Do you enjoy using WiFi but hate the confinement that it comes with? Mobile broadband is quickly becoming a better, more accessible alternative to WiFi, offering DSL bandwidth speeds to customers through their laptops, netbooks, mobile phones and PDAs. Mobile broadband is a step up from local wireless data applications such as WiFi which gets rid of the wire, but not the confinement. A user must be stationary and in a WiFi hotspot (generally inside) when using WiFi technology. WiFi could be considered as the data transfer counterpart of the cordless telephone, whereas mobile broadband corresponds to the cellular phone, which enables access to high speed data almost anywhere in the world. The recent improvements in mobile broadband technology has meant that businesses can communicate with their employees and customers much more efficiently and effectively that ever before, changing the business environment quite drastically. Wireless broadband is shaping the business world.

Mobile broadband uses the same technology as mobile phones, through radio waves and frequencies. The way mobile phones work is by sending and receiving audio data through the telephone masts. Mobile broadband works in almost the same way, though the data that is transferred contains packets of web pages, emails, audio and video data; all sent and received through the telecommunications towers.

Mobile broadband was initially quite slow compared to a WiFi connection, though constant improvements have meant that speeds have increased dramatically, listed below are the chronological order of mobile broadband advancements:

-EDGE was the first format of mobile broadband and was particularly slow.

-3g was the second development of mobile broadband. The increased speeds meant that it was a viable option if users were unable to find a suitable WiFi hotspot.

-HSDPA was the next incarnation of mobile broadband which offered slightly increased speeds over WiFi.

-The current format of HSUPA. With speeds similar to WiFi connections, it is offering users a very good alternative to WiFi.

The future for mobile broadband formats comes in the guise of the WIMAX (4g) connection. WIMAX will have the ability to give very fast connection speeds, above what most WiFi connections can offer, plus is will offer a wide coverage ratio. With the constantly improving mobile internet access speeds, accessibility to the internet is increasing non-stop. In ten years we could begin to see a reduction in the number of people signing up to cable DSL, instead turning to companies offering mobile broadband connections. It would be possible to have just one internet service provider that you could access from anywhere in the world, on any type of device, from PCs to consoles to PDAs.

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