This technology seems to be becoming very popular, particularly with users who want to have mobile broadband access without having to rely on, or subscribe to, public WiFi services.

I've been playing about with a USB dongle on the "3" network (p-a-y-g) for a couple of days and have been quite impressed with it, certainly a vast improvement on the old GPRS connections via a mobile phone.

It could be a solution for many users who live some distance away from the phone exchange and consequently have very slow or unreliable ADSL.

With this being P.A.Y.G. how or what are the charges like?

Is it a monthly usage so you have to use it within a month or lose it?

For arguments sake, If I topped-up with £20, when or how long would it stay in credit if my monthly usage was only £5.

With "3", the PAYG vouchers are valid for 30 days details here

There are also Starter Kits with data included and valid for longer periods. I did look at Vodafone, but they didn't have coverage in my area. I got the impression that with them you bought a number of Gigabytes but that they weren't "time limited", though I cannot be certain.

Being a "mobile" device with an '07' phone number, it can also be used to send/receive text messages via the computer.

Thanks Mike.