United States with 106.3 million subscribers. Its headquarters are in New Jersey and it was founded as Bell Atlantic in 1983.

3G Mobile Broadband Plans:
Verizon offers 3 monthly 3G plans. The first costs $30, provides up to 2GB of data and costs $10 per gigabyte after your allowance has been used up. The next plan costs $50 and provides 5GB of data. Each gigabyte over the 5GB limit will also cost $10. Their $80 plan provides 10GB with an overuse charge of $10 as well.

4G Mobile Broadband Plans:
Verizon’s 4G monthly plans cost $30, $50 and $80. The $30 plan gets you 2GB of data, the $50 plan gets you 5GB and the $80 plan gets you 10GB. Each of these plans will charge you $10 per gigabyte above their data rate limit.

Prepaid Mobile Broadband:
On their prepaid plans you can top up with $15 for an extra 100MB, $30 to get 300MB, $50 for 1GB, and $80 for 5GB. The $15 top-up lasts for one day, the $30 lasts for one week and the $50 and $80 ones both last one month.

Hardware:
Verizon offers 4 mobile broadband modems each with different plans and prices:
Their Verizon Wireless 4G LTE USB Modem 551L Costs $249.99 and on a two-year contract it costs $69.99. This modem is 4G compatible, has a hinged USB connector, an internal antenna system, and is compatible with Mac and Windows.

The Pantech 4G LTE USB Modem UML290 costs $249.99 on its own and $129.99 on a two-year contract. This modem is also 4G compatible and has a 180_ rotating USB connector. It has an LED service status indicator, USB extension cable and features the Qualcomm MDM9600 chipset.

The Pantech 4G LTE USB Modem UML290 (Certified Pre-Owned) costs $249.99 on its own and on a two-year contract is completely free. This is a great way to get a really great modem on a great plan for very little outlay.

The LG 4G USB Modem VL600 (Certified Pre-Owned) also costs $249.99 and is also free on a two-year contract. It is 4G compatible, comes with VZAaccess Manager, has a CDMA dual-band antenna, is Mac and Windows compatible and features the QC MSM6800A and LG L2000 chipsets.

Coverage:
Verizon has an impressive 4G network covering the most vital and most populated areas. Their 3G network is much more extensive, covering even rural towns.

Prepaid:
Verizon does not have any prepaid plans available at present.

4G:
Verizon is very strong on implementing 4G technology across America. It is the dramatic increase in speed that will allow everyone with a wireless connection to experience massive downloads in seconds, high-quality HD streaming video and an instantaneous surfing experience. For gamers this means no more lagging, freezing or reconnecting of your router. For music-lovers this means downloading is a thing of the past as you can just stream any song you want to hear the instant you want to hear it. For people away from friends and family this means high quality video chatting whenever the mood strikes.

About T-Mobile US:
T-Mobile is the 4th-largest wireless provider in the United States and is headquartered in Washington. It has over 33 million customers and generates over $21 billion a year.

Hardware:
T-Mobile Jet 2.0 is a 4G laptop stick modem allowing you to get high-speed Internet access anywhere within T-Mobile’s 4G network. It will automatically detect and connect to the fastest network or connection that is available. It is compatible with most laptop computers running Windows 7, XP, Vista or Mac OSX. It has a Micro SD card slot for additional storage and costs $124.99 but is free on a two-year contract.

The T-Mobile Rocket 4G stick is able to download at up to 21mbps and is also 4G compatible. It has a Micro SD card and is expandable up to 32GB. It is also Mac and Windows compatible and costs $59.99. It is only available on their prepaid service.

Their T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 4G Laptop Stick is a fully compatible 4G modem and can download and upload extremely large files at very high speeds. It has a download speed of up to 42mbps. These speeds are possible anywhere within T-Mobiles HSPA+ 4G network. This stick also has a Micro SD card slot plus connection management software to handle either your 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi connection. It also has exceptional international roaming capabilities. It has changeable covers that come in black, purple and blue to match the color of your laptop and costs $79.99 on a two-year contract.

Plans:
Their Classic – Overage-Free Plus plan costs $39.99 per month and is a two-year contract. It allows you up to 2GB of monthly downloads with no overuse charges. However, after 2GB your data speed may be reduced. It also includes unlimited Wi-Fi at T-Mobile hotspots around the country.

