Being connected is an important part of everyday life for most people, and for the majority of us that still means having a fixed connection at our house where we access the internet, typically using broadband technologies like cable or ADSL. These technologies are the fastest cheapest and more reliable ways to access broadband, but have one major flaw - they aren't at all portable. While you connect your wireless laptop to your network anywhere in your home if you have the right equipment, if you leave your house your laptop will be completely without internet access at all.

There's also a big problem for those people who are living in remote rural areas that simply don't have access to a landline and need to consider broadband no landline. Dial-up is an option for many, but it's hardly the best or easiest way to access the internet anymore, and very few sites are optimised for dial-up connections.

However, there are a number of different services available if you want to run the internet without having to be tied down to your own home. The most popular of these is mobile broadband, which can provide a broadband like service anywhere there's a signal. This means you can plug in a USB modem into your laptop and start surfing no matter where you are in the UK, making it an incredibly portable service that's perfect for business travellers and students who move around often.

Mobile broadband is a great technology but it has it's disadvantages. It's far slower than fixed broadband and is only available where you have a signal. The amount of signal you can receive is incredibly dependent on area, and each provider tends to cover a different area, so its vital you check the coverage in the areas you are likely to use the service before signing a contract. Mobile broadband is also slower and more limited than normal broadband, and doesn't function as well inside buildings as it does outside.

The technology powering mobile broadband is slowly improving and we should see significant improvements next year. Until then, it should be seen as an additional way to access the internet rather than a complete replacement for a fixed line, unless you only use the internet rarely and don't do anything that requires a lot of speed or bandwidth, like using webcam chats or accessing YouTube.

For people who simply don't have access to a landline, satellite broadband is also an option. Satellite broadband can be incredibly fast, but it's not perfect either. It's usually got a very high monthly limitation on what you can download, and anything that requires you to upload data back like gaming or video conferencing will be difficult if not impossible on a standard satellite connection. It's also expensive as there are only a few companies to choose from and you need to buy all the hardware yourself, but for many people living in very disconnected areas or broadband 'not spots' it may be the only way to get online at a decent speed.