Mobile broadband coverage refers to the areas serviced by a mobile network signal. The term is often also used to describe the quality of the signal in a given area or the technologies available to a specific area (such as 2G, 3G, etc.). As you might imagine, this is vital for a mobile broadband connection – without coverage for your area, you won’t get any service, and you wouldn’t want to end up paying for a service that you can’t actually use!
Fortunately, the vast majority of the UK has coverage of some kind or another, so even if you have to put up with painfully slow data rates, you’ll rarely find yourself in a spot where your completely unable to access your broadband connection.
There are, however, different types of coverage and areas with only the most basic coverage will not allow for true broadband speeds – in fact, they’ll often be even slower than standard dial-up internet, so it’s definitely worth checking the coverage a network offers in your area before signing on the dotted line for your 24 month mobile broadband contract.
There are a couple of ways that you can avoid getting tied into a long term contract of 12 months or more with a provider who has unsatisfactory coverage for your area. Firstly, you could go for a pay-as-you-go offer, where you’ll buy a USB dongle (the modem used to access mobile broadband) and then top-up with data credit when you need to. This isn’t usually too expensive to start with and doesn’t tie into paying a monthly fee for a contract.
However, the major providers know that general concerns about mobile broadband coverage and performance can often be deal-breakers for people who are thinking about trying their mobile broadband services. To combat this, they now offer trial periods, within which you can get out of your contract if the service doesn’t work for you. If this option is available to you, it’s by far the best way to try a provider out before committing long-term.
You should also consider some of the other things that may affect mobile broadband coverage in your area. Much like a mobile phone signal, your mobile broadband signal can be affected by trees, hills, buildings and weather conditions. If you know anyone who already uses mobile broadband in your area, it’s a good idea to ask how fast and reliable they find the service before making the decision about which provider to go with.
All of the networks are currently pouring lots of resources into improving their mobile broadband coverage. This is great news for the future of mobile broadband and many predict that it will become the predominant way to connect to the world wide web in the future – even those who are more sceptical agree that mobile broadband use is going to increase massively in the next few years.
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