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Business mobile broadband
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Business mobile broadband
Business mobile broadband lets you connect to the local 4G and 5G towers for a superfast broadband connection.
It removes the need to install or maintain fibre-optic cables, and portable WiFi routers let remote or nomadic businesses carry their broadband within the UK and abroad.
Avoid expensive leased line installations. Avoid waiting for engineering teams. Connect abroad immediately with data roaming.
This page covers:
Benefits of business mobile broadband
While mobile broadband’s current state can hardly rival the performance of full-fibre or cable broadband, it has plenty of advantages over the tethered status quo.
It lets teams with multiple devices deploy high-performance WiFi without delays in urban and rural settings, making it a popular alternative among both small businesses and enterprises.
Here are the key advantages:
Flexibility and mobility
It lets your employees work from anywhere with a 4G or 5G signal, enhancing productivity and collaboration by allowing for seamless remote work.
Quick deployment
Receive your router, plug in your SIM or e-SIM, and off you go. It’s easy to set up and requires no physical infrastructure, making it perfect for temporary sites, emergency situations, or fieldwork.
Reliability
Mobile broadband routers can connect to multiple cellular frequencies, including LTE, 3G, 4G and 5G, ensuring there is always a backup channel if the faster or more limited networks are having problems.
Also, the routers can be ordered with multiple WAN ports to combine with tethered broadband, ensuring broadband redundancy.
Scalability
Mobile broadband is scalable because it can be upgraded or downgraded easily by ordering or cancelling any contracted SIM plans or additional hardware without the need for engineering visits. Twelve-month contracts allow businesses to change their setup on a yearly basis.
Availability
Cellular networks are available to 99% of the UK population, making it the third most widely available broadband type after FTTC (available to all properties with a landline) and satellite broadband (accessed from anywhere with a clear view of the sky).
Security
Mobile broadband offers robust cybersecurity features such as end-to-end encryption and guest WiFi to protect sensitive business data and ensure secure communications, while providing convenient connectivity to customers.
IoT Devices
Businesses with large premises or field assets can connect any IoT devices within 5G or 4G coverage to their network with mobile broadband.
Roaming
Mobile broadband providers usually offer businesses roaming capabilities so that their employees can connect to foreign cellular networks safely and easily.
Who needs business mobile broadband?
Regardless of size and industry, all businesses can use mobile broadband to improve their operations. Here are a few examples of business use cases for mobile broadband:
| Target market | Description |
|---|---|
| Remote work | Ensures superfast connectivity for employees working from home, on site, in the field or travelling frequently. Entire teams can be supported by a portable dongle or router. It also offers more security than using guest networks when travelling. |
| Temporary sites | Ideal for short-term setups like construction sites, events, festivals or pop-up shops where installing fixed broadband is impractical or unnecessary. Connectivity can be achieved immediately and can even be supported by a battery, solar panels or a generator. |
| Backup connectivity | Acts as a failover option during fixed-line outages, ensuring redundancy for critical business operations minimising downtime and productivity loss. |
| Connectivity in rural or underserved areas | Provides superfast connectivity to businesses in areas lacking a fibre broadband network. Improves the competitiveness of rural businesses and decentralises businesses away from urban areas. |
| Growing businesses | Supports the rapid expansion of businesses (e.g. new branches or offices) by providing superfast broadband without waiting for fixed-line installations. |
| IoT Connectivity | Offers reliable connections for businesses relying on Internet of Things (IoT) devices, ensuring consistent data transmission and operational efficiency for applications like monitoring and automation. |
| 5G Private Networks | These secure local and wide area networks are essential to large installations like warehouses, universities or factories, and can only be built with mobile broadband under the hood. |
| Roaming | Mobile broadband is internationally-portable, meaning that your employees can take it with them and enjoy superfast connectivity in other countries without relying on less secure guest networks. |
Business mobile broadband costs
Mobile broadband providers lease bandwidth from cellular network operators, who own and maintain the network infrastructure, including cell towers, data centres, and spectrum licenses.
