With the increasing rise in numbers of portable devices in recent years the demand for ubiquitous Internet connections is increasing too.

At the time I was taking my degree in 2006 there were estimated to be over 1 billion pervasive computing devices and this number was increasing all the time.


Creative Commons License photo credit: gailjadehamilton

As we move forward it is not just our computers that are using the Internet. Mobile phones have been able to browse websites for years but new technologies such as intelligent home appliances, mp3 players and more are now becoming Internet enabled.

With all these new devices the question is how are they going to connect to the Internet? In recent years the number of WiFi hotspots has increased to the point where it seems you are never far from a wireless connection.

This has been helped largely by companies such as Starbucks and MacDonalds who have rolled out WiFi hotspots to their outlets. But are WiFi hotspots a thing of the past?

Johan Bergendahl is chief marketing officer of Ericsson, who was quoted this week at the European Computer Audit, Control and Security Conference in Stockholm as saying:

“In Austria they are saying that mobile broadband will pass fixed broadband this year. It’s already growing faster, and in Sweden, the most popular phone is a USB modem”

So is this the end of WiFi hotspots? I think it is. Like many people in the UK and Europe I now have a mobile broadband modem and having used it now for about a month I can not imagine why for many years I would have trekked around a city looking for a WiFi hotspot.

Mobile broadband is simplicity in itself. The USB modem I have from UK mobile provider Three is self installing and once connected it is extremely quick, a full 3.6Mbps. Even for speed mobile broadband is give WiFi hotspots a serious run for it’s money.


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Mobile broadband is here to stay, and with HSDPA networks rolling out all over the UK under the “Turbo Network” brand name I think mobile broadband will soon be a viable alternative to fixed broadband for many UK homes who are unable to access ADSL broadband.

Over the coming years I expect to see many more advances in mobile broadband and with companies such as HP releasing laptops with built in 3G capability and the latest generations of smart phone such as the Apple iPhone and Blackberry I can see huge growth in this area.

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