We'd love to be able to tell you to go and buy a mobile broadband deal from company "X", because they're the best provider in the UK. Unfortunately, mobile broadband doesn't work like that - you'll have to consider where you live, where you're going to want to use your connection, and what you're going to want to use mobile broadband for.

However, there's no need to put hours of research into this. We're going to show you how to find the mobile broadband package for you, the easy way...

First, you need to know what's important. What, exactly, will make the difference between an irritatingly slow, virtually unusable mobile broadband connection, and one that flies along, allowing you to surf, work and catch up with friends without any delays? We'll get to that in just a moment.

Next, you're going to need to figure out what you need from your mobile broadband connection. There are now more than 100 different combinations of packages available and deciding which one is right for you needn't be difficult, but you'll need to think about the ways in which you plan to use the service first. We'll walk you through this process in just a moment.

Let's start at the beginning and talk about the important things to look for when choosing your provider. There's one thing that you need to consider before anything else, because without it, your mobile broadband connection is totally useless!

Coverage

coverage is very important - if a provider's network doesn't cover all the places you'll want to use your mobile broadband in, there's no use in signing up for a package from that provider. A coverage check should be your first step when choosing a provider, because you'll need to eliminate those who don't cover the areas you need.

It's quite common that all the major providers will give you good coverage - mobile broadband coverage has improved a lot during the last couple of years, and providers are competing to offer the best and most reliable service.

Using mobile broadband in an area that only has 2G coverage will be slower than dial-up internet, so check that a provider offers high speed coverage for your area before you sign up with them.

Click here for more about mobile broadband coverage in the UK

Here's how to check coverage:

First, write a list of the postcodes that you're going to want to use your mobile broadband at - for example, your home, work, and... er... the pub? Or the local park, perhaps.

Next, visit each of the providers' coverage checkers (you'll find links to them on that page) and note down what the coverage is like for each of your postcodes, with each of the providers.

You now know which providers can offer you a mobile broadband service. The next thing to think about is the speed of your connection.

Speed

Speed matters - especially if you intend to watch video and download music with your mobile broadband connection. Even general web browsing can become very slow with a poor connection, as many websites now use lots of images, video and other things that need to be downloaded with the web page.

Even the slowest of the networks can offer plenty of speed, given the right conditions, so don't get hung-up on the maximum speeds that they promote (like 3.6 Mbps or 7.2 Mbps) - these are absolute maximums anyway, and you'll rarely see these speeds in reality.

This is where our next point comes in, as this has the biggest effect on the actual speed you'll get from your mobile broadband connection...

How Busy Is The Network In Your Area?

This really makes a difference to the quality of your connection, and if you want the best mobile broadband connectivity, you need to know how well the network copes with the amount of use it gets in your area.

For example, a slower network with just a few people in your area who use it will generally still be much faster than a super-fast network, which is overloaded with people downloading YouTube videos all day every day.

OK, so how do we know which networks are coping well with the usage they have, and which aren't? Unfortunately there isn't a sure-fire way to know, so we have to rely on the experiences of other people. If possible, ask someone you know who already uses mobile broadband in your area.

The good news here is that, while there have been problems with overloading on some of the networks in the past, mobile broadband providers have recently put a lot of resources into improving their capacity and the general quality of mobile broadband connections has drastically improved - we can expect to see even more improvement as this technology really takes off.

How Will You Use Mobile Broadband?

The next thing you should do, is consider the ways in which you're going to use your mobile broadband connection. Will you mostly be sending and receiving emails, watching videos, checking Facebook messages? We've put together a useful little tool to help you work out what type of mobile broadband package will suit you best, based on your expected uses...

Use the Perfect Match Search Tool to find out exactly what you need from your mobile broadband.

Alternatively, we have a best buys section where we list the best deals for different categories - you should still check the coverage, just in case the provider doesn't offer good coverage for your area.

See our Mobile Broadband Best Buy recommendations.