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Internet tethering

Our Broadband Expert says...

Internet tethering allows you to use your 3G mobile phone as a mobile modem to connect your laptop or netbook to the internet in the same way as you would use a mobile broadband dongle.

But although you might already have a mobile internet data allowance included in your phone contract, you might have to pay an extra monthly fee to your network provider if you want to use internet tethering.

What is tethering?

Phones that use the 3G network to connect you to the web in the same way as a mobile broadband dongle. So by connecting certain phones to your laptop, you're able to turn it into a modem to go online.

3G mobile phones have been capable of tethering for some time, but the rise in popularity of smartphones like the iPhone, HTC Desire and the new Windows 7 phones has made it much easier to do.

To use internet tethering you will need a 3G mobile phone and, unless you're a Three mobile broadband (www.Three.co.uk) customer or a Vodafone mobile broadband (www.Vodafone.co.uk) customer not using an iPhone, a tethering package from your phone provider. According to suppliers, this is because laptops and netbooks are far more data intensive than mobile phones.

How much does it cost?

You won’t have to buy a mobile broadband dongle, but you might have to pay an extra fee on top of your monthly mobile line rental to use tethering.

A tethering add-on is unlikely to save you any money compared to a standard mobile broadband package that uses a dongle or mobile wi-fi modem.

However, enabling tethering on your phone means that you'll never have to remember to take your dongle with you when you go to meetings or on long train journeys - simply plug your phone into your laptop and you'll have instant internet access.

You should expect to pay around £10 for a 1GB allowance or £15 a month for a 3GB monthly download allowance.

Tethering with Three

Unlike most mobile broadband providers, Three isn’t opposed to its customers tethering their phones to get online. “Our network was built for 3G and built for the internet,” said a spokesman for the supplier, though he did recommend that you invest in a dongle if want to go online regularly.

“We’ve got no problem with customers using internet tethering, and it’s fine for occasional use,” he said, “but you'll have a much better experience if you use a dongle that’s been designed for use with a laptop - and you won’t have to keep unplugging your phone to answer calls,” he added.

He also warned that customers who regularly use their phone as a modem could soon eat into their mobile internet data allowance. “If you want to go online a lot, you need a mobile broadband package with a high download allowance,” he said.

Thethering with Vodafone

Although Vodafone does offer tethering bundles, and iPhone specific tethering packages, customers can use their phones to go online without an add-on.

Whether or not you'll have to buy an add-on depends on the phone you're using. For example, iPhone users do have to buy a tethering bundle.

But the provider says that if you buy a bundle - which doesn’t come with any additional contract or tie-ins - and don’t use it, you won’t be charged.

Mobile broadband dongles

So if you want to go online more regularly and want to invest in a dongle, you can get great value mobile broadband deals, offering anything from 500MB for £5 a month for existing Orange mobile broadband (www.Orange.co.uk) customers to a generous 15GB for £15 from Three.

Choosing a standard mobile broadband package with a dongle also means that you'll have a wider choice of provider, allowing you to take advantage of the latest deals and make sure that you get the best coverage.

If you only need an occasional mobile broadband connection, a pay-as-you-go dongle could be the answer. T-Mobile broadband (www.T-Mobile.co.uk) and O2 mobile broadband (www.O2.co.uk) both offer pay-as-you-go options from just £2 a day.

3G coverage

Internet tethering uses the 3G network to get you online, so it’s affected by the same coverage issues as standard mobile broadband packages. You should do a postcode search with your mobile phone provider to make sure that you'll have adequate 3G coverage to be able to get online when you need to.

Keep an eye on your download allowance

Like any mobile broadband connection, you'll need to keep an eye on your internet tethering data usage to make sure that you don’t run up big bills.

Your supplier should contact you if you start to near your limit but you can also log into your online account to keep track of your downloads and make sure you don’t end up paying excess data charges.

You'll probably want to plug your phone into your computer to add video and music files or update the software, and you don’t want your phone to start tethering every time it’s connected. Check the settings of your phone to make sure that internet tethering is turned off when you don’t want to go online. And the cost of using mobile broadband abroad can soon become costly so it’s especially important that you do this if you're going away.

Settings vary from phone to phone but iPhone customers can disable internet tethering by going to:

• Settings
• General
• Network
• Cellular data network
• Internet tethering
• Slide to off.

NB Best buy tables are always current.

Examples in the text of the article are correct at time of publication.

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