The Classic – Overage-Free Premium plan includes 5GB of data and unlimited Wi-Fi access at T-Mobile hotspots as well. It also features no overuse charges, but again, after 5GB your data speeds may be reduced. This is also a two-year contract and costs $49.99 per month.

The Classic – Overage-Free Ultra plan costs $79.99 and is a two-year contract. It includes 10GB of data monthly, and also features no overuse charges. Like the others, it will also slow down your connection after the 10GB have been used. It features unlimited Wi-Fi at the T-Mobile hotspots.

Prepaid:
T-Mobile offers a ‘WeekPass’ for $10 which gives you 100MB of data but it expires after one week. There is also a ‘MonthPass’ which costs $50 and lasts for 30 days. This gives you 1GB of data. There is another ‘MonthPass’ available for $50 which also lasts for 30 days, but gives you 3GB of data.
You can activate your prepaid mobile broadband stick by following these simple steps:
1. Insert the Prepaid SIM into your modem

2. Connect your laptop to the T-Mobile Broadband Network

3. Activate it on the T-Mobile.com website

4. Register it on My T-Mobile.com

5. Purchase a pass

Sprint is the third-largest telecommunications network in America with 52 million customers. It was founded in 1899 by Cleyson Leroy Brown in Kansas.

Plans:
Their 3G/4G Hotspot Mobile Broadband Connection Plan costs $44.99 per month and includes 3GB of data. While there are no limits to your data consumption, you will be charged 25c per additional megabyte beyond the 3GB cap. You have an additional monthly allowance of 100MB on any network besides Sprint every on this plan.

Next up is the 4G Mobile Broadband Connection Plan. For $5 more per month you get a truly unlimited service. It is $49.99 per month.
The 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Connection Plan gives you 10GB per month for $89.99. Each additional megabyte above the 10GB will cost 25c each. This plan allows for an extra 300MB of data usage on the other networks besides Sprint.

Hardware:
Sprint offers four stick modems for their wireless broadband service:

Sprint 3G/4G USB U600:
This modem provides a very versatile way to connect to their super-fast wireless network. This is the perfect modem to increase your productivity by allowing you to surf, check your e-mail and do all your social networking while on the move. The 4G speeds even allow you to stream HD videos and it has 3G capabilities when their 4G networks are not available. It also incorporates Sprint’s GPS navigation which provides turn-by-turn directions. It costs $249.99, but on a two-year contract, it’s free. The USB connector rotates for easy positioning and the device is Mac, Windows and Linux compatible.

598U by Sierra Wireless:
This modem has a Micro SD card slot so it acts as a memory stick as well as a high-speed wireless internet modem. However, it is not 4G or Wi-Fi compatible. It is however Mac, Windows and Linux compatible and features a GPS system. It also comes with a USB extension cable, costs $249.99 and is free on a two-year contract.

Sprint 3G/4G USB Modem 250U by Sierra Wireless:
This 4G modem has a very unique spherical design which allows you to get great reception no matter what your positioning or environment is like. It also has a rotating, hinged USB connector so you can orient it’s position in any way you like. Take this modem to the beach, park or office as it can handle any environment. It also has a GPS navigation system and features Auto Connect which is a great plug-and-play protocol so you don’t need to do any extensive configuration or complex setting up. This modem has the same pricing as the previous two modems.

Sprint 4G USB U1901:
This blazing fast 4G USB modem has a very robust reception system allowing a great connection even inside the tallest buildings. This card allows you extreme speeds no matter what the conditions. Simply plug it in, set it up and away you go. Like the others, it is also Mac, Windows and Linux compatible. It is 4G too and features Auto Connect to help you avoid annoying configuration.

AT&T US:
AT&T is the largest telecommunications company in the world and is the largest provider of voice services in the United States.

Prepaid:
AT&T offers Prepaid DataConnect Pass Plans that allow you to connect to the web without commitments. All you have to do is purchase a data plan online with either a debit or credit card and you get the freedom of no long-term contracts or credit checks. This plan is extremely flexible allowing either a daily, weekly or monthly package. The daily package costs $15 and gives you 100MB of data. The weekly package costs $30 and gives you 300MB of data. And finally the monthly package is $50 providing 1GB. The monthly plan also allows you to surf at AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots across the country for free with unlimited data.

