Wi-Fi dongles from 3 and Novatel

Wi-Fi dongles from 3 and Novatel take the hassle – and the expense – out of web connection on the move

3G dongles are nice, but the problem with them is that they're very specific, and tend to come with their own software, which may or may not spray all sorts of little extras around your computer, rendering the experience of getting online while mobile seriously vexing. (Yes, BT, I'm thinking of you and your intrusive software.)

Why can't we just have free Wi-Fi everywhere? You know the answer to that: companies don't feel like offering it (and even Swindon is going to limit it). But here's a smart combination: a 3G dongle that's incorporated into a portable Wi-Fi generator. No troublesome software, just the warm glow of a Wi-Fi signal that your computer – and indeed your smartphone or other Wi-Fi device – can hook into. Private, simple, mobile. That's what the latest offerings from 3 and (generically) from Mi-Fi offer: a pocketable device that picks up a 3G data signal and broadcasts a secure Wi-Fi signal.

The device from 3 is neat, little, bright and white, about the size of a credit card but fatter. There are four buttons and five lights, where each light can glow more than one colour (to indicate, for example, that it's negotiating to join the 3G network, the quality of the 3G signal, and whether it's broadcasting a Wi-Fi signal). This could easily lead to interface overload, but actually, once you get it working – because it truly is a click-to-start experience once 3 has configured it – then it's a delight. The offer of pay-as-you-go products also means that you aren't locked into an 18-month contract that offers a fair rate for the first three months and a lousy one for the next 15; the latest evidence suggests that PAYG mobile broadband is becoming more and more popular. Though you can't choose which sim goes into the 3 Wi-Fi dongle, you can with the Novatel MiFi. It also lets you store and share files from an SD card, unlike the 3 version.

That should make up for the hassles that I did have with the Novatel, which requires you to enter the 3G account details (which I didn't have to hand). Given those, it's a breeze, but it is slightly more complicated than the 3 proposition.

The other aspect of the 3G Wi-Fi dongles as a class that makes them very much more useful than those you plug into your computer is that you can move it about for the best signal. On a train, having a plug-in dongle down by your lap, with a big chunk of steel – the train body – between you and the signal is never going to be ideal; with the MiFi you can simply lodge it by the window (or more sensibly, put it in your pocket, though I expect a smart company will add a sucker to let you stick it to train or car windows soon enough). http://mobile123-mobile.blogspot.com/