To cover their lease and make a profit, they offer tiered plans depending on bandwidth, data amounts, and quality of service requirements. Here are the key aspects impacting business mobile broadband costs:
Data limits
Total data limits are the biggest influence to a plan’s cost. Providers usually offer an ‘Unlimited’ option without limits or a 30/20GB data cap per month.
Note that these are often “soft caps”, in which exceeding the limit results in a speed cap of 0.5 Mbps instead of total service shutdown until monthly renewal.
Data speeds
Plan costs also vary depending on the direct bandwidth available to your router. While some plans support the full capabilities of 5G business broadband, others have speed caps or only support slower 4G connectivity.
Roaming
The cost of international partnerships with foreign providers is typically charged to businesses as a small daily roaming fee of around £2-15 in most plans, depending on the territories covered.
Some providers target international business niches and offer roaming inclusive in their monthly service fee.
Contract length
Longer business broadband contracts are comparatively cheaper than shorter contracts. Business mobile broadband contracts in the UK are typically 12 or 24 months.
Inflation
Most plans have pre-agreed rate raises scheduled yearly every April to adjust their rates with expected inflation and rises in leasing costs. These are usually mentioned in the small print, so do take this into consideration!
Hardware
Most regular plans have no up-front costs as they cover the hardware (routers, SIMs) costs in their monthly service fee.
Most plans include a SIM and a portable or plugged-in WiFi router.
Custom enterprise plans for 5G private networks will incur an initial cost for all the routers, dongles and switches required to deploy it.
Add-ons
Providers use several add-on features to distinguish between each other and target specific market segments. Examples include multi-band routers capable of supporting up to 64 devices, free-roaming, and unlimited data.
Choosing a business mobile broadband plan
Your business needs a clear idea of why it needs mobile broadband. Perhaps it’s to facilitate a remote office for teams on the road or to ensure a secure broadband connection at conferences or pop-up events outside the coverage of traditional broadband.
Use our checklist to help you determine what plan you want when comparing the market:
| Consideration | Criteria | Yes/No |
|---|---|---|
| Data Allowance | Is the data allowance sufficient? | |
| Speed and Coverage | Is the 4G/5G coverage adequate for your target areas? | |
| Provider-specific coverage | If yes to above, compare coverage for different providers. | |
| Bandwidth | Are speeds and latencies enough for your needs? | |
| Contract length | Do you need flexibility in your contract? | |
| Early termination | Are early termination penalties reasonable? | |
| Costs | Are the monthly and ad-hoc costs (e.g. roaming) within budget? | |
| Roaming | Is roaming available in the countries you need? | |
| Customer support | Is customer support highly rated? Is it 24/7? | |
| Hardware | Are the routers and dongles offered sufficient? | |
| Scalability | Can the plan scale with business growth? | |
| Special features | Do you require additional features like backup connectivity, data rollover or a custom installation? | |
| Reliability | Is the provider known for reliable service? | |
| Reviews and Ratings | Are the provider’s reviews positive? |
Business mobile broadband speeds
The mobile broadband speeds you experience at your business will depend on:
- Whether you are connected to a 4G or 5G network.
- The quality of the signal arriving at your router or business dongle.
- Your mobile broadband plan (bandwidth limits, throttling, data limits).
- The number of devices per router and the router’s capabilities.
- Your provider’s use of the infrastructure at its disposal.
Mobile broadband speeds by provider
Mobile broadband speeds in the UK generally oscillate between 100 – 150 Mbps download and 25 – 35 Mbps upload speeds.
However, the exact performance you get at your place of work will vary depending on your position relative to the nearest antennas, your hardware, weather conditions, static and moving obstructions, and the service quality of your provider.
This variability makes case-by-case assessments of business mobile broadband necessary. Use our checklist to systematically assess the potential quality of mobile broadband at your premises.
