KatieFloyd.me

Over the past few years, we’ve seen mobile broadband explode in popularity. (Note that I use the term broadband with some skepticism.) However, we’ve also seen devices like the iPhone which taken over a lot of the functions people use to use full-fledged laptops for. The availability of Wi-Fi has also become more ubiquitous in many airports and hotels offer free or pay options to their customers. The need for a mobile broadband device to connect your computer may be decreasing as Wi-Fi and “smart devices” come with connectivity. Though there are still times when you need to get your laptop online and no Wi-Fi is available. For those times, it would be nice to have the option to pull out a mobile broadband card and get online.

Traditional mobile broadband plans have required two-year minimum contract. Verizon and AT&T both have lower-level plans that range between $35 and $40 a month for between 200 and 250 MB of data. Standard 5 GB mobile plans cost around $60 a month. For traditional wireless data plan, I can expect to pay somewhere between $842 to  $1,440 over the course of a two-year contract plus, the cost of the equipment which can vary between free and a couple of hundred dollars depending on the device purchased.

When I look back on the past year, there have probably only been a handful of times that I would have liked to have mobile broadband access for my computer but I didn’t otherwise have coverage. If tethering my iPhone to my computer would seem to be an ideal solution. Unfortunately, here in the states AT&T has failed to launch tethering and given the current state of the AT&T network, no one realistically believes it will see this as viable option any time soon.  $1,400 over the life of a 2 year contract seems an awfully steep price to pay for something that I really wouldn’t use all that often.

For few years now, I have been looking for a pay-as-you-go broadband solution but until recently there have been no plans available.  Within the past 6 months, Virgin Mobile (a pre-paid MVNO that uses the Sprint Network) launched a service called Broadband2Go. Verizon has also announced the availability of prepaid mobile broadband. My hope is that with two carriers coming on board we’ll start to see others follow and more competition in this space. Continue reading Prepaid Mobile Broadband