Contract:
AT&T has two 2-year contracts available. If you buy a 4G USB stick modem you can get a contract for $50 a month providing 5GB of data. Every gigabyte over your limit is charged at $10. If you buy a 3G USB stick modem you are entitled to a two-year contract for $60 a month and 5GB of data. Every megabyte beyond your limit will cost 5c. Both of these entitle you to free Wi-Fi at 20,000 hotspots across the country. International roaming on these contracts is available in over 100 countries.

Wifi Hotspots:
AT&T offers two 2-year contracts for Wi-Fi connectivity. There is a 3GB offer and a 5GB offer. The 3GB plan costs $35 a month and gives you each gigabyte in overuse at $10. The 5GB plan costs $50 a month and every gigabyte of overuse will also cost $10.

Hardware:
AT&T offers many mobile internet sticks. The first one is the AT&T USBConnect Force 4G. It is 4G compatible allowing high-speed mobile downloads. It has international roaming capabilities in over 100 countries and a Micro SD card slot with expandable storage space of up to 32GB. It can connect via Edge, 3G, 4G, GSM, GPRS, HSPA+ and has a download speed of up to 2mbps.
Then there is the AT&T USBConnect Shockwave 4G and it has the exact same features as the AT&T USBConnect Force 4G modem.

The AT&T USBConnect Velocity modem is a 3G device, has a GPS receiver and a 16GB Micro SD card slot.

The AT&T USBConnect Adrenaline is also a 3G device with a GPS receiver but has a 32GB Micro SD card slot.

Their USBConnect Turbo is a refurbished model which means it is pre-owned but still in very good shape. AT&T offer a 90-day warranty on it so you can rest assured it will work well. It is a 3G device with a 16GB Micro SD card slot.

Lastly there is the USBConnect Shockwave 4G. This is also a refurbished model with a 90-day warranty. However, it is a fully-fledged 4G device with super-fast download speeds. It also has a Micro SD slot for 32GB of memory and international roaming capabilities in more than 200 countries.

Vodafone UK:
You can get affordable and dependable mobile Internet from Vodafone on your laptop with a USB stick modem. All that’s needed is to connect the USB stick to your laptop, it will install software automatically and you will be done.

On Vodafone UK there are 3 plans available. It is recommended that if you are a very occasional user, that you select the £3 plan. This gets you 250MB of data for £2, with your first 250MB free. However, like all of these plans, there is a one-off fee of £19. If you are somewhat of an occasional user, it is recommended that you buy the £7 per month plan. This gets you 500 MB of data for only £7.50 each. You also receive 1GB of free data on the BT Openzone Wi-Fi network.

If you are somewhat of a regular user, for example if you use the Internet every day, the £15 per month plan would be perfect for you. Here the stick costs £9 once-off and has 2GB of data included. If you exceed your data it will cost you £15 per extra gigabyte. You also receive 1GB of free BT Openzone Wi-Fi.
The 18-month plans both offer free stick modems. The cheaper option costs £15 per month, comes with 2GB of data, 2GB of BT Openzone Wi-Fi and you have the option of renting a telephone line for 3 months at half price.

If you are a little more hard-core with your data needs, you can pay £20 a month for 2GB of data and 4GB of BT Openzone Wi-Fi. This also has the half-price line rental promotion.

Their pay-as-you-go plans have a one-off fee of £24.99 and comes with 500GB of data which expires after 60 days. This is the easiest way to get online with Vodafone. It’s cheap, fast and there is no commitment. You can top up with 500MB of data for as little as £5. This lasts for 60 days.

Tethering:
Another great way to get mobile Internet these days is to use your mobile phone as a modem. This way your laptop can connect to the Internet via your phone’s 3G. This is also known as tethering. You just need to connect your phone to your computer with a USB cable or via Bluetooth (however Bluetooth will be somewhat slower) and perhaps change one or two of your phone’s settings. Vodafone offers a ‘Via Your Phone Plus’ tethering pack just for this purpose and it will definitely save you money in the long run. It costs £15 per month and you receive 2GB of data. Every subsequent gigabyte after this limit will cost £15 extra.