Nevertheless, an overall quality assessment is necessary, and we found the 2024 nPerf report the most useful. They independently tested mobile service providers in many parts of the country and ranked them according to several metrics:
| Provider | Speed (Download/Upload) | Latency | nPerf Score (Based on speed, latency and UX) | Quote from Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three | 106.47/14.23 Mbps | 39.05ms | 88566 | "Three is at the pinnacle of the UK mobile market." |
| EE | 80.06/14.61 Mbps | 38.12ms | 85277 | "EE stands out as a reliable ISP, ensuring high-quality browsing and streaming services for its users." |
| Vodafone | 60.75/11.99 Mbps | 44.03ms | 78259 | "Vodafone offers a robust service that caters to a wide range of user needs" |
| O2 | 26.91/7.01 Mbps | 37.67ms | 65187 | "O2 faces challenges in keeping pace with its competitors [but] has potential for growth" |
💡 While it is tempting to simply acquire the top overall performer, you should note that each provider has different coverage, so you must ensure they operate in your work area(s)! Check coverage here.
Residential vs business mobile broadband
While domestic and commercial mobile broadband services are offered via the same cellular network infrastructure, there are distinct differences in the level of services. In general, businesses get higher 5G and 4G bandwidth priority over residents.
Here are some key differences:
| Feature | Residential Broadband | Business Broadband |
|---|---|---|
| Speed and Bandwidth | Optimised for streaming, gaming, and browsing (download speed priority). May get throttled during network congestion. | Higher and consistent speeds, especially for upload. Gets priority when there is limited bandwidth. |
| Customer Support | Available during standard business hours, some with extended hours. | 24/7 customer support with dedicated helplines, ensuring quick issue resolution. |
| Service Guarantees | Less common, longer timeframes for resolution. | Service Level Agreements (SLAs) guarantee quality service and faster fault resolution, often with compensation. |
| Security | Basic security features such as standard firewalls and antivirus. | Basic or enhanced security including advanced firewalls, VPN support, and content filtering. |
| IP Address | Typically uses dynamic IP addresses. | Often includes static IP addresses necessary for servers, hosting, and secure remote access. |
| Router and Equipment | Standard routers sufficient for household needs. | Standard or advanced routers on offer, capable of handling higher traffic volumes, better coverage for up to 64 devices. |
Business mobile broadband – FAQs
Our business broadband experts answer commonly asked questions on business mobile broadband in the UK.
Is mobile business broadband the same as WiFi?
No, they are not the same. Mobile business broadband uses cellular networks (4G/5G) to provide internet access to a router, which then emits a WiFi signal to connect devices locally.
In other words, routers emit a powerful, short-range, high-bandwidth WiFi signal to create your workplace’s local wireless network. Employees and IoT devices connect to this signal, sending and receiving encrypted data through the business broadband router. The router translates the WiFi data into cellular data (4G/5G) and transmits it over the antenna network to the global internet.
Can business mobile broadband support multiple users and devices?
Yes, business mobile broadband can support multiple users and devices. It provides internet access via a cellular network, and the router distributes this connection as a WiFi signal. The capacity to support various connections depends on the router’s specifications and the strength of the cellular signal. Standard routers support 32 devices, while more advanced ones can support up to 64.
How do I manage data usage on business mobile broadband?
To manage data usage on business mobile broadband, start by monitoring usage through your provider’s app or online portal.
Set data limits and alerts to stay within your plan’s allowance. Encourage employees to use data only for essential work and limit data-heavy activities such as streaming and large downloads.
Consider investing in a data management tool like SD-WAN to track and optimise usage. Mobile broadband is scalable, so regularly review and adjust your data plan to match your business needs.
Is mobile broadband better than a hotspot?
This question raises several misconceptions about mobile internet technology, so let’s break it down:
Mobile broadband refers to the internet service provided by cellular networks like 4G and 5G. This could be via a standard plugged-in WiFi router, a portable, battery-powered WiFi router (also referred to as a “dongle” or “hotspot”), or the “hotspot” feature of a mobile device.
Hotspot refers to the capability of a mobile device to emit a WiFi signal using cellular networks or to a purpose-built, portable, battery-powered WiFi router capable of connecting up to 32 devices.
Essentially, both as different aspects of internet connectivity through cellular networks!