Huawei

Vodafone K3565

The Vodafone K3565 (a re-branded Huawei E160x) is a replacement for the K3520 - a low cost mobile broadband modem stick. As per the E160, the technology in this modem is now well over two years old - it's a sluggish device, with a top speed of 3.6Mbps. It's fine for occasional browsers, but if you're planning on using mobile broadband regularly see if you can get a good deal on the Vodafone USB Stick Pro instead.

Huawei E870 ExpressCard

The Huawei E870 is one of the few commonly available mobile broadband ExpressCards. The high-spec device uses an ExpressCard 34 slot and often comes bundled with an adaptor to allow the card to be used in a PC Card (PCMCIA) slot. The device has on-board flash memory allowing it to be used as a 'plug and go' device - offering a user experience similar to a usb modem where the dashboard software and all drivers are stored on the device itself.

Huawei E156

The Huawei E156 is a real bargain-basement dongle. Due to it's low cost, it's proving popular with the mobile networks as a pay as you go modem. The technology in this modem is now well over two years old - it's a sluggish device, with a top speed of 3.6Mbps. It's fine for occasional browsers, but if you're planning on using mobile broadband regularly save yourself some pain and look elsewhere.

Huawei E170 / E172

The Huawei E170 / E172 was the first USB modem in the stick form factor. It’s kick started a trend for manufacturers to move away from tethered modems to more compact stick designs that plug directly into your laptop. The E170 is the standard Huawei stick, and the E172 is the Vodafone variant. It's a compact USB stick with support for 7.2Mbps download speeds and 2.1Mbps upload speeds via HSUPA, however the lack of receive diversity may make it challenging to hit higher speeds, unless you're in near perfect coverage.

Three MiFi

Three's MiFi modem (a re-badged Huawei E5830) is a pocked sized, battery powered mobile broadband modem. What makes this modem unique is that instead of using a USB cable to connect to the modem you use WiFi - the MiFi modem allows you to create your own instant private WiFi hotspot. It's ideal if you want to share your mobile broadband connection with more than one laptop, or even use it with handheld devices such as your iPod Touch or a Nintendo DS. Three claim that the battery in the modem will last up to 5 hours, plus you can recharge the modem via the USB port on your laptop if the juice runs low.

Three are currently offering the MiFi with an 8GB iPod touch for £23 per month, including 5GB of data.  Click here for more details.

Huawei E169

The E169 (aka Vodafone Modem Stick (UK) or Vodafone K3520) is Huawei's follow up to the highly successful E220 mobile broadband modem. The E169 is a mid-tier device, key features of the stick-style dongle include:

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.

Huawei E160

The Huawei E160 is a real bargain-basement dongle. Due to it's low cost, it's proving popular with the mobile networks as a pay as you go modem. The technology in this modem is now well over two years old - it's a sluggish device, with a top speed of 3.6Mbps. It's fine for occasional browsers, but if you're planning on using mobile broadband regularly save yourself some pain and look elsewhere.

Huawei E1550

The E1550 is Huawei's entry-level USB modem in a stick format. The specification isn't blistering with download speeds of just 3.6Mbps and with no support for HSUPA upload speeds won't get much above 200Kbps. The modem is plug and play, with software and drivers on-board, plus even though it's a budget device it's still got a MicroSD slot - allowing you to use it as a memory stick. Despite its lackluster performance the E1550 is great value and is an ideal mobile broadband modem for first time users.