BT Mobile Broadband review

The internet is a key consideration for almost any business.

If you need constant access, BT's Mobile Broadband service could be of interest. From its name, you may think it's just another 3G broadband package, but it's actually part of a bundle, and is free on 24-month contracts with BT Business Broadband Options 2 or 3.

Option 2 offers unlimited 8Mbit/s ADSL (a fair use policy applies), 1GB of 3G data and 250 OpenZone WiFi hotspot minutes per month for £32 including VAT. Option 3 costs £48 including VAT per month, and offers extra security, plus 500 OpenZone minutes per month. Both deals are available to existing customers, although you have to sign a new 24-month contract to get the 3G USB modem.

If you don't have BT broadband, or don't want it, you can get Mobile Broadband on its own for £21 including VAT per month, with a higher monthly data allowance of 3GB and 4,000 OpenZone minutes per month. The standalone and bundled Mobile Broadband deals have a charge of 10p per megabyte and 10p per WiFi minute if you exceed your contract's allowances.

Mobile Broadband comes with a Huawei E170 USB stick modem. Unlike other 3G modems we've seen, this one comes with the cap attached to a cable, so you can't lose it. The modem's drivers and software are stored on the USB stick, so you only need to insert it to get started.

Though other 3G services we've reviewed only come with basic software to get you connected to the mobile network, BT has taken things one step further with its Access Manager software. This manages all detected network interfaces, including your wireless adaptor and wired network, as well as your 3G connection.

This means that Access Manager can choose the best network available. At home it will pick your wireless network; move out of range and it can switch to 3G or a BT OpenZone hotspot. It's a great idea in theory, but currently the implementation lets it down slightly. Moving out of range of your home wireless network prompts Access Manager to search for alternative wireless networks. Inevitably, it detects lots of networks that you don't have permission to use. Saying no to these options forces Access Manager to switch to the next best option (3G), but prevents the software from using WiFi again. So when you get back in range of your home network, Access Manager won't automatically connect. Instead, you manually have to enable WiFi again.

We're told that the next version of the software will be more intelligent in its network selection and let you specify that you only want to use your authorised wireless networks. Until then, you can either manually manage your network connections or use your laptop's hardware switch to turn off wireless when you want to move to 3G to prevent it from detecting further wireless networks. Enabling it again when you're in range of your home network will get Access Manager to reconnect automatically.

There's one more problem, although this time it's a Windows issue: switching networks doesn't switch existing open network sessions to the new connection. If you're downloading a large file, for example, switching from WiFi to 3G will break the download and you'll be forced to start again. BT is looking at fixing this with future versions of Access Manager, so the software will pass over open network sessions to a new network connection.

Performance, as with other 3G services, depends on your location, the current level of network activity and distance from a mobile antenna. As BT uses Vodafone's network, you can get connections of up to 7.2Mbit/s (the fastest speed in the country) in some locations thanks to HSDPA. In practice, just as with fixed-line broadband, you'll get significantly slower real speeds. In our tests, the network connection was always fast enough to browse web pages quickly and cope with our email, although we wouldn't want to download a large file.