The Vodafone UK website has a simple little tool to help you choose the correct plan or package. The way it works is it has 2 questions and a slider for each. The first question is: ‘how often do you use the Internet?’ You can answer either ‘occasionally’ or ‘regularly’ by sliding the slider left or right. The next question is: ‘what do you use the Internet for?’ And the slider has 2 options here too: browsing and downloading. Once you are done it will give you a recommendation as to which plan will be ideal for your needs.

Vodafone UK is the third-biggest provider in the UK and was founded in 1982.

Their 2 main services are a 1GB and a 3GB option. With 1GB you can send up to 700 e-mails, download over 60 songs, download an hour of video and browse websites for more than 3 full days. With 3GB you can easily send 2000 e-mails, download over 250 songs, watch over 80 Youtube videos and browse the Internet for a month. The 1GB, two-month plan costs £10.21, and the stick modem will cost £24.99. For 3GB you will pay £15.32 and the stick will cost you £24.99.

The 18-month plan has 1GB and costs £10.21 but the stick modem is free. The 18-month plan at 3GB a month costs £15.32 and the stick modem is also free. Overuse charges on Virgin’s service will cost you £1.4 point per megabyte. You also have a private Virgin back office account where you can keep an eye on your data usage to make sure you won’t pay the extra fees for overuse.

Make sure that your computer is compatible with stick modems. You will need a USB2 port and a Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac computer. Your screen resolution must be at least 800×600 too however most modern computers can handle these devices with ease.

If you decide to go on holiday after traveling, you can use your Virgin mobile broadband service in 180 countries around the world. However, before you set off on a journey you will need to give the Virgin customer service department a call to switch on your roaming capabilities.

There is a very handy mobile broadband data calculator on the Virgin website which allows you to quickly and easily calculate your monthly, average data consumption. There are 8 fields with a question in each one. Such as:
How many e-mails you send and receive?”
How many hours do you spend surfing?”
How many hours do you use messaging services?”
How many documents you up/download?”
You can quickly see the total in gigabytes at the bottom of your screen to make a quick and accurate decision about the plan you will need.

This service allows you to go online wherever you happen to be and at whatever time. Their services range between 2 months and 18 months so you can get the perfect plan for you. All you need to do is connect the stick modem into your USB slot on your laptop, download some software and you’re done.

Coverage:
85% of the UK has Virgin mobile broadband coverage. If you test out Virgin’s service and find that your home is not under the coverage, you are free to return it to them for a full refund within 14 days.
Virgin offers a guarantee that states if you’re not happy with your mobile broadband service after 14 days Virgin will refund anything you paid minus the data paid. They will even cover the cost of the postage to send the modem back to them. Virgin mobiles’ mobile broadband services were rated 9 out of 10 By Top 10 Broadband.

3 is the biggest UK 3G network and covers 97% of the country. They currently offer 2 dongles: premium and standard. The premium dongle is available for as little as £8.89 per month while the standard dongle is available for £7.87. The new, standard dongle is 40% faster than the old version.

The premium dongle is actually a rebranded Huawei E367 and it has a nice, simple design which you can twist to find the best signal. It also accommodates strange USB port locations on many different laptops. It acts as an effective cover for the USB connector too. The standard dongle is a rebranded Huawei E353 modem. It is HSPA+ compatible and has a memory slot for Micro SD cards up to 32 GB. The premium dongle won the ‘Editors Choice Award’ from What Mobile Magazine.

Their Pay-As-You-Go options also come in 2 flavors, standard and premium. The standard offerings come with a standard modem while the premium offerings come with a premium modem. Amongst the standards plans there is a 1GB, 3GB and 12GB option. The 1GB plan costs £20.99 per month and comes preloaded with 1GB. This has an expiry date of 30 days. The next Pay-As-You-Go option comes with 3GB, costs £30.99 per month and is valid for up to 3 months. Lastly, the 12GB option costs £81.99 per month but is valid for a full year.

