Product Reviews

3G broadband for free isn't too good to be true. BT's new mobile broadband service is ?17.50 a month standalone, and gratis if you're on its Professional Business Broadband options 2 or 3.

For that you get download speeds of up to 8Mbits/sec, unlimited wifi usage on BT Openzone hotspots, of which there are over 2000

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in the UK and 1.8Mbits/sec on 3G, with 80% national coverage. Outside of these areas it'll give you 7.2Mbits/sec or 64Kbits/sec on HSDPA and GPRS respectively.

Within the UK, the 'unlimited' tariffs are capped at 3GB of traffic over the mobile network or 4000 minutes on BT Openzone. Overseas, you'll be charged roaming fees of ?8 or ?16 per megabyte, depending on the country.

It's a breeze to set up. Plug in the dongle, install the software from its internal memory and enter your administrator password. We were ready to run in less than two minutes, and online 15 seconds later. 3G performance is flawless, and over eight weeks of testing in offices, trains and static locations in the South East, we were never unable to get online.

Dongle prices vary depending on your contract. Sign up for 24 months and it's free, but you'll be charged ?120 and ?60 for 12- and 18-month contracts respectively.