Will mobile broadband make Wi-Fi redundant?

WLAN is sooo 2007

30 April 2008 16:12 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

There have been a few headlines floating round cyberspace of late proclaiming that mobile broadband will very soon be the death of Wi-Fi.

We decided to put this puzzler to the tech-savvy Pocket-lint readership to see what your thoughts on this particular issue are.

In our latest reader poll, we asked you: "Will cheap mobile broadband via USB modems make Wi-Fi redundant?"

It seems you were fairly evenly divided on the issue with 45% of you falling in favour of the USB modem route and saying yes, while 55% of you think Wi-Fi has the legs to out-run its cellular competitor.

While mobile broadband was once the preserve of truly techie types with data cards and expensive contracts, new consumer aimed offerings make the technology easy (plug in the flash drive-like modem and go) and relatively affordable from £10 a month.

Jonathan Lutz, head of mobile broadband at 3 (who has just lowered the pricing for its PAYG dongle again) perhaps unsurprisingly comes down in favour of the new tech:

"Mobile broadband is a great option for people looking for high speed broadband access when out and about. 3 have got the biggest broadband network in the UK and we find our users are really happy with the consistent service they receive", Lutz states.

"Wi-Fi has proved a popular choice in the past but is really only an option if you're happy to be in one spot whilst accessing the internet, and if you don't mind paying the frequent charges."