Premium Pay-As-You-Go options start at £34.99 per month. This comes with 1GB and is valid for 30 days. The 3GB version costs £24.99 per month and is valid for 3 months. The 12GB Premium plan is £99.99 per month and is valid for a full year. There are 3 contract plans to choose from: a 1GB, 5GB and 15GB. The 1GB plan is an 18-month contract, costs £8.89, and is the most affordable. It is also an 18-month contract and costs £17.01 per month.

About Mobile Broadband:
The best thing about mobile broadband is that you can take it anywhere you want to go. So if you want to work on the beach one day and in a coffee shop the next, that freedom is yours. You also don’t have to pay an installation fee or a monthly landline rental. All you need is a stick modem, a decent mobile phone and away you go. It is so simple, easy and affordable.

What is HSPA+?:
HSPA+ stands for high-speed packet access plus. It is a somewhat new technology which lets you get super-high internet speeds so you can watch videos, upload photos and social network much faster than you ever have before. This will take the internet to a completely new level of engagement, communication and entertainment.

3 Mobile is a multinational company and launched in the UK on the 3 March 2003. 3 is also the 4th largest network and won the ‘Best Overall Provider’ at the Broadband Expert Mobile Broadband Awards. 3 was also voted as the best network in a survey for 2 years in a row.

T-Mobile offers 3 flavors of mobile broadband: Pay monthly, pay per day and pay up front. It also has 3 different broadband stick modems available. The first one is called the Mobile Broadband USB Stick 620. It’s compatible with Windows and Mac and has an 8 GB memory card. This stick only has one plan available for it and that is the ‘pay monthly’ plan. This plan will cost you £10 per month for 18 months and will allow you to get the stick modem for free.

Next up is the Mobile Broadband USB Stick 615. It is Mac and Windows compatible but only has space for a 4BG memory card. It can download up to 7.2 mbps. With this stick you have 2 plans available: ‘’pay per day’ and ‘pay up front’. On ‘pay per day’ it costs £2 per day when it is set up, however, you can change this to £7 per week or even £15 per month, depending on how long you plan to use it for. You can easily change this option with your online T-mobile account whenever you choose. The cost for this stick on this plan is £19.99.

Then there is the ‘pay up front’ plan. This involves no monthly fees or contracts of any kind. On this plan, the USB stick modem costs £39.99. Included in this price is 90 days of free internet access but after this, you pay per day. The last stick modem available is called the ‘Mobile Broadband USB Stick 615′. This stick also has a 4 GB memory card and is available on one plan only: ‘pay per day’. On this plan the stick will cost you £19.99 and you will also be charged £2 per day, or if you like, £7 a week or £15 per month. When you order a plan, a package with everything you need will be delivered within 10 days.

The best part about T-Mobile’s services is that you can e-mail, surf, Facebook or watch Youtube videos at the same time, any time. You can also pay by the day, week or month and it’s really easy to set up. You can even go online when you’re outside of the UK as well with their great roaming plans. Many people who go traveling around Europe have to suffer extreme roaming charges on their plans. On T-Mobile each 3MB outside of the UK will cost you £1. Each 20MB will cost you £5. Each 50MB will cost you £10 and each 200MB will cost you £40. This is quite respectable when you consider the prices charged by many other telecoms providers.

T-Mobile was the recipient of the ‘Fairest Pricing and Best Customer Satisfaction Award’ at the 2010 Broadband Expert Awards. They also won ‘Best Dongle for 2010’ at the Broadband Genie Road Trip 2010. They beat out all the other major service providers in the UK to take these coveted awards. T-Mobile has a great, long reputation for solid service, excellent customer satisfaction and the latest product offerings.

Orange UK, like most mobile internet providers offers stick modem, mobile Wi-Fi and tablet plans. The cheapest plan starts from £5 per month and they offer 3 plans in total: Small, Medium and Large. The Small plan is perfect for those who only use the Internet occasionally as it has a 500MB monthly allowance and costs £10 per month.

The Orange Mobile Wi-Fi stick is available on this plan for £60, while the Huawei E367 is available for £75 pounds. The Medium plan has a 1GB allowance plus unlimited Wi-Fi data through BT Openzone. This plan costs £15 pounds per month. The Orange Mobile Wi-Fi stick is available on this plan for £45 while the Huawei E367 is available for £50. The Large plan has a 3GB allowance and also includes unlimited data through BT Openzone Wi-Fi. The prices for the Orange modem and Huawei on this plan is the same as the Medium one (£45 and £50). They also offer 12-month plans but the prices and rates are identical.

