Ofcom has pledged to investigate the mobile broadband market to find out why there are so many gaps in 3G ( third generation) coverage, particularly in rural areas. These areas are known as’ notspots’. Ofcom will also look at mobile broadband speeds which vary considerably.

3G services allow people to connect to the Internet via a wireless network using either a phone, a dobgle or a datacard which can be plugged into a laptop or PC.

Broadband Communications Company Epitiro has been researching mobile broadband download speeds and found that the average speed was just under IMbps. Mobile broadband users are only getting a quarter of advertised speeds. There are over 200,000 different tarrifs on the market for mobile broadband customers. Not an easy task when searching for a good deal.

It seems that consumers are now opting for mobile broadband and discontinuing their fixed line phones. Mobile calls increased by 11 billion minutes in 2008 ,while fixed line minutes fell by 8 billion.

The Digital Britain report initiated by the Government plans to free up more 3G spectrum to help reduce ‘notspots’ and hopefully to increase mobile broadband speeds.

Orange ,O2, T- Mobile, and Vodaphone are some of the service providers who offer mobile phone braodband packages.