Huawei E220

The Huawei E220 was the first USB mobile broadband modem of its type, launched in the UK in 2006. The compact, pill shaped modem connects to the computer via a short USB cable. Software and drivers for the modem are contained on the dongle itself - upon plugging the dongle in, Windows will install the drivers and launch the dashboard software required to operate the modem. This is either a re-branded version of Huawei's 'mobile partner' software, or the network's own software, such as Vodafone's 'mobile connect' software.

It's important to upgrade the E220's firmware - given the peak in sales in 2007, most modems are running older versions of the firmware. The benefits of upgrading are two-fold - first, it's a necessity to allow the modem to work with recent operating systems, such as Windows Vista. Secondly, the firmware update brings much-needed improvements to the radio performance of the device by enabling 7.2Mbps support, but more importantly bringing a software equaliser to the E220 - the result is a considerable improvement in performance . You can download the latest firmware free of charge below.

The E220 dongle changed the mobile broadband market by making the technology easy to use and accessible to everyone. Although the technology in the modem looks a little outdated now, let's not forget just how much this dongle has done for mobile broadband.