Hardware:
They have 2 modem sticks available. The Orange E173 dongle is compatible with Mac or PC, supports download speeds up to 7.2 MB per second and upload speeds of 2MB per second. This modem stick is free on the 12-month plans.

The Huawei E367 modem stick uses HSPA+ technology and has a high-performance antenna. This one costs £25 and is available on certain plans.

Another great product offered by Orange is the mobile Wi-Fi bundle. This lets you create your own Wi-Fi hotspot no matter where you are. It connects to the 3G network and then broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal allowing other devices to connect to it.

You can use it at home as your own private Wi-Fi network, or on the road. This allows other devices you own to connect to the Internet or it can be used to let your colleagues connect. It allows up to 5 devices to interface with it, has a 5-hour battery life, is small, portable and looks cool too.

There are 4 ways to connect to the Internet when you’re out and about using mobile broadband. You can do this is with a stick modem, with a phone, with a mobile Wi-Fi modem or with a tablet. With a stick, all you need to do is plug it in and go through the required steps to install it and get it to recognize the network. With the tablets you just insert the SIM card provided into the slot and follow the steps. With a mobile Wi-Fi modem you plug it in and enter the WEP password found underneath the unit, follow the steps and you will be connected to your Orange mobile broadband service. Stick modems remain the single most popular way to connect laptops to the internet.

Orange UK was launched in 1994, currently has over 17 million subscribers and is one of the most recognizable brands in the United Kingdom. Orange UK is also a big sponsor of the Glastonbury Music Festival.

O2 mobile UK:
Mobile broadband is the perfect solution for getting online when you are not at home or at the office. It’s the perfect speed for social networking, doing your e-mail or even shopping online. However, it is not ideal for streaming live video, downloading, watching sports or transferring files over FTP. A dedicated ADSL connection is much better for that.

O2 offers 3 mobile broadband solutions: Pay & Go Starter Kit, the Pay & Go ‘Just the Dongle’ and Pay Monthly. The Pay & Go Starter Kit is a bare-bones solution with 1GB of data and it comes with a stick modem. In addition, it includes unlimited Wi-Fi data with The Cloud and BT Openzone. (note: you cannot connect to BT Openzone’s Wi-Fi with a Mac).

Hardware:
The stick modem that comes with the Pay and Go ‘Just The Dongle’ package is a Huawei E1752Cu and it costs £20.42. This package does not come with any data however so you will need to buy data whenever you run out. Just like the others, this has unlimited public Wi-Fi access via The Cloud and BT Openzone at certain spots.

The ‘Pay And Go’ Starter Kit comes with the same stick modem (the Huawei E1752Cu), but costs £50.64 for 3 months and includes 1GB of data. There is another option available with an increased data allowance of 2GB. It comes with the same stick modem, however it costs £35.74 per month.
The plain monthly plan comes with 1GB and costs £10.21 for 30 days. This is a rolling contract with no obligations and comes with unlimited Wi-Fi too. All stick modems are available in black, white and pink.

Coverage:
Ideally, like with most mobile services, it is best to check the coverage in your area before service. O2 has a great coverage map on their website.

Also make use of the helpful data calculator on the O2 website to determine what plan is perfect for you. It gives you a great comparison tool to check how many photos, e-mails and videos you watch per month. It has 7 sliders which you must use to select the number of items you download on average per month. For example, the first slider asks: “how many e-mails do you send and receive on average per week?”.The options are 0, 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000. Another one asks how many hours of TV do you download? [this is for services like Hulu Netflix]. The options are 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.

All O2 services come with a 30-day happiness guarantee so if you are not satisfied within 30 days of your service, you can cancel your contract at any time without any extra costs. This is a great way to test their service with no obligations.

02 is officially known as Telephonica UK Limited and is a telecommunications company operating in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1985. Ofcom reports state that O2 delivers websites faster than all other UK providers. O2 also has a UK-based customer service department, which is a nice touch.