Mobile Broadband Jargon Buster
There are a few terms that you'll come across regularly whilst searching for and comparing mobile broadband. On this page we're going to explain exactly what these terms mean in plain English.
This is a little plastic gadget, which comes in various designs and colours. It fits easily into your pocket and can be slotted into the side of your laptop or home computer at any time to provide you with instant mobile broadband access.
USB is a standard type of socket found on any modern laptop or home computer and is also used for most other connections, such as your printer and mouse.
For more on USB modems, check out our page about mobile broadband dongles.
GB stands for Gigabyte(s), and is a standard unit of measurement of quantity for digital data. This is important for mobile broadband because whenever you use your connection, you're downloading or uploading data to or from somewhere else on the internet. This is known as "data transfer," because that's exactly what you're doing!
All broadband providers, both mobile and landline, have limits on the amount of data that you're allowed to transfer over a given time period .Many landline broadband providers claim to have no limit but actually have a "fair usage policy" which caps your usage. This is reasonable, as there simply aren't the resources for everyone to transfer limitless amounts of data (we just wish that providers wouldn't claim to have no limits in their marketing materials!)
Because mobile broadband technology is fairly new, limits on usage are relatively low (although they're increasing all the time). However, they still offer plenty of headroom, with monthly allowances currently ranging from 500MB (which is around half of a GB) to 15GB.
If you're not sure how many GB of data allowance you're going to need, our Perfect Match Search Tool can help.
Mbps stands for megabits per second and is a measurement of the speed at which digital data is transferred. It's worth noting that upload and download speeds are not the same and uploading larger amounts of data (such as photo and video) from your own computer to a website or service can be much slower than downloading the same thing.
Technically, your USB modem effects the maximum speed that you can achieve with mobile broadband, but all providers now provide modems to match the performance of their networks, so you needn't worry about it.
We don't recommend that you pay too much attention to the Mbps measurements claimed by mobile broadband providers, as these are usually the absolute maximum possible speeds available for their network. In other words, the speeds they claim are possible, given the perfect location and conditions, but are very unlikely for the vast majority of users.
For more about mobile broadband speeds, read this page: Which Mobile Broadband Is The Best?
If there are any other terms that you're unsure about, or that you think we should add to this page, please contact us and let us know.
Dongle/USB modem stick
This is a little plastic gadget, which comes in various designs and colours. It fits easily into your pocket and can be slotted into the side of your laptop or home computer at any time to provide you with instant mobile broadband access.
USB is a standard type of socket found on any modern laptop or home computer and is also used for most other connections, such as your printer and mouse.
For more on USB modems, check out our page about mobile broadband dongles.
Data Allowance, Data Transfer, Download Quota, and GB (Gigabytes)
GB stands for Gigabyte(s), and is a standard unit of measurement of quantity for digital data. This is important for mobile broadband because whenever you use your connection, you're downloading or uploading data to or from somewhere else on the internet. This is known as "data transfer," because that's exactly what you're doing!
All broadband providers, both mobile and landline, have limits on the amount of data that you're allowed to transfer over a given time period .Many landline broadband providers claim to have no limit but actually have a "fair usage policy" which caps your usage. This is reasonable, as there simply aren't the resources for everyone to transfer limitless amounts of data (we just wish that providers wouldn't claim to have no limits in their marketing materials!)
Because mobile broadband technology is fairly new, limits on usage are relatively low (although they're increasing all the time). However, they still offer plenty of headroom, with monthly allowances currently ranging from 500MB (which is around half of a GB) to 15GB.
If you're not sure how many GB of data allowance you're going to need, our Perfect Match Search Tool can help.
Mbps
Mbps stands for megabits per second and is a measurement of the speed at which digital data is transferred. It's worth noting that upload and download speeds are not the same and uploading larger amounts of data (such as photo and video) from your own computer to a website or service can be much slower than downloading the same thing.
Technically, your USB modem effects the maximum speed that you can achieve with mobile broadband, but all providers now provide modems to match the performance of their networks, so you needn't worry about it.
We don't recommend that you pay too much attention to the Mbps measurements claimed by mobile broadband providers, as these are usually the absolute maximum possible speeds available for their network. In other words, the speeds they claim are possible, given the perfect location and conditions, but are very unlikely for the vast majority of users.
For more about mobile broadband speeds, read this page: Which Mobile Broadband Is The Best?
What Did We Miss?
If there are any other terms that you're unsure about, or that you think we should add to this page, please contact us and